Roger Alton (born 20 December 1947) is a British journalist and the editor of The Independent. His brother, Angus Alton, is a notable figure in the education world leading the comparison of general qualifications to ensure standards are maintained over years.

He was educated at Clifton College and Exeter College, Oxford. He joined the Liverpool Post on graduation moving to The Guardian five years later as a sub-editor. He was the editor of the British national Sunday newspaper The Observer from 1998 to 2007. Under his editorship, The Observer's editorial view supported the invasion of Iraq, a stance that Alton, speaking to Stephen Sackur on BBC's HARDtalk, (22 August 2008) has since admitted may have been incorrect.

He resigned on 24 October 2007 after "a bitter falling-out with senior figures at the title's sister paper, The Guardian" , and left The Observer at the end of 2007. Previously he was arts editor and G2 editor of The Guardian. He oversaw a rise in circulation during his editorship and introduced the award-winning Observer Sports, Food, and Music Monthlies. He is also well known for his profane language in morning editorial conferences.

In April 2008, Alton was confirmed as the new editor of The Independent, beginning work on 1 July 2008. ^[1] Since then, the Independent's circulation has plummeted by nearly 20 percent. He also writes a fortnightly sport column in the Spectator.

In March 2009 he took part in a survey in the New Statesman for his views on public services in the UK. After writing that he uses private education he answered the question "What is your view of [the UK's] public services, especially our education system and the health service?

"Health service seems pretty wonderful, though difficult to get in, and infrastructure awful- rubbish carpet tiles kind of thing...education seems absolutely ghastly most of the time, especially in London, God knows why...partly awful parents, the dreadful random violence and yobbery of a lot of people, hostility to thought and study, poor teachers...very very sad that of the western world we haven't built a free education system that people are proud of...also [expletive] around with the syllabus awful, no games and sports, and dismal recreation stuff...theatre etc...it's a miracle people do so well...personally I would advise people to flog their windscreens and try to send their kids private"^[2]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Journalisted - Articles by Roger Alton

Media offices
Preceded by Will Hutton	Editor of The Observer 1998 - 2007	Succeeded by John Mulholland
Preceded by Simon Kelner	Editor of The Independent 2008–present	Incumbent

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