{"id":14068,"date":"2025-01-23T10:08:35","date_gmt":"2025-01-23T10:08:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/?p=14068"},"modified":"2026-01-22T12:01:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T12:01:14","slug":"journalists-are-never-the-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/2025\/01\/23\/journalists-are-never-the-story\/","title":{"rendered":"Journalists Are Never The Story"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

UPDATE<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Reading graduate, Phil Creighton, received an honorary degree from the University of Reading on 11 December 2025.<\/span><\/p>\n

Professor Robert Van de Noort, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Reading, said: “A thriving democracy depends on strong local journalism, and Phil has dedicated his career to providing exactly that for our community.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHis commitment to championing local voices, holding power to account, and celebrating community achievements\u00a0demonstrates\u00a0the enduring importance of independent local news. We are\u00a0proud\u00a0to recognise his outstanding contribution to journalism.”<\/span><\/p>\n

\"PhilUpon receiving the award, Phil said: \u201cIt still feels surreal. I never went into journalism to win awards \u2013 my desire was to serve the community I live and work in and keep them informed. It is a huge honour to be recognised for creating local newspapers that people can be proud of.\u00a0My sincere thanks to all involved.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe University of Reading\u2019s various teams worked so hard to ensure the ceremony went smoothly, and the day was memorable. For that, I give my thanks.\u00a0This wasn\u2019t a one-off return \u2013 over the coming years I look forward to supporting students starting their own journalistic careers with The Spark<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Journalists Are Never The Story<\/h4>\n

“Well, except just this once,” said Phil as he wrote in his final column in June 2024, after nine years in the editor’s chair of Wokingham Today<\/em> and\u00a0Reading Today<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Phil Phil, who studied typography & graphic communication<\/a> at the University of Reading in the 1990\u2019s, sits down with CONNECTED to become the interviewee, rather than the interviewer for once \u2013 and, in a rare move \u2013 to make himself, the journalist, the story.<\/p>\n

Soaking it all up<\/strong><\/h4>\n

After a bumpy road to Reading, delayed by not getting enough UCAS points to take up his place, Phil received \u201ca kick up the backside\u201d from a friend and worked hard to land himself a place in Reading\u2019s Department of Typography.<\/p>\n

Phil said: \u201cThe Department is extraordinary \u2013 a wonderfully quirky place filled with historic type, old printing presses, and incredible people who know everything there is to know about printing from the early to the modern day.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was taught by some of the giants in the world of typography \u2013 from Dr Gerard Unger and Ken Garland to Martin Andrews. If I could go back, I\u2019d be telling myself to just soak it all up. I had the most wonderful tutors and went on amazing trips abroad, including Germany and Italy to discover the history of typography and printing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The
The Spark newspaper office in the 1990s<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It was very early on in Phil\u2019s student days \u2013 at the 1996 Fresher\u2019s Fair \u2013 when his journalism journey began as he stumbled upon the University\u2019s student newspaper, The Spark<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

He recalled: \u201cI used to borrow my dad\u2019s typewriter as a kid to write stories and make newspapers. But this passion went untapped until I got to Reading.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cIt never occurred to me that the University would have its own newspaper, but I was determined to get involved. This weekly student newspaper was a very special playground, which trained future editors and gave students a voice.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t just write it \u2013 we also laid the pages out, took it to the printers and distributed it around campus. I couldn\u2019t have asked for a better starting point and I learnt so much from my fellow students.<\/p>\n

\u201cI started off as a writer, then got involved in the page layout, and then worked my way up to deputy editor in the summer term of my first year. At the start of my second year I became editor, which I did for half a year. I vividly recall that my first edition as editor was about the St George\u2019s Hall catering team banning ketchup. Some students didn\u2019t like the food so they wrote about it in ketchup on dinner trays and the catering team retaliated by banning ketchup. That story made it into the Mail on Sunday<\/em>!\u201d<\/p>\n

