{{short description|British newspaper in London}} {{use dmy dates|date=March 2020}} {{use British English|date=March 2020}} {{Infobox newspaper | name = Camden New Journal | logo = | logo_size = | logo_alt = | image = File:Camden New Journal front cover, 17 January 2019.jpg | image_size = | image_alt = | caption = The front page of the ''Camden New Journal'' on the 17 January 2019 | type = Newspaper | format = | owner = [https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/01624756 New Journal Enterprises] | founder = Eric Gordon | editor = | chief_editor = | deputy_editor = | associate_editor = | managing_editor = | general_manager = | news_editor = | dirvisuals = | dirvideo = | metro_editor = | metro_chief = | opinion_editor = | photo_editor = | staff_writers = | launched = {{start date and age|1982|df=yes}}<ref>{{Cite news |last=Kleinman |first=Philip |date=15 July 1982 |title=Weekly publishers in a free-for-all |page=14 |newspaper=The Guardian |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/50118572/describes-information-about-the-camden/ |access-date=3 May 2020 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> | language = English | ceased_publication = <!-- Use: {{end date|YYYY|MM|DD}} --> | relaunched = | headquarters = {{plainlist| *40 Camden Road *Camden Town *London, NW1 9DR<ref>{{cite web |title=NEW JOURNAL ENTERPRISES LIMITED |url=https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/01624756 |website=Companies House |access-date=28 March 2020 |quote=Registered office address 38-40 Camden Road, NW1 9DR }}</ref> }} | publishing_city = London | publishing_country = England | circulation = ~70,000 including sister titles | circulation_date = 2020 | circulation_ref = <ref>{{Cite web |title=Don't let the government limit our right to know |url=https://www.camdennewjournal.co.uk/article/dont-let-the-government-limit-our-right-to-know |access-date=2022-10-19 |website=Camden New Journal |language=en-gb}}</ref> | readership = | sister_newspapers = ''Westminster Extra'', ''Islington Tribune'' | ISSN = | eISSN = | oclc = 751714604 | website = {{URL|http://www.camdennewjournal.com}} | free = [https://edition.pagesuite.com/launch.aspx?pbid=17f44973-4555-45fd-8eaa-50c862e86de6 Camden New Journal e-edition] }}
The '''''Camden New Journal''''' is a British independent newspaper published in the London Borough of Camden. It was launched by editor Eric Gordon in 1982 following a two-year strike at its predecessor, the ''Camden Journal''.<ref name=pressgazette>{{cite web |url= https://www.pressgazette.co.uk/how-a-cultural-revolution-came-to-camden-town/ |title= How a cultural revolution came to Camden Town |website= Press Gazette |date= 25 August 2005 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url= http://newmodeljournalism.com/2010/03/eric-gordon-the-camden-new-journal/ |title=Eric Gordon – The Camden New Journal |website=New Model Journalism|date=26 March 2010 |author= Tim Dawson}}</ref> The newspaper was supported by campaigning journalist Paul Foot and former Holborn and St Pancras MP Frank Dobson. It carries significant influence locally, due to its high news content, investigations and large circulation.
