{{Short description|British journalist and media executive (born 1957)}} {{Use British English|date=June 2019}} {{similar names|Susan Douglas (disambiguation){{!}}Susan Douglas}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2019}} {{Infobox journalist | name = Sue Douglas | birth_name = Susan Margaret Douglas | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1957|01|29|df=y}} | birth_place = [[London]], England | alma_mater = [[University of Southampton]] | spouse = {{marriage|[[Niall Ferguson]]|1994|2011|end=div}} | children = 3 }} '''Susan Margaret Douglas''' (born 29 January 1957) is a British media executive and former [[newspaper editor]].
==Early life== Born in London, she was educated at [[Tiffin Girls' School]] in Kingston.<ref name="Griffiths">[[Dennis Griffiths]] (ed.) ''The Encyclopedia of the British Press, 1422–1992'', London and Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1992, p.207</ref> After graduating with a first-class Honours degree<ref name="Fowler">Rebecca Fowler [https://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/is-hers-the-toughest-job-in-fleet-street-1317574.html "Is hers the toughest job in Fleet Street?"], ''The Independent'', 6 February 1996</ref> in physiology and biochemistry from [[University of Southampton|Southampton University]],<ref>[http://www.ashacentre.org/index.php/about/inspirational-women/item/579-sue-douglas "Sue Douglas"], The Asha Centre</ref> she began her career in 1978 with management consultants [[Andersen Consulting]].<ref name="Griffiths"/> She then became a [[medical journalist]] with [[Haymarket Publishing]]. In South Africa (1979–81) she worked for the South African ''Sunday Express'' and ''[[The Rand Daily Mail]]''.
==Career== Returning to Britain in 1981, she began writing for the ''[[Daily Mail]]'' and ''[[News of the World]]'', and in 1982 she joined the ''[[Mail on Sunday]]''. Initially a medical correspondent, she was promoted to [[associate editor]] of the newspaper, then assistant editor of the ''Daily Mail'' in 1987.<ref name="Griffiths"/> Joining ''[[The Sunday Times]]'' in 1991, she became deputy editor. Douglas launched the newspaper's Style & Culture sections, relaunched ''The Sunday Times'' magazine, ran the Insight investigative team and introduced many writers and columnists including [[Julie Burchill]], [[Jeremy Clarkson]], [[Taki Theodoracopulos|Taki]], [[Melvyn Bragg]] and her then-husband, historian [[Niall Ferguson]].
At the beginning of 1996, she took up her appointment as editor of the ''[[Sunday Express]]'',<ref name="Fowler"/> then owned by [[David Stevens, Baron Stevens of Ludgate|Lord Stevens]]. Just under two years later, [[Clive Hollick, Baron Hollick|Clive Hollick]] bought the Express group and rolled the Sunday into the Daily title, rendering all Sunday Express journalists redundant.
Douglas was chosen by former ''Sunday Times'' superior [[Andrew Neil]] to assist in relaunching ''[[The Scotsman]]'', ''Scotland on Sunday'' and the ''Edinburgh Evening News''. At the same time, she diversified into magazine publishing, working on the US launch of men's magazine ''[[Gear]]'', then the UK websites Vogue.com, Traveller.co.uk and after she helped launch the new title, ''[[Glamour (magazine)|Glamour]]'', in the UK, she ran the contract publishing division of [[Condé Nast Publications|Condé Nast]], with titles such as ''tate'', ''Trader'', ''Mandarin Oriental'', ''Harrods'' and the Post office magazine. ''Glamour'' was one of the most successful magazine launches ever, and Douglas, as President of New Business with Condé Nast, became a director.