The world of newspapers<\/strong><\/h4>\n

\"PhilIt was through delivering The Spark\u2019s<\/em> finished pages \u2013 on discs the size of dinner plates \u2013 to the Reading Post <\/em>offices, that led Phil to his first paid job in the industry.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cI got a part-time job setting property adverts, which I did for the last two years of my degree. When I graduated I became a teaboy who learned on the job.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cOnce I had ventured into the world of newspapers I knew it was definitely for me. What\u2019s even better, is that I\u2019ve managed to use my typography degree every day in my editorial career. I am evangelical about it and still refer to my old typography books to this day.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Phil shared that one of his real passions is setting the \u2018What\u2019s On\u2019 listing. He said: \u201cA lot of people stare blankly at me when I say this, but this listing allows me to use my typography skills to bring order to the chaos and present what\u2019s on at the theatre and cinema in a way that is easy to read and navigate.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom the very first day I walked into the editorial department, people came to me for advice on typographical questions and let me design things. When the 9\/11 disaster happened in 2001, we produced a special print edition. I had a very minor part to play in getting that edition to press which involved using my typography knowledge \u2013 this helped keep others informed about the disaster and I feel very grateful to the University for teaching me these skills.\u201d<\/p>\n

Championing the community<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Phil is proud to have spent much of his career working for a local paper \u2013 and, aside from five years at the Baptist Times<\/em> between 2002 and 2007, Phil has spent all his career in the Reading and Wokingham areas.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cWokingham Today <\/em>and Reading Today<\/em> are hyperlocal newspapers \u2013 independent publications owned by people who live and work in the locality.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re there to champion the community. For example, when the Arborfield Green development was being mooted in Wokingham we asked the developer questions on the community\u2019s behalf. We also help raise awareness of issues \u2013 for example, a councillor came to us with a problem he was struggling to get taken seriously. We put it on the front page and he got a result. We celebrate the amazing things people do and we cheerlead for our communities.<\/p>\n

\"Phil\u201cA local newspaper should reflect the community it serves. It\u2019s there to report on everything, from the village fetes and jumble sales, to the big fires and serious incidents.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the trade, we talk about eyeballs on the page. Simply put, if we aren\u2019t featuring pictures of our readers across our newspaper, then we aren\u2019t doing our job properly.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cEvery community needs a trusted local news source, and I\u2019m proud that over the past decade we became that for Wokingham and Reading.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cWhen I came to university here, I fell in love with Reading. One of the reasons I\u2019ve stayed, and became a local not a national journalist, is because of my love for this place. Reading is a town that\u2019s comfortable with itself, it knows who it is and it likes people for who they are.\u201d<\/p>\n

The next adventure<\/strong><\/h4>\n

So, as Phil brings 27 years in journalism across Reading and Wokingham to a close, how does he feel as he prepares to embark on his next adventure?<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cHonestly, it\u2019s weird being interviewed, instead of being the interviewee. But I\u2019d have to say that the sheer variety in this job is incredible and I love that no two days are ever the same. It\u2019s hard work though \u2013 particularly jumping out of bed to cover emergency events. It quite literally is a 24\/7 job.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cBut cut me and I\u2019ll bleed newspaper ink. So I\u2019ll be staying in the industry, working two days a week in London and freelancing the rest of my time.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cStudying at the University of Reading has opened more doors that I could ever have imagined, and I\u2019m so grateful to have come full circle. My relationship with Reading continues through their marvellous Press Office and consulting with University experts and academics. The University is a very special place, and I\u2019m very proud of my time there and my ongoing relationship with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Take a look at Phil\u2019s Cheeselogs website<\/a>, which celebrates events, activities, clubs and places in and around Reading.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UPDATE Reading graduate, Phil Creighton, received an honorary degree from the University of Reading on 11 December 2025. Professor Robert Van de Noort, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Reading, said: “A thriving democracy depends on strong local journalism, and Phil has dedicated his career to providing exactly that for our community.\u00a0 \u201cHis commitment to championing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":170,"featured_media":14070,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[5],"tags":[54,17,64,34,124,65],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nJournalists Are Never The Story - Connected<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Reading alumnus Phil Creighton became the interviewee, to mark stepping down as editor of Wokingham and Reading Today after nine years.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/connected\/2025\/01\/23\/journalists-are-never-the-story\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Journalists Are Never The Story - 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