Terry Kirby
Terry Kirby is a senior lecturer in journalism and convenes the MA Journalism programme
Staff details
Position
Senior Lecturer and convenor of MA Journalism
Department
Media, Communications and Cultural Studies
t.kirby (@gold.ac.uk)
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. He was involved with the inception and creation of the MA Digital Journalism and BA Journalism. He has convened the MA Journalism programme for more than a decade.
As well as convening and teaching on journalism programmes, since 2010, he has been closely associated with the creation and development of EastLondonLines, the local news website run by the Department as a training platform for journalism students.
His interests include digital platforms and online reporting, the future of local news, police and crime reporting, consumer journalism, popular culture and career progressions for young journalists. His most recent book is a history of tabloid journalism
Featured publications
1991:
The Trials of the Baroness (Mandarin, 1991)
A true crime book about murder and fraud among the English upper classes
2024:
The Newsmongers - A History of Tabloid Journalism (Reaktion Books)
A history of the origins and of the highs and lows of tabloid and popular journalism
Journalism work
After a several years as a journalist on newspapers in the West Midlands, where he won awards for his crime reporting, 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 1988 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 wine and food 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. He wrote a regular wine column for the Independent on Sunday from 2011 to 2016 and from 2016 until 2023, for the Independent.
