Like former editor of the Guardian Alan Rusbridger (Who broke the news?, The long read, 31 August), I started as a journalist on the Cambridge evening paper, though it was called the Cambridge Daily News in 1959. It was briefly owned by IPC (the Daily Mirror group) and two of the big cheeses, Cecil King and Hugh Cudlipp, paid a state visit one day when I was doing a subbing shift. Smoking large cigars they came back after lunch with the editor, who dismissed us: “They’re only the subs.” Cecil King, power in the land and nephew of Northcliffe, had once worked as a sub in Glasgow. Blowing a smoke ring he retorted: “Subs make a paper.” Now, in the face of haste, fake news and post-truths, the fact-checking role of a subeditor is more crucial than ever.
Richard Bourne
London
• Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com
• Read more Guardian letters – click here to visit gu.com/letters
• Do you have a photo you’d like to share with Guardian readers? Click here to upload it and we’ll publish the best submissions in the letters spread of our print edition
