Howard Barrell, editor of the Mail & Guardian since January last year, has resigned to be closer to his family, now living in the United Kingdom.
“My family has suffered as a result of my commitment to the newspaper, and it is long overdue that I rectify that,” an emotional Barrell said as he announced his resignation to staff on Tuesday.
He leaves the paper at the end of this month. M&G owner Trevor Ncube said the editor’s post would be advertised from this week.
Paying tribute to Barrell, Ncube said he had been supportive of the changes “that we have been making to turn this great newspaper into a commercial success. We are seeing the positive effects of the changes over the past six weeks, and Howard shares my vision and passion for the M&G.”
Ncube commended Barrell as a great fighter for press freedom who did not shy away from taking principled positions.
Barrell said he had suspected for some time that a set of fresh editorial ideas might be necessary at the paper. “I am now convinced that only a new editor can provide those. Perhaps my contribution to the M&G has been to have helped keep it on course through a difficult transition before Trevor’s takeover.”
The Guardian announced in October 2001 that it would be selling its majority stake in the M&G. Ncube took over as proprietor on July 1 2002.
Barrell started out in journalism in 1976, as a reporter on The Star. During the 1980s he was among the first to report on the underground activities of the liberation movements. He did much of his reporting during his five-year term as editor of a small independent news agency, Agenda Press Services. He also served as The Weekly Mail’s Harare correspondent. In 1988 he was admitted to Oxford University at master’s level and received his doctorate in 1994.
From mid-1998 until assuming the editorship, he was the M&G’s political editor.