National World’s announcement at the weekend that it is to appoint its first freedom of speech editor is certainly an interesting development.
The publisher of The Yorkshire Post, The Sheffield Star, The Scotsman and many more said in its announcement that the eventual appointee will “underpin its commitment to free expression and champion local journalism across the UK.”
The importance of a free press is, naturally, not in any dispute. Perhaps especially so at National World, where the YP’s editor has warned of a “deeply worrying” attempt to undermine it through the recent dissection of the paper’s coverage of the Yorkshire County Cricket Club racism scandal and the ensuing DCMS enquiry.
That said, the job description as given doesn’t seem to impart too much solid information. It’s the first time National World has appointed such an editor, so we don’t really have a reference point, and we can’t find evidence of a similar role at any other major publications.
So, given the current lack of finer detail, we’ve taken a not-entirely-serious look at some candidates who could possibly, though more likely not, fit the job description.
