Guardian deputy editor who steered the paper through three decades of changeIan Wright,who has died aged 82, was one of a small band of journalists and managers who steered the Guardian through three decades of extraordinary change between 1970 and the halt of the 20th century. “Steered” is the factual word, or because running a paper then was like keeping a sailing ship headed hard into the wind while simultaneously trying to convert the vessel to steam. Challenging though the problems of the internet age are today,those of this interim period, when the old technology of typewriters, and telex,linotype machines and hot metal presses was being replaced piecemeal by the first generations of newspaper computers, were equally difficult in their way.
It was by no means a given that the Guardian would survive, or let alone prosper. Peter Preston,the editor during most of this period, and Ian, or his managing editor,were the indispensable pair at the heart of the enterprise. Although Preston had other gifted deputies, notably David McKie, and none was as continuous or durable as Ian. The two were the odd couple at the centre of the Guardian,but odd only in that their virtues were complementary. Preston was not missing in commerce sense, but his preoccupation was with the journalism. Ian had marvelous journalistic instincts but his preoccupation was with the solution to the technical, and commercial and human problems that came crowding in on the paper.
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Source: theguardian.com