==Later career== After recovering from a severe horse-riding accident which led to a brain haemorrhage,<ref>[http://www.scotsman.com/news/i-set-out-on-a-beautiful-day-to-ride-my-horse-it-nearly-cost-me-my-life-1-680304 "'I set out on a beautiful day to ride my horse. It nearly cost me my life'"], ''The Scotsman'', 5 February 2007</ref> she became a freelance executive. In 2008, she joined literary agency PFD as a director, and engineered the management buyout by Andrew Neil. The acquisition ultimately led to Douglas being forced to leave. Consultancy deals with HarperCollins, Future publishing and television company, Luxe.tv and Lingospot followed.<ref>Sophie Morris, "[https://web.archive.org/web/20100214161115/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/sue-douglas-my-life-in-media-501895.html Sue Douglas: My Life In Media]", 8 August 2005</ref>
Douglas, as part of a consortium, was reported in January 2013 to have been in talks with [[Trinity Mirror]] to purchase a majority stake in the ''[[Sunday People]]'' and rebrand it as ''The News of the People'' (Douglas had attempted to buy the ''[[News of the World]]'' after its closure).<ref>{{cite news|last=Sweney|first=Mark|url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2013/jan/10/sue-douglas-stake-sunday-people|title=Sue Douglas in talks to pay up to £10m for majority stake in Sunday People|date=2013-01-10|work=The Guardian|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Rushton|first=Katherine|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/media/9794252/Sue-Douglas-in-talks-to-take-over-Sunday-People-from-Trinity-Mirror.html|title=Sue Douglas in talks to take over Sunday People from Trinity Mirror|date=2013-01-10|language=en-GB|issn=0307-1235|via=telegraph.co.uk}}</ref> In May 2013, these plans were reported to have been dropped, although Phoenix Ventures, her company, remained in talks about other collaborations.<ref>{{cite news|last=Sweney|first=Mark|url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2013/may/10/sunday-people-bid-phoenix-ventures|title=Sunday People bid shelved by Phoenix Ventures|date=2013-05-10|work=The Guardian|access-date=2020-03-20|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}}</ref>
Early in the following month it emerged that she was to head a wholly owned subsidiary of Trinity Mirror called Sunday Brands. The leading publication would be the ''Sunday People'', with other titles from the group, but these would not include the ''Sunday Mirror''.<ref>Mark Sweney [https://www.theguardian.com/media/2013/jun/03/sue-douglas-trinity-mirror-sunday-people? "Sue Douglas to head Trinity Mirror subsidiary, including Sunday People"], guardian.co.uk, 3 June 2013</ref> The Sunday Brands was soon dropped, with Douglas' role changing to offering a digital version of the ''Sunday People''. In the end, the new website, launched in November 2013, did not meet Trinity Mirror's financial targets and closed in January 2014 when Douglas left the company.<ref>{{cite news|last=Sweney|first=Mark|url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/jan/28/sue-douglas-leaves-trinity-mirror|title=Sue Douglas leaves Trinity Mirror as People.co.uk closes|date=2014-01-28|work=The Guardian|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}}</ref>
==Personal life== Douglas married historian [[Niall Ferguson]] in 1994.<ref name=times-20090823>{{cite news |url=https://www.thetimes.com/world/us-world/article/professor-paul-krugman-at-war-with-niall-ferguson-over-inflation-dldb3kflfbq |title=Professor Paul Krugman at war with Niall Ferguson over inflation |last=Lynn |first=Matthew|author-link=Matthew Lynn|date=23 August 2009 |work=[[The Times]] |url-access=subscription}}</ref> They separated in 2010, and divorced in 2011.<ref>{{Cite news |url= https://www.independent.co.uk/news/corrections/niall-ferguson-and-ayaan-hirsi-ali-1909439.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220525/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/corrections/niall-ferguson-and-ayaan-hirsi-ali-1909439.html |archive-date=25 May 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=Niall Ferguson and Ayaan Hirsi Ali |work=The Independent |location=London |date=25 February 2010 |accessdate=6 October 2010 }}</ref> They have three children together.<ref name=times-20090823/>
==References== {{reflist}}
{{s-start}} {{s-media}} {{succession box|title=Deputy Editor of the ''[[Sunday Times]]''|years=1995|before=Ivan Fallon|after=[[Martin Ivens]]}} {{succession box|title=Editor of the ''[[Sunday Express]]''|years=1995–1996|before=[[Brian Hitchen]]|after=[[Richard Addis]]}} {{s-end}}
{{Express newspapers}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Douglas, Sue}} [[Category:1957 births]] [[Category:English women newspaper editors]] [[Category:English newspaper editors]] [[Category:English women journalists]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:Medical journalists]] [[Category:Alumni of the University of Southampton]] [[Category:People educated at the Tiffin Girls' School]]