John Mulholland (journalist) facts for kids
John Mulholland (born 20 November 1962) is an Irish journalist. He was the editor of the British Sunday newspaper The Observer for 10 years. He also worked as an assistant editor for The Guardian. Most of his career was spent with the Guardian Media Group. In April 2018, he became the editor of Guardian US, a news website for the United States. He left this job in 2022.
Early Life and School
Mulholland was born in Ranelagh, a part of Dublin, Ireland. He grew up with seven brothers and sisters. He went to Dublin City University and earned a degree in communications in 1983. He also studied for a master's degree in media and communications at California State University, Sacramento in the United States.
Journalism Career
Mulholland started his career in journalism in 1987. He worked as an arts assistant at The Independent newspaper. After that, he briefly worked for London Daily News.
In 1988, he helped start a company called Listings Limited. This company provided information about arts and entertainment events to different newspapers. He was the deputy editor there.
He joined The Guardian newspaper in 1990. He first worked as an assistant editor for the arts section. Later, in 1994, he became the media editor. In 1998, he left The Guardian for a short time. He was going to help relaunch a newspaper called Sporting Life. However, his contract ended quickly because of a disagreement about how the project should be managed.
Working at The Observer
Mulholland returned to the Guardian Media Group in 1998. He became the deputy editor of The Observer newspaper. In this role, he looked after different sections like magazines, sports, travel, and culture.
He helped create and launch new monthly magazines for food, sports, and music. He also helped change the newspaper's size and shape to a format called Berliner. He encouraged young journalists, like Nick Paton Walsh. Mulholland even submitted Walsh's first article for a "Young Journalist of the Year" award in 2000, which Walsh won.
Becoming Editor
In January 2008, John Mulholland became the editor of The Observer. He had read the newspaper since he was a teenager. As editor, he made some changes to the newspaper's team.
To help save money, he closed the monthly sports, music, and women's magazines in 2009. In February 2010, he relaunched the newspaper with four main sections and a smaller staff.
In 2015, Mulholland also became an assistant editor of The Guardian. This was one of the first big appointments made by Katharine Viner, the new editor-in-chief of Guardian News and Media. From July to autumn 2017, Mulholland was the temporary editor of Guardian US.
In April 2018, Mulholland officially became the editor of Guardian US. His deputy, Paul Webster, took over his previous role at The Observer. Mulholland left his job at Guardian US in 2022. Betsy Reed became the new editor after him.