It is frequently critical of local and national government, which has led to attacks by national government ministers, as well as local councillors, unusually for a local paper. On being awarded its second ''Press Gazette'' Free Newspaper of the Year award in 2005, the judges praised how the paper kept its "huge local council on its toes with exclusive after exclusive".<ref name=pressgazette/>
==History== The ''Camden New Journal'' has its origins in 1872, when the ''Holloway Press'' began. In 1875, the newspaper was renamed the ''North Metropolitan and Holloway Press'' before becoming the ''Holloway Press'' in 1880, the ''Islington & Holloway Press'' in 1923, and the ''North London Press'' from 1942.<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |title=Islington: Social and cultural activities {{!}} British History Online |url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/middx/vol8/pp45-51 |access-date=2023-02-02 |website=www.british-history.ac.uk}}</ref>
From 1964, separate editions of the ''North London Press'' were published for Islington and Camden, before the publications separated in February 1971 to form the ''Holloway & Islington Journal'' and the ''Camden Journal'', the former being discontinued in 1974.<ref name=":4" />
The ''Camden Journal'' continued until the 1980s when Eric Gordon bought the newspaper from ''Courier Press'' for £1 following a 16-month strike that started when nine journalists were dismissed in December 1980 upon the closure of the original ''Camden Journal''.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Tobitt |first=Charlotte |date=2021-04-12 |title=Camden New Journal's 'benevolent dictator' Eric Gordon leaves 'small is beautiful' legacy after death at 89 |url=https://pressgazette.co.uk/news/camden-new-journal-eric-gordon-death-legacy/ |access-date=2023-01-31 |website=Press Gazette |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":5">{{Cite web |last=adwoakorkoh |date=2022-03-27 |title='Like a minnow among the sharks' |url=https://angelacobbinah.wordpress.com/2022/03/27/like-a-minnow-among-the-sharks/ |access-date=2023-02-03 |language=en}}</ref> Camden Labour backed the journalists and on 3 January 1981 they helped distribute the first edition of ''Save the Journal''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Books: Former Labour councillor Bob Latham's response to Piers Wauchope's book Camden: A Political History {{!}} Camden Review (beta) |url=http://www.thecnj.com/camden_review/reviews/books/2010/apr/books-former-labour-councillor-bob-lathams-response-piers-wauchopes-book-camd |access-date=2023-02-03 |website=www.thecnj.com}}</ref> A campaign was launched that was backed by journalists at the ''Hornsey Journal'' and ''Islington Gazette'' and NUJ members in Nuneaton, Leamington Spa, Rugby, Haverfordwest, Ammanford and London's suburban papers.<ref name=":6">{{Cite web |title=Eric Gordon: He refused to look the other way on issues of racism and inequality |url=https://www.camdennewjournal.co.uk/article/eric-gordon-he-refused-to-look-the-other-way-on-issues-of-racism-and-inequality?sp=-5 |access-date=2023-02-03 |website=Camden New Journal |language=en-gb}}</ref> The campaign succeeded, with the publication being turned into a free newspaper and re-launched as the ''Camden New Journal'' on 25 March 1982.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |url=https://www.thejc.com/news/news/eric-gordon-1.520517?reloadTime=1675194772482 |access-date=2023-01-31 |website=www.thejc.com |title=Eric Gordon }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=CNJ at 40: The New Journal forged ahead like a minnow among the sharks |url=https://www.camdennewjournal.co.uk/article/cnj-at-40-the-new-journal-forged-ahead-like-a-minnow-among-the-sharks |access-date=2023-01-31 |website=Camden New Journal |language=en-gb}}</ref>
The paper launched with eight full time admin and editorial staff, and others contributing their services, including sub-editor and designer Renee Oldfield, formerly of the ''Enfield Gazette'', and her husband Irving, retired chief press officer at the National Coal Board, competing against its long established competitors, the ''St Pancras Chronicle'' and the ''Hampstead and Highgate Express''.<ref name=":5" /> Gordon gradually built on the tiny circulation of the former ''Camden Journal'' by combining the usual local paper fare of fetes, deaths and marriages with hard-edged campaigning news stories highlighting social inequity, particularly on issues of class and race.<ref name=":6" /> The newspaper occupied a one-room office on the ground floor of 40 Camden Road, Camden Town; these offices had been the base, courtesy of the Town Hall, of the weekly strike paper, ''Save The Journal''.<ref name=":5" />
