Editing Ian Hislop (section)

=== ''Private Eye'' ===
[[File:Ian Hislop - 2009.jpg|thumb|Hislop at a ''[[Private Eye]]'' book signing in 2009]]
At Oxford, Hislop revived and edited the magazine ''Passing Wind'',<ref name="ot" /> for which he interviewed [[Richard Ingrams]], who was then editor of ''[[Private Eye]]'', and [[Peter Cook]], then the majority shareholder. Hislop's first article in the ''Eye'' appeared in 1980 before he sat his university finals. A parody of ''[[The Observer]]'' magazine's "Room of My Own" feature, it described an [[Irish Republican Army|IRA]] prisoner on the [[dirty protest]] decorating his cell in "fetching brown".<ref name="Summerskill">Ben Summerskill [https://www.theguardian.com/media/2002/sep/01/pressandpublishing.uknews "Has Piers now got news for Ian?"], ''The Observer'', 1 September 2002</ref> Hislop joined the publication immediately after leaving Oxford, and became editor in 1986 following Ingrams's departure. This met opposition from ''Eye'' journalists Peter McKay and [[Nigel Dempster]],<ref name="Byrne">{{cite news |title=Ian Hislop: My 20 years at the Eye |author=Ciar Byrne |newspaper=[[The Independent]] |date=23 October 2006 |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/ian-hislop-my-20-years-at-the-eye-421312.html |access-date=28 November 2010 |location=London}}</ref> who attempted a revolt against Hislop with the former taking Peter Cook out for lunch in an attempt to dissuade him from appointing Hislop. Cook, reportedly drunk after the lunch, instead announced Hislop was "welcome aboard". The new editor, dismissive of society gossip,<ref name="Moss" /> sacked both McKay and Dempster from the magazine without hesitation.<ref name="Byrne" />

As editor of ''Private Eye'', Ian Hislop is reputedly the most [[sued]] man in English legal history,<ref name="Byrne" /><ref name="indep">{{cite news|title=Ian Hislop: Provocateur in the public eye|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/ian-hislop-provocateur-in-the-public-eye-2276884.html|newspaper=[[The Independent]]|date=30 April 2011|location=London}}</ref> although he is not involved in as many [[libel]] actions as he once was.<ref name="metro">{{cite news |title= 60 Seconds: Ian Hislop |author=Andrew Williams |newspaper=[[Metro (British newspaper)|Metro]] |date=4 December 2006 |url=http://www.metro.co.uk/showbiz/interviews/27795-60-seconds-ian-hislop |access-date=28 November 2010 }}</ref> A libel case was brought against ''Private Eye'' and Hislop in 1986 by the publisher [[Robert Maxwell#Controversy|Robert Maxwell]] after the magazine accused him of funding [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]] leader [[Neil Kinnock]]'s travel expenses as a means of gaining a peerage.<ref>Steve Lohr [https://www.nytimes.com/1988/05/01/magazine/britain-s-maverick-mogul.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm "Britain's Maverick Mogul"], ''The New York Times'', 1 May 1988</ref> After the case Hislop quipped: "I've just given a fat cheque to a fat Czech". After his death in 1991, Maxwell was revealed to be an extensive fraudster, illegally drawing on his companies' pension funds; his last writ for libel against the ''Eye'' and Hislop was about this "malicious" and "mendacious" claim.<ref name="Summerskill" />

Another libel case in May 1989 threatened the magazine's existence when it was ordered to pay £600,000 in damages following an action for libel by [[Sonia Sutcliffe]], wife of the Yorkshire Ripper, [[Peter Sutcliffe]]. Hislop told reporters waiting outside the [[High Court of Justice|High Court]]: "If that's justice, then I'm a banana." The award was dropped to £60,000 on appeal.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/24/newsid_2503000/2503595.stm |title=On this day – 24 May 1989: Yorkshire Ripper's wife wins damages |work=[[BBC News]] |access-date=28 November 2010 |date=24 May 1989}}</ref> In an interview with ''[[Third Way Magazine]]'' in 1995 he explained his intentions in his work: "Satire is the bringing to ridicule of vice, folly and humbug. All the negatives imply a set of positives. Certainly in this country, you only go round saying, 'That's wrong, that's corrupt' if you have some feeling that it should be better than that. People say, 'You satirists attack everything.' Well, we don't, actually. That's the whole point."<ref>{{cite journal |author=Martin Wroe |date=March 1995 |title=Is Nothing Sacred? |journal=[[Third Way Magazine|Third Way]] |issn=0309-3492 |volume=18 |issue=2 |pages=12–15 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Cg5gAS_YdyEC&pg=PA12 |access-date=28 November 2010 }}</ref>

In April 2017, Hislop won the [[London Press Club]]'s print journalist of the year award; in his acceptance speech he said that ''Private Eye'' obtaining its best [[Audit Bureau of Circulations (UK)|ABC]] sales figures since the magazine's launch 55 years earlier proved that "journalism is A, worth doing, and B, worth paying for both in terms of paying journalists and the public paying up for it".<ref name="Press Gazette 27 April 2017">{{cite news |last= Ponsford |first= Dominic |title= Paywall plea from Witherow as Times titles take newspaper of the year double at London Press Club awards |url= http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/paywall-plea-from-witherow-as-times-titles-take-newspaper-of-the-year-double-at-london-press-club-awards/| date= 27 April 2017| work= [[Press Gazette]] |location=London| access-date= 28 April 2017 }}</ref>

[[File:PrivateEyeCriterion041223 (1 of 8) (53376398042) (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright|Hislop speaking at ''An Evening With Private Eye'' in 2023]]
In January 2022, Hislop alongside fellow ''Eye'' journalists  [[Richard Brooks (journalist)|Richard Brooks]] and [[Solomon Hughes (journalist)|Solomon Hughes]] presented evidence on [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|MP]]s' conduct to the [[Commons Select Committee on Standards|House of Commons' Standards Committee]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Ian Hislop Tears Into MPs Over Sleaze, Second Jobs And Lobbying |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/ian-hislop-mps-parliament-sleaze_uk_61f07e1be4b067cbfa155f37 |website=HuffPost UK |language=en |date=25 January 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/290/committee-on-standards/news/160473/standards-committee-announce-new-evidence-sessions-on-reform-of-code-of-conduct-for-mps/ |website=Parliament |access-date=29 January 2022 |title=Standards Committee announce new evidence sessions on reform of Code of Conduct for MPs}}</ref>