Bridget Rowe (16 March 1950 – 12 January 2021) was a British newspaper editor.

Life and career

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Rowe worked for a succession of magazines: 19, Petticoat, Club, Look Now and Woman's World, before becoming Assistant Editor of The Sun, then editor of "Sunday", the News of the World's magazine. In 1986, Rowe became editor of Woman's Own,[1] then left to become editor of TV Times.

Rowe edited the Sunday Mirror from 1991 to 1992, then moved to edit The People. In 1993 The People published a photo of Sonia Sutcliffe taken by a freelance photographer that breached Press Complaints Commission code of conduct on privacy.[2] Her refusal to accept respsponsibility for the actions of the photographer was described by the PCC as "lamentable".[2]

In 1995, she became managing director of both newspapers, and in 1997 she returned to editing the Sunday Mirror for a year.[2] After this she served as the Director of Communications for the National Magazine Company, and later was the content director of Yava until it closed in 2001.[3][2] She was a panelist on the first series of Loose Women in 1999.

A friend[4] of UK Independence Party (UKIP) leader Nigel Farage, Rowe registered as the leader of Libertas UK with the United Kingdom Electoral Commission in December 2008,[4] in order to prevent Declan Ganley's political party Libertas from fielding candidates in the UK's European Parliament elections in 2009 under that name.[4] Rowe worked as public relations chief for the businessman and UKIP donor Arron Banks.[5]

Rowe died from COVID-19 in Farnborough on 12 January 2021, at the age of 70, during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom.[6]

References

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  1. ^ Hugh Thompson, "Dallasty and Glynis recipe", The Guardian, 7 July 1986
  2. ^ a b c d "Bridget Rowe, award-winning tabloid editor with her finger on the populist pulse – obituary". The Daily Telegraph. 26 January 2021. Archived from the original on 27 January 2021. Retrieved 29 March 2021.
  3. ^ "Inside Story: The ex-editors' files", The Independent, 9 May 2005
  4. ^ a b c "Libertas faces UK electoral hurdle over party name" Archived 2012-10-21 at the Wayback Machine, Irish Times, Friday, January 23, 2009
  5. ^ Syal, Rajeev (4 October 2014). "Ukip donor Arron Banks shows tax cheque sent to HMRC for £1.86m". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 December 2016.
  6. ^ "Trailblazing journalist and Fleet Street legend Bridget Rowe dies aged 70". Daily Mirror. 16 January 2021.
Media offices
Preceded by Editor of the Sunday Mirror
1991–1992
Succeeded by
Preceded by Editor of The People
1992–1996
Succeeded by
Preceded by Editor of the Sunday Mirror
1997–1998
Succeeded by