Terry Kirby
After a long career in journalism, Terry co-convenes both the MA Journalism programme, on which he has taught for more than a decade and the recently launched the BA History and Journalism programme
Staff details
Position
Senior Lecturer, co-convenor of the BA in History and Journalism and co-convenor of the MA in Journalism
Department
Media, Communications and Cultural Studies
t.kirby (@gold.ac.uk)
Programme co-convenor: BA History and Journalism and MA Journalism
Teaching
After a long career in journalism, Terry Kirby began teaching at Goldsmiths in 2008 and joined the staff of the Department in 2011. He has since served as chair of the Departmental Practice Committee, Director of the School of Journalism and as practice representative on the Departmental Management Team.
As well as convening and teaching on journalism programmes, he has been closely associated with the development of EastLondonLines, the local news website created and run by the Department as a training platform for journalism students
His interests include new digital platforms and online reporting, the future of local news, the reporting of the police and crime, consumer journalism, popular culture, ethical journalism and career progressions for young journalists. He is currently working on a book on the history of tabloid journalism.
Journalism work
After a several years as a journalist on newspapers in the West Midlands, in 1986 he became a founder member of the staff of the Independent and held several senior positions, including crime correspondent, assistant home editor, night editor and chief reporter. Since 2007 he has worked as a freelance journalist and journalism educator. His work has also appeared in the Independent on Sunday, the Guardian, the Daily Telegraph, the Evening Standard and the New Statesman.
As a crime journalist he reported extensively on important terrorism and criminal trials, urban disturbances, IRA bombing campaigns and major criminal stories, including the 1987 Hungerford massacre and the Lockerbie disaster. He led the Independents’ disclosures of the miscarriages of justice associated with the West Midlands Police Serious Crime Squad and has a long-standing interest in the criminal justice system, the law and the relationship between the police and the public.
As an editorial executive he was closely involved in the newspaper's coverage of many major stories, including the death of the Princess of Wales and the 9/11 attacks. As chief reporter of the Independent, he wrote about subjects as diverse as the 7/7 bombings, the Chelsea Flower Show, the Arctic Monkeys, wild boar hunting in Devon and spent time afloat in the English Channel with Greenpeace activists. He has worked in some capacity on every General Election since 1979, in recent years with Goldsmiths journalism students..
He has a strong interest in food and wine issues and has written, among other subjects, about cheese making, English sparkling wine, the Port trade, the history of Cornish pasties, and the pet food industry. For the past ten years, he has been writing a weekly wine column for firstly the Independent on Sunday and since 2016, the Independent.
He is the author of a true-crime book, The Trials of the Baroness.
