Matt Nixson is a British journalist, PR executive and author.

Early life

Born in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, Nixson grew up in Disley,

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

, and attended Poynton County High School.

Education

He attended the

University of Warwick The University of Warwick ( ; abbreviated as ''Warw.'' in post-nominal letters) is a public research university on the outskirts of Coventry between the West Midlands (county), West Midlands and Warwickshire, England. The university was founded i ...

(1992-1995) where he studied English and American Literature and ran the Offbeat music society, as well as creating and DJing at ''Supersonic'', a Student's Union indie disco, for two years.

Career

After starting his newspaper career in

New Smyrna Beach New Smyrna Beach is a city in Volusia County, Florida, United States, located on the central east coast of the state, with the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Its population is 30,142 in 2020 by the United States Census Bureau. The downtown section o ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, Nixson returned to the UK in 1997 and worked for a number of local, regional and national newspapers including the Hendon & Finchley Times,

Brighton Argus ''The Argus'' is a local newspaper based in Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England, with editions serving the city of Brighton and Hove and the other parts of both East Sussex and West Sussex. The paper covers local news, politics and spor ...

Evening Standard The ''Evening Standard'', formerly ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), also known as the ''London Evening Standard'', is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format. In October 2009, after be ...

Mail on Sunday ''The Mail on Sunday'' is a British conservative newspaper, published in a tabloid format. It is the biggest-selling Sunday newspaper in the UK and was launched in 1982 by Lord Rothermere. Its sister paper, the ''Daily Mail'', was first pub ...

, before joining

News International News Corp UK & Ireland Limited (trading as News UK, formerly News International and NI Group) is a List of newspapers in the United Kingdom, British newspaper publisher, and a wholly owned subsidiary of the American mass media Conglomerate (c ...

in January 2005. He worked as Features Editor for ''

The News of the World The ''News of the World'' was a weekly national red top tabloid newspaper published every Sunday in the United Kingdom from 1843 to 2011. It was at one time the world's highest-selling English-language newspaper, and at closure still had one o ...

'' (Jan 2005 - Dec 2010) before being promoted to Head of Features on '' The Sun'' (Jan 2011 - July 2011). In 2012 Nixson began working in PR, initially looking after the family of Stockwell shooting victim Thusha Kamleswaran. In June 2012, he joined AOB PR. He returned to

Associated Newspapers DMG Media (stylised in lowercase) is an intermediate holding company for Associated Newspapers, Northcliffe Media, Harmsworth Printing, Harmsworth Media and other subsidiaries of Daily Mail and General Trust. It is based at Northcliffe House in ...

in January 2013 and has worked in a series of senior roles, most recently as Books Editor for the

Legal case

Nixson was dismissed from News International in July 2011 at the height of the phone hacking scandal but was told six weeks later that he was of no interest to police investigating allegations of wrongdoing at the company. Media commentator Roy Greenslade revealed in his blog that, four months after his dismissal, Nixson had still not been given a reason for his sacking. However, Greenslade wrote "I have been given information about the reason for his dismissal. It involves a payment though I cannot disclose the details. However, I do know - as the police decision confirms - that it did not involve illegality". It later emerged Nixson had allegedly sanctioned a payment for a story about jailed Soham killer

Ian Huntley The Soham murders were a double child murder committed in Soham, Cambridgeshire, England on 4 August 2002. The victims were two 10-year-old girls, Holly Marie Wells and Jessica Aimee Chapman, who were lured into the home of a local resident and ...

. With the support of the

NUJ The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) is a trade union for journalists in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It was founded in 1907 and has 38,000 members. It is a member of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ). ...

, Nixson subsequently launched legal action against News International for wrongful dismissal, stating that he had never engaged in phone hacking or any other illicit newsgathering activities. In July 2012, ''

Press Gazette ''Press Gazette'', formerly known as ''UK Press Gazette'' (UKPG), is a British media trade magazine dedicated to journalism and the press. First published in 1965, it had a circulation of about 2,500, before becoming online-only in 2013. Publis ...

'' featured Nixson's case in an article entitled "Why has NI put Nixson in suspended animation?". Writing a few days later, Editor Dominic Ponsford revealed the story had "generated the most impassioned response of any story I've worked on at ''

''" with "some 150 comments (at the time of writing)". Ponsford wrote that "Journalists from across the industry have put their heads above the parapet with signed comments testifying to Nixson’s professionalism and urging the publisher to either reinstate him or settle the case – thereby allowing him get on with his life and support his family". The story was subsequently taken up by

Martin Bright Martin Derek Bright (born 5 June 1966) is a British journalist. He worked for the BBC World Service and ''The Guardian'' before becoming ''The Observer's'' education correspondent and then home affairs editor. From 2005 to 2009, he was the polit ...

on his ''

The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving weekly magazine in the world. It is owned by Frederick Barclay, who also owns ''The ...

'' blog and

Roy Greenslade Roy Greenslade (born 31 December 1946) is a British author and freelance journalist, and a former professor of journalism. He worked in the UK newspaper industry from the 1960s onwards. As a media commentator, he wrote a daily blog from 2006 to ...

in ''The Guardian''. ''

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 ...

'' also reported Nixson was in talks to return to ''The Sun''. On 4 October 2012, ''

'' reported the case had been settled, with Nixson saying in a statement: "I am particularly grateful to the many journalists, former colleagues and friends in the press, including at News International, who have provided incredible support to me and my family over the last year.” In his ''Guardian'' blog, commentator

wrote: "We cannot know how much Nixson got from News International but I am certain his lawyers performed well on his behalf. The company paid him compensation and his costs, and Press Gazette is suggesting it could have cost the publisher as much as £1m."Greenslade, Roy
"Why did Matt Nixson have to wait so long for a settlement?"
''The Guardian'', 4 October 2012. Retrieved on 5 October 2012.

Personal

Nixson was born in

and brought up in

. He is married with one daughter and one son and lives in South London.

References

External links

* LinkedI

* Twitter @MattNixso

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nixson, Matthew Alumni of the University of Warwick Journalists from Manchester People from Disley 1974 births Living people