Andrew Jaspan
Encyclopedia
Andrew Jaspan, a British
journalist
, was appointed in October 2004, as Editor-in-Chief of The Age
, a broadsheet
daily newspaper published in Melbourne
, Australia
. Prior to this appointment, he was the founder and editor of the Sunday Herald
in Scotland from 1999 to 2004. Under Jaspan's editorship, the Sunday Herald won numerous internationally recognised SND awards.
Previously, Jaspan was Editor of The Observer
from 1995-1996 and Editor of The Scotsman
and Scotland on Sunday
and is also a former Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of The Big Issue
.
and lived in Australia, in the Hunter Valley
, Canberra
and Perth
between the ages of seven and fourteen. After returning to Britain but before embarking on a career in journalism, he was manager for The Smirks
, a Manchester band. He joined The Daily Telegraph
as a reporter in 1980 before moving to The Daily Mirror
and The Sunday Times
.
, with a controversial lower case, two-tone masthead and bold, stacked sans-serif headline fonts, which was a major departure from the paper's previous, more conservative design. He made similar changes to The Age
, and as launch editor of the Sunday Herald
, he ensured that the paper featured crisp elegant headline fonts and plenty of colour. But his style isn't to everybody's taste. After barely a year at the helm of The Observer
, Jaspan was acrimoniously fired, and the subsequent editor, Will Hutton
, restored the serif fonts and quickly jettisoned most of Jaspan's award-winning design flourishes. Jaspan was known to be hostile to this, and wrote in the New Statesman
that he was unhappy both with the manner of his dismissal, and with the 'junking' of his editorial vision for the paper.
.http://news.scotsman.com/scotland.cfm?id=841692004. He has been tested throughout his tenure as British man leading an Australian institution - including a question on his first address to staff about who won the AFL Grand Final. He answered correctly and regained the confidence of the press staff despite his earlier ignorance of Australian geography and the situation of The Age newspaper in Melbourne not Sydney.
Since his appointment as Editor in Chief at The Age, circulation and readership figures - as well as online figures - have increased significantly.
Andrew Jaspan also attracted criticism of a different kind in June 2005, when he described Iraqi kidnap victim Douglas Wood
as "boorish" and "insensitive" for calling his captors "arseholes." http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/transcripts/s1401515.htm
In 2008 The Age's 235 journalists unanimously voted for a motion accusing Jaspan of degrading their ability to produce independent journalism.http://www.crikey.com.au/Media-Arts-and-Sports/20080411-Age-meeting.html
On 27 August 2008, The Age announced that Jaspan would be immediately replaced as editor by senior deputy, Paul Ramadge. The move came a day after Fairfax announced 550 jobs would go from its Australian and New Zealand operations.http://news.theage.com.au/national/age-editor-sacked-fairfax-20080827-43gu.html
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
, was appointed in October 2004, as Editor-in-Chief of The Age
The Age
The Age is a daily broadsheet newspaper, which has been published in Melbourne, Australia since 1854. Owned and published by Fairfax Media, The Age primarily serves Victoria, but is also available for purchase in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and border regions of South Australia and...
, a broadsheet
Broadsheet
Broadsheet is the largest of the various newspaper formats and is characterized by long vertical pages . The term derives from types of popular prints usually just of a single sheet, sold on the streets and containing various types of material, from ballads to political satire. The first broadsheet...
daily newspaper published in Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. Prior to this appointment, he was the founder and editor of the Sunday Herald
Sunday Herald
The Sunday Herald is a Scottish Sunday newspaper launched on 7 February 1999. The ABC audited circulation in April 2011 showed sales of 31,123.From the start it has combined a centre-left stance with support for Scottish devolution...
in Scotland from 1999 to 2004. Under Jaspan's editorship, the Sunday Herald won numerous internationally recognised SND awards.
Previously, Jaspan was Editor of The Observer
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
from 1995-1996 and Editor of The Scotsman
The Scotsman
The Scotsman is a British newspaper, published in Edinburgh.As of August 2011 it had an audited circulation of 38,423, down from about 100,000 in the 1980s....
and Scotland on Sunday
Scotland on Sunday
Scotland on Sunday is a Scottish Sunday newspaper, published in Edinburgh by The Scotsman Publications Ltd and consequently assuming the role of Sunday sister to its daily stablemate The Scotsman...
and is also a former Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of The Big Issue
The Big Issue
The Big Issue is a street newspaper published in eight countries; it is written by professional journalists and sold by homeless individuals. It was founded by John Bird and Gordon Roddick in September 1991...
.
