Brian Whitaker (sometimes credited as Brian Whittaker; born 13 June 1947) is a British
journalist
A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...
and writer.
He studied Arabic studies at the
University of Westminster
, mottoeng = The Lord is our Strength
, type = Public
, established = 1838: Royal Polytechnic Institution 1891: Polytechnic-Regent Street 1970: Polytechnic of Central London 1992: University of Westminster
, endowment = £5.1 million ...
and Latin (BA Hons) at the
University of Birmingham
, mottoeng = Through efforts to heights
, established = 1825 – Birmingham School of Medicine and Surgery1836 – Birmingham Royal School of Medicine and Surgery1843 – Queen's College1875 – Mason Science College1898 – Mason Univers ...
. A former joint investigations editor of ''
The Sunday Times
''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...
'', he left the title at the time of the
Wapping dispute
The Wapping dispute was a lengthy failed strike by print workers in London in 1986.
Print unions tried to block distribution of ''The Sunday Times'', along with other newspapers in Rupert Murdoch's News International group, after production wa ...
. For a period during 1987, he was editor of the short-lived ''
News on Sunday
The ''News on Sunday'' was a left-wing British tabloid newspaper. It was launched in April 1987. Publication ceased seven months later, in November 1987.
Origins
The founders of the paper were former members of the left-wing group Big Flame. T ...
'' tabloid. The newspaper published extracts from ''
Spycatcher
''Spycatcher: The Candid Autobiography of a Senior Intelligence Officer'' (1987) is a memoir written by Peter Wright, former MI5 officer and Assistant Director, and co-author Paul Greengrass. He drew on his own experiences and research into ...
'' by
Peter Wright in August 1987 while Whitaker was editor. The title was eventually fined £50,000 in May 1989 for contempt of court in breaking an injunction upheld by the
Law Lords
Lords of Appeal in Ordinary, commonly known as Law Lords, were judges appointed under the Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876 to the British House of Lords, as a committee of the House, effectively to exercise the judicial functions of the House of ...
shortly before publication.
Whitaker worked for the British newspaper ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' from 1987 and was its
Middle East
The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...
editor from 2000 to 2007. He runs a personal, non-''Guardian''-related website, Al-Bab.com, about politics in the Arab world.
Works
*''News Limited: Why You Can't Read All About it'', 1981 (London: Minority Press Group) , ,
*''Notes and Queries, vol. 1-5'', 1990 (London:
Fourth Estate) , , a collection of Q&A from the readers of ''The Guardian''
*''Unspeakable Love: Gay and Lesbian Life in the Middle East'', 2006 (London: Saqi Books) , (Berkeley:
University of California Press
The University of California Press, otherwise known as UC Press, is a publishing house associated with the University of California that engages in academic publishing. It was founded in 1893 to publish scholarly and scientific works by faculty ...
) ,
*''What's "Really" Wrong with the Middle East?'', 2009 (London: Saqi Books) ,
*''Arabs Without God: Atheism and Freedom of Belief in the Arab World'', 2014 (
CreateSpace
On-Demand Publishing, LLC, doing business as CreateSpace, is a self-publishing service owned by Amazon. The company was founded in 2000 in South Carolina as BookSurge and was acquired by Amazon in 2005.
History
CreateSpace publishes books conta ...
)
References
External links
Column archiveat ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
''
*
Al-Bab.comArab culture and politics website
*
*
1947 births
Living people
British male journalists
Alumni of the University of Birmingham
{{UK-journalist-stub