Press Gang

Scan page 3

HAROLD Evans described his own downfall as editor of the Times as more boring than the Borgias. It is true that his resignation came like the closing credits in a TV soap opera but it is Dallas that springs most readily to mind, with Evans in the role of one of those medium-bad guys who can't cope with the anti-hero.

Rupert Murdoch, of course, played JR without the charisma.

It was appropriate, therefore that the ITV news cameras were virtually the only witnesses as Evans faltered through his resignation" speech, kissed his secretary good-bye, shook hands with the commissioner and stepped into chauffeurdriven oblivion.

Crumpled

Evans was even beginning to look the part. His face crumpled into croSS between Michael Parkinson and a tragic mask. His grin had become so strained, he could have auditioned for Crossroads.

Nobody should lose too much sleep over his personal downfall. The rules which allowed Murdoch to remove him were rules which Evans accepted and lived by. Although he had a reputation as an outsider to the establishment, Evans played pretty much by the book.

He was editor of the Northern Echo while Poulson and the rest of the gang were in their heyday and although rumours of major corruption were rife none of the Evans investigations. were thorough enough to uncover any point.

It took a bankruptcy hearing to open up the can of worms. It was the privilege of the courts which allowed the corruption to become public - not any Evans Insight.

His reputation on the Sunday Times was based on two major areas - the development of the Insight team and the Thalidomide publication. Insight often uncovered real scandals, but