As Managing Director of the Daily Mail, my brief from the Proprietor (both father and son) was clear – “put circulation first and, if you succeed, profit will follow”.
When Paul arrived on the Board of the Daily Mail in 1992 circulation was around 1,500,000. Not one member of that Board, including Paul, would have believed it possible that that number would increase to nearly 2,500,000, despite a declining national newspaper market.
Paul regarded his job as looking after his mid-Britain Mail readers and reflecting their interests in the newspaper. His readers were typically a married couple. She made most of the decisions, including what newspaper came into the house. They had two children, a mortgage and a dog. They wanted their children to have a good education, be safe on the streets, have decent healthcare, be able to pay the mortgage. The entire editorial line developed from that.
Any problems with distribution (snow, fire, terrorism) never got in the way of his polishing his beloved newspaper to the point where it was the best that it could possibly be. It would be ready when it was ready. This meant more press capacity than would otherwise have been necessary. It also led to the occasional odd decision, like mine, not to evacuate the Kensington office at 3.00pm on a Friday afternoon despite the fire brigade waving at us frantically and the smell of smoke being very noticeable.
The concerns of the advertisers were not his problem. He was going to deliver millions of loyal Daily Mail readers to them and if their ad and products were good enough it would work. Would he like to meet some advertisers?…. “No”. Would he like to meet some senior agency executives? …. “ No”.
His insistence on launching a very expensive TV listings magazine when listings were deregulated took Saturdays circulation from the lowest of the week up to 2,900,000. There was very little support for it in the building but he pushed it through, and the result was a triumph.
His focus on detail was extraordinary and often seemingly beyond reason. He would move an ad around the newspaper 7 or 8 times and then ask for it to be thrown out. Even when the advertising percentage was significantly lower than budgeted.
In short Paul was a Managing Director’s nightmare to work with and we had some moments where the ceiling tiles trembled. ….But would you rather work with a difficult, totally focussed individual who delivered a superb on-brief product, or a charming acquiescent editor who didn’t understand or focus on his audience?
He was indisputably the giant of his generation and arguably the most successful editor that, ‘Fleet Street’, has ever had.
Guy Zitter
Advertising Director, The Daily Mail, (1989 – 1994)
Managing Director, (1994 – 2014)
Retired before Paul gave him a heart attack.