In 2006, the ''Camden New Journal'' – and its sister paper the ''Islington Tribune'' – broke the national story that government minister Margaret Hodge had described the war in Iraq as British Prime Minister Tony Blair's biggest mistake.<ref>{{Cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2006/nov/17/islingtontribuneseditorland |title = Islington Tribune's editor lands political scoop|newspaper = The Guardian|date = 17 November 2006|last1 = Greenslade|first1 = Roy}}</ref>
In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the ''Camden New Journal'' set up a food aid van project in which the paper played a role in getting food to those at risk of going hungry.<ref name=":7">{{Cite web |title=Camden New Journal named the nation's best at Regional Press Awards |url=https://www.camdennewjournal.co.uk/article/camden-new-journal-named-the-nations-best-at-regional-press-awards |access-date=2023-02-03 |website=Camden New Journal |language=en-gb}}</ref>
As of 2021, the ''Camden New Journal'' has a distribution of 50,000, which includes door-to-door deliveries and pick-up bins around the borough of Camden.<ref name=":1" /> The newspaper reaches one in every two people in the borough and there is also an e-reader edition.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Camden New Journal |url=https://www.thepressawards.com/finalists/camden-new-journal-r0028 |access-date=2023-02-03 |website=The Press Awards |language=en}}</ref>
In March 2023, to mark International Women's Day, Issue 2120 was written exclusively by women. The 'Not Just One Day' edition, edited by Anna Lamche, had articles written by regular journalists Frankie Lister-Fell, Izzy Rowley and Charlotte Chambers, in addition to contributions from notable women such as Hampstead and Kilburn MP Tulip Siddiq, Liberal Democrat politician Luisa Porritt, author Kathy Lette, Camden Council leader Georgia Gould, journalist Joan Bakewell, author Bonnie Greer, writer Joanna Briscoe and Green Party Co-leader Sian Berry AM. The sports pages, written by Catherine Etoe, covered news from sporting events featuring women.<ref>{{Cite news |date=9 March 2023 |title=In Our Own Words |pages=1–39 |work=Camden New Journal}}</ref>
==Content== Now part of the New Journal Enterprises group,<ref name=":8" /> the newspaper's content is produced at 40 Camden Road in Camden Town, London and covers the areas of Belsize Park, Bloomsbury, Camden Town, Chalk Farm, Covent Garden, Gospel Oak, Hampstead, Holborn, Kentish Town, Kilburn, Primrose Hill, Regent's Park, Somers Town, Swiss Cottage and West Hampstead.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Homepage |url=https://www.camdennewjournal.co.uk/ |access-date=2023-02-06 |website=Camden New Journal |language=en-gb}}</ref>
In addition to local news stories, the paper covers arts and features, local politics in the ''Peeps'' column and sport. The paper also includes a letters page and a diary page, penned by John Gulliver. Richard Osley has been editor of the publication since 2021.<ref name=":7" />
Current journalists at the ''Camden New Journal'' include Dan Carrier, Anna Lamche, Frankie Lister-Fell, Izzy Rowley, Charlotte Chambers, Steve Barnett and Tom Foot.{{Citation needed|date=January 2023}} Former contributor Rose Hacker was believed to be the world's oldest columnist; her column ceased with her death in 2008 at the age of 101.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7227551.stm|title='World's oldest columnist' dies|website=News.bbc.co.uk|date=4 February 2008|access-date=22 October 2021}}</ref>
== Awards == In 2008, journalist Paul Keilthy was nominated in both the Reporter Of The Year and Feature Writer Of The Year categories at the ''Press Gazette'' awards. Richard Osley was also shortlisted for Feature Writer Of The Year. Journalists Dan Carrier and Simon Wroe were nominated in 2009 for the same award. William McLennan was named weekly reporter of the year at the Regional Press Awards 2018. The newspaper was nominated for Newspaper Of The Year for regional newspapers with high circulations.
