An award-winning journalist dubbed an “institution” by his editor has marked 45 years in the industry – working for the same paper throughout that time.

Columnist Mike Amos has worked for The Northern Echo since 1965, winning numerous awards and being made an MBE.

He has been a columnist at the paper since the mid-1980s, after previously being news editor, and writes six columns a week, including one on grassroots sports and another on eating out.

In his Gadfly column last week, he wrote about having reached the 45-year milestone, saying “It’s been fun.”

Editor Peter Barron said Mike was due to retire next year but he hoped the columnist would continue to write for the paper.

“He really is a North East institution,” said Peter. “He is known by everybody.

“The attraction of Mike is a combination of a unique style of writing coupled with his unparalleled ability to get stories that nobody else gets anywhere near.

“He is the best off-diary journalist, I would argue, in all my time with newspapers. You don’t give him jobs, he just goes out.

“He uses public transport everywhere he goes as he has poor eyesight. He goes everywhere on trains and buses and just talks to people. He gets into every little corner of the region and unearths stories everywhere he goes.”

Mike has won a record seven journalist of the year awards at the Tom Cordner North East Press Awards and was given a lifetime achievement award at the event in 2005.

Comments

biter (07/09/2010 13:52:18)
Be nice to know how old he was. Mike would never have missed that out.