Rowan Dore wrote up this short account of May 2004's speaker's visit:
Former editor of the Daily Mirror Roy Greenslade, now a media commentator or as Karen Hoy of The Argus describes him 'a media icon', was the guest speaker at our May meeting.
It was a timely opportunity to hear the views of the former Argus sub editor and NUJ activist as days earlier one of his predecessors , Piers Morgan had been sacked for publishing fake photographs of Iraqi prisoners being tortured.
Roy said he would not have published the photographs had he still been editing the paper as he was 'too cautious'. He said picture editors on national papers had immediately spotted the pictures were faked and staged.
Roy said he believed Piers would have kept his job had he admitted the pictures were fake after a couple of days. 'It was his continued insistence that the pictures were genuine that was his downfall'. Roy denied that he 'sold out' his union beliefs as he moved up the journalism management tree, first as managing edior of the Sunday Times and then editor of The Mirror.
He told of his time as editor of the Mirror under Robert Maxwell, talking about the interference of Maxwell during the 14 months he edited the Mirror between 1990 and 1991, eventually parting company with a large pay off.
Roy went on to write a best-selling book Maxwell's Fall after Bob Maxwell's death in November 1991. Roy in answer to a question from Sam Thomson of The Argus said he was surprised the new-look paper was targeting 35-year-old women with kids as the ideal reader. 'If The Argus is, then it is not that evident. I believe it is stupid for what is still basically an evening paper to concentrate on one group of readers.
'I don't think there are enough 35-year-old women married women with two kids living in Brighton to make that marketing ploy a success. The Standard has made a success of a niche market but there are more people living in the Standard's circulation area'.
The former Mirror editor said he believed the number of national newspaper titles would remain the same for the next few years.