Early life
Andrew was born in ManchesterManchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
and lived in Australia, in the Hunter Valley
Hunter Valley
The Hunter Region, more commonly known as the Hunter Valley, is a region of New South Wales, Australia, extending from approximately to north of Sydney with an approximate population of 645,395 people. Most of the population of the Hunter Region lives within of the coast, with 55% of the entire...
, Canberra
Canberra
Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...
and Perth
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....
between the ages of seven and fourteen. After returning to Britain but before embarking on a career in journalism, he was manager for The Smirks
The Smirks
The Smirks were an English new wave band from Manchester who played from the late 1970s to the early 1980s. Although they failed to meet with commercial success, they built a small but loyal base of fans....
, a Manchester band. He joined The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
as a reporter in 1980 before moving to The Daily Mirror
The Daily Mirror
The Daily Mirror is a British national daily tabloid newspaper which was founded in 1903. Twice in its history, from 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the title on its masthead was changed to read simply The Mirror, which is how the paper is often referred to in popular parlance. It had an...
and The Sunday Times
The Sunday Times (UK)
The Sunday Times is a Sunday broadsheet newspaper, distributed in the United Kingdom. The Sunday Times is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News International, which is in turn owned by News Corporation. Times Newspapers also owns The Times, but the two papers were founded...
.
Innovative Newspaper Styles
Jaspan's newspapers tend to feature an idiosyncratic design style. In September 1995, he relaunched The ObserverThe Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
, with a controversial lower case, two-tone masthead and bold, stacked sans-serif headline fonts, which was a major departure from the paper's previous, more conservative design. He made similar changes to The Age
The Age
The Age is a daily broadsheet newspaper, which has been published in Melbourne, Australia since 1854. Owned and published by Fairfax Media, The Age primarily serves Victoria, but is also available for purchase in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and border regions of South Australia and...
, and as launch editor of the Sunday Herald
Sunday Herald
The Sunday Herald is a Scottish Sunday newspaper launched on 7 February 1999. The ABC audited circulation in April 2011 showed sales of 31,123.From the start it has combined a centre-left stance with support for Scottish devolution...
, he ensured that the paper featured crisp elegant headline fonts and plenty of colour. But his style isn't to everybody's taste. After barely a year at the helm of The Observer
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
, Jaspan was acrimoniously fired, and the subsequent editor, Will Hutton
Will Hutton
William Nicolas Hutton is an English writer, weekly columnist and former editor-in-chief for The Observer. He is currently Principal of Hertford College, Oxford and Chair of the Big Innovation Centre , an initiative from The Work Foundation , having been Chief Executive of The Work Foundation from...
, restored the serif fonts and quickly jettisoned most of Jaspan's award-winning design flourishes. Jaspan was known to be hostile to this, and wrote in the New Statesman
New Statesman
New Statesman is a British centre-left political and cultural magazine published weekly in London. Founded in 1913, and connected with leading members of the Fabian Society, the magazine reached a circulation peak in the late 1960s....
that he was unhappy both with the manner of his dismissal, and with the 'junking' of his editorial vision for the paper.
Tenure as editor for Melbourne Age
Jaspan joined The Age as Editor-in-Chief on 18 October 2004. His arrival was not welcomed by some Age journalists who were offended by his joke (understanding the rivalry between Melbourne and Sydney, similar to that of Glasgow and Edinburgh) in saying that he was looking forward to working in SydneySydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
.http://news.scotsman.com/scotland.cfm?id=841692004. He has been tested throughout his tenure as British man leading an Australian institution - including a question on his first address to staff about who won the AFL Grand Final. He answered correctly and regained the confidence of the press staff despite his earlier ignorance of Australian geography and the situation of The Age newspaper in Melbourne not Sydney.
Since his appointment as Editor in Chief at The Age, circulation and readership figures - as well as online figures - have increased significantly.
Andrew Jaspan also attracted criticism of a different kind in June 2005, when he described Iraqi kidnap victim Douglas Wood
Douglas Wood
Douglas Wood , is an Australian construction engineer who had worked with the American military, and was held hostage in Iraq for six weeks between May and June 2005, before being rescued.-Early life:...
as "boorish" and "insensitive" for calling his captors "arseholes." http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/transcripts/s1401515.htm
In 2008 The Age's 235 journalists unanimously voted for a motion accusing Jaspan of degrading their ability to produce independent journalism.http://www.crikey.com.au/Media-Arts-and-Sports/20080411-Age-meeting.html
On 27 August 2008, The Age announced that Jaspan would be immediately replaced as editor by senior deputy, Paul Ramadge. The move came a day after Fairfax announced 550 jobs would go from its Australian and New Zealand operations.http://news.theage.com.au/national/age-editor-sacked-fairfax-20080827-43gu.html