It was named Free Newspaper of The Year at ''Press Gazette''{{'}}s national industry awards in 2001, 2003, 2005, 2010, 2018, 2019 and 2021. It was nominated in 2002, 2004 and 2020. In 2020, the award went to sister title the ''Islington Tribune''.<ref name=":7" />
== Editors == 1982 – 2021: Eric Gordon
2021 – present: Richard Osley
== Eric Gordon == The ''Camden New Journal'' was launched by Eric Ephraim Gordon in March 1982. Gordon was born on 28 May 1931 and grew up in Wythenshawe, Greater Manchester, where his parents, Samuel and Sarah Gordon, ran a newspaper shop.<ref name=":2" /> He had a brother, Jeffrey, and sister, Anita. Gordon's grandparents, Philip (a tailor) and Leah Gordon, emigrated to the United Kingdom in the 1880s from Eastern Europe. Gordon, who was Jewish, subsequently moved to Cheetham, north Manchester where he attended a secular school before being offered a place at Gateshead Yeshivah.<ref name=":2" /> He then moved to a Talmudic college in Stamford Hill, London; however, he ran away after two years.<ref name=":2" /> On Gordon's eighteenth birthday, he joined the Young Communist League, after being persuaded by his communist brother to reject institutionalised Judaism.<ref name=":2" />
Gordon learnt shorthand and typing in his ambition to become a journalist. After spending three years of National Service in the pathology labs of the Royal Medical Corps, he worked on a series of local newspapers, including the ''Brighton Evening Argus'' and the ''Daily Herald''.<ref name=":2" /> Gordon married Marie (née Biney) in 1955 and the couple had a son, Kim, in 1965, and daughter, Leigh, in 1970.<ref name=":2" />
In February 1965, Gordon took his wife and son to Beijing to work in the Chinese government's foreign-language publishing house. By 1967, Gordon had been accused of spying in and spent two years under house arrest. The Chinese authorities found notes about the Cultural Revolution, on which he planned to write a book, while Gordon was working in a commune.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |last=Sharman |first=David |title=Camden New Journal editor Eric Gordon dies aged 89 - Journalism News from HoldtheFrontPage |url=https://www.holdthefrontpage.co.uk/2021/news/serving-editor-who-was-still-working-for-weekly-he-founded-dies-aged-89/ |access-date=2023-01-31 |website=HoldtheFrontPage |language=en-GB}}</ref> In 1969, following surgery for cancer, he negotiated a cleverly worded 'confession', admitting to being anti-Marxist and bourgeois, but not a spy.<ref name=":2" /> After Gordon's release, he wrote a book, ''Freedom Is a Word''.<ref name=":2" />
Gordon's second marriage was to Samantha (née Harding), with whom he had a second daughter, Elly. Gordon lived in Primrose Hill and died on 5 April 2021, aged 89, after a short illness.<ref name=":2" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Eric Gordon: Tributes to Camden's great chronicler as founder and editor of CNJ dies at 89 |url=https://www.camdennewjournal.co.uk/article/eric-gordon-tributes-to-camdens-great-chronicler-as-founder-and-editor-of-cnj-dies-at-89 |access-date=2023-01-31 |website=Camden New Journal |language=en-gb}}</ref> He was the ''Camden New Journal''{{'s}} founding and only editor, celebrating the 2000th issue in 2020, and continued to work on the publication until his death.<ref name=":1" /> The ''Camden New Journal''{{'s}} deputy editor, Richard Osley, wrote, "As editor of one of the last independent titles in the UK, he was proud of the newspaper's freedom from large groups and championed a co-op style structure, warning that papers would struggle to survive if they had to answer to faraway group executives or distant shareholders seeking dividends each year."<ref name=":3" />
=== Legacy === Before Gordon's death, he set out a vision to set up a new management structure for the newspaper. He proposed the idea of an outside body of trustees to represent the community and to ensure the newspaper followed, as faithfully as possible, the aims and principles that led to its birth in 1982. Following Gordon's death, the intention is to ensure the newspaper can not be bought by one person who could change its focus towards making a profit; true to Gordon's original aim of only covering the costs to allow for the publication of a "campaigning, open-to-all newspaper".<ref name=":1" />
