Matthew Raymond Snoddy OBE, born , commonly known as Raymond Snoddy, is a British

news media The news media or news industry are forms of mass media that focus on delivering news to the general public or a target public. These include news agencies, print media (newspapers, news magazines), broadcast news (radio and television), and th ...

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 ...

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

presenter A presenter is a person or organization responsible for the running of a public event, or someone who conveys information on media via a broadcasting outlet. Presenter may refer to: People * News presenter, person who presents news during a new ...

, author and

media commentator A pundit is a person who offers mass media opinion or commentary on a particular subject area (most typically politics, the social sciences, technology or sport). Origins The term originates from the Sanskrit term pandit, ('':wikt:पण्� ...

. From its inception in 2004, until January 2013, he was the original and sole presenter of the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

News 24's weekly viewer right-to-reply programme '' NewsWatch''. Snoddy started his journalistic career writing for a number of publications on issues relating to the

news News is information about current events. This may be provided through many different Media (communication), media: word of mouth, printing, Mail, postal systems, broadcasting, Telecommunications, electronic communication, or through the tes ...

industry, and continues in this vein.

Life and career

Born in

Larne Larne (, , the name of a Gaelic Ireland, Gaelic territory) is a town on the east coast of County Antrim, Northern Ireland, with a population of 18,755 at the United Kingdom census, 2011, 2011 Census. It is a major passenger and freight Roll-on/ro ...

County Antrim County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, ) is one of six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and has a population o ...

, Northern Ireland, Snoddy was educated at

Larne Grammar School Larne Grammar School is a co-educational voluntary grammar school located in Larne, County Antrim, Northern Ireland. Founded in 1886 by Sir Edward Coey and John Crawford, it has around 760 pupils and 50 teaching staff. History The school was ...

, and Queen's University in

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

. After university, he worked on local and regional

newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports a ...

s, before joining ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'' in 1971. He later moved to the ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...

'' (FT), joining in 1978, and reporting on media issues for the paper, before returning to ''The Times'' as media editor in 1997. Whilst working at the FT, Snoddy made occasional appearances as

guest presenter {{Unreferenced, date=January 2009 A guest host (or guest presenter in the United Kingdom) is a host, usually of a talk show, that hosts the program in lieu of the regular host if they fall ill, have another project or commitment, or are unable to ho ...

on the observational newspaper review TV show ''

What the Papers Say ''What The Papers Say'' is a British radio and television series. It consists of quotations from headlines and comment pages in the previous week's newspapers, read in a variety of voices and accents by actors. The quotes are linked by a scri ...

''. At present, Snoddy is a

freelance journalist ''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...

, writing predominantly for ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'', although his articles sometimes appear in other newspapers and publications. Following his departure from ''The Times'' in late June 2004, Snoddy presented '' NewsWatch'' from its inception in 2004 to 2013. The programme, now titled as ''Newswatch'', was launched as a response to the

Hutton Inquiry The Hutton Inquiry was a 2003 judicial inquiry in the UK chaired by Lord Hutton, who was appointed by the Labour government to investigate the controversial circumstances surrounding the death of Dr David Kelly, a biological warfare expert and f ...

, as part of an initiative to make

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadca ...

more accountable. His other television work has included presenting

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

's award-winning series ''Hard News'', which covered the press, and

Sky News Sky News is a British free-to-air television news channel and organisation. Sky News is distributed via an English-language radio news service, and through online channels. It is owned by Sky Group, a division of Comcast. John Ryley is the hea ...

' ''Media Monthly''. In addition, Snoddy is the author of a

biography A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just the basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or ...

of the media tycoon Michael Green: ''The Good, the Bad and the Unacceptable: The Hard News about the British Press'', about ethics in the newspaper industry, and other books. Whilst Media Editor at ''The Times'' in 2000, Snoddy was awarded the honour of the Ordinary Officer of the Civil Division of the said Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE); for his services to journalism.

Bibliography

*1993: ''The Good, the Bad and the Unacceptable: the hard news about the British press'', Faber & Faber, *1996: ''Greenfinger: the rise of Michael Green and Carlton Communications'', Faber & Faber, *2001: ''It Could Be You: the untold story of the National Lottery'', Faber & Faber,

References

1946 births People from Larne People educated at Larne Grammar School Alumni of Queen's University Belfast British male journalists Journalists from Northern Ireland BBC newsreaders and journalists Television presenters from Northern Ireland Officers of the Order of the British Empire Living people Columnists from Northern Ireland Male non-fiction writers from Northern Ireland {{UK-journalist-stub