== Westminster Extra == The ''Westminster Extra'', also known as the ''Extra'', began as a pull-out in its sister paper the ''Camden New Journal'' as the ''West End Extra''. The ''Extra'' was formed by former ''Camden New Journal'' editor, Eric Gordon, after seeing a gap in the market for a 'local, free to read and stubbornly independent' newspaper in the West End, and in 1994 the first stand-alone edition was launched. The newspaper was free from dispensers across Covent Garden, Soho, Marylebone and Mayfair, as well as being sold at selected newsagents for 17p.<ref name=":9">{{Cite web |title=Free to read and stubbornly independent – your Extra |url=https://www.camdennewjournal.co.uk/article/free-to-read-and-stubbornly-independent-your-extra |access-date=2023-02-27 |website=Camden New Journal |language=en-gb}}</ref> The paper has covered major national events, such as the Admiral Duncan pub bombings in 1999 and the 2005 7/7 bombings, as well as local issues, including the aftermath of the Shirley Porter Homes For Votes scandal.<ref name=":9" />
The ''Extra'' covers the entire City of Westminster and is produced from the ''New Journal''{{'s}} Camden Town office. Despite the paper's name, it also includes Kensington and Chelsea in its list of areas covered. The paper includes a letters page and a diary column, ''Harrington'', named after former literary editor Illtyd Harrington, Ken Livingstone's former deputy on the Greater London Council.<ref name=":9" />
In February 2023, the ''Extra'' published its 1,500th edition.<ref name=":9" />
==New Journal Enterprises group== The ''Camden New Journal'', ''Islington Tribune'', ''Westminster Extra'', and ''The Review'' are all publications of New Journal Enterprises.<ref name=":8">{{cite web |url=http://www.thecnj.com/rate_card/03ratecardoverviewIT.html |title=Publications by New Journal Enterprises |website=Camden New Journal|access-date= 29 July 2018}}</ref>
The ''Islington Tribune'', launched in 2003, is a widely-read local newspaper in the London Borough of Islington, contributed to by Koos Couvée and Joe Cooper.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |first=Charlotte |last=Tobitt |date=2021-04-12 |title=Future of Camden New Journal after death of Eric Gordon |url=https://pressgazette.co.uk/camden-new-journal-eric-gordon-death-legacy/ |access-date=2022-06-06 |website=Press Gazette |language=en-US}}</ref> Former reporters include Joel Taylor, Kim Janssen and Andrew Walker, who works for the BBC, as well as former ''Camden New Journal'' deputy editor Andrew Johnson. Peter Gruner, an award-winning environment journalist who previously worked for the ''Evening Standard'', worked for the title until 2015.
The ''Westminster Extra'' (formerly known as the ''West End Extra'', a name it retains online), which covers the entire City of Westminster, launched in 2005 and is also produced from the ''New Journal''{{'s}} Camden Town office.<ref name=":0" /> Both are also edited by Tom Foot.{{Citation needed|date=February 2023}} Despite the paper's name, it also includes Kensington and Chelsea in its list of areas covered.<ref>{{Cite news|date=2008-02-04|title='World's oldest columnist' dies|language=en-GB|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/7227551.stm|website=News.bbc.co.uk|access-date=2021-07-27}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Westminster Extra |url=https://edition.pagesuite.com/html5/reader/production/default.aspx?pnum=1&edid=3d51573b-6be2-4015-ae0e-13dd2866db9f&isshared=true |website=Edition.pagesuite.com |access-date=24 July 2020}}</ref>
== Other newspapers in the neighbouring area ==
* ''Barnet Times'' * ''Brent & Kilburn Times'' * ''Hampstead & Highgate Express'' * ''Islington Gazette'' * ''Westminster Extra''
==See also== * [http://camdennewjournal.com ''Camden New Journal'' official website] * {{Portal-inline|Journalism}} * {{Portal-inline|London}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Newspapers in London}}
Category:1982 establishments in the United Kingdom Category:Media and communications in the London Borough of Camden Category:Newspapers established in 1982 Category:London newspapers Category:Weekly newspapers published in the United Kingdom