Anthony Hayward

Anthony Hayward (born 26 October 1959) is a British journalist and author. He is a regular contributor to The Independent and The Guardian, and has written more than 20 books about television and film. The subject of censorship has been a constant theme throughout his work.

Hayward was born in Caversham, Berkshire, brought up near Romsey, Hampshire, and attended Bishop Wordsworth's School, Salisbury from 1971 to 1978. He trained as a journalist at the London College of Printing (now the London College of Communication, University of the Arts) (1978–1980) and won its 1979–1980 Journalism Prize. He gained a Higher National Diploma in Journalism and the National Council for the Training of Journalists' Pre-Entry Journalism Certificate, both with distinction.

After five years in local newspapers and national magazines, as a reporter and sub-editor, and editor of New Video Viewer, Hayward joined the staff on the features desk of TV Times (1985–1989). He turned freelance in 1989 and has since written for publications in the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, France and South Africa. He has contributed to The Independent since 1993 and The Guardian since 2009.

Hayward's books include Who's Who on Television, TV Unforgettables, Prime Suspect and The Making of Moll Flanders. He also wrote the biographies Phantom: Michael Crawford Unmasked and Julie Christie and collaborated with Sheila Mercier on her autobiography, Annie's Song: My Life & Emmerdale.

In 2001, his book In the Name of Justice: The Television Reporting of John Pilger was published by Bloomsbury. It was described by the Far Eastern Economic Review as "an excellent introduction to abuses of power around the world" and by Julian Petley (The Independent) as "a fascinating account of the changing nature of censorship on British television". Den Shewman, of the American film trade magazine Variety, wrote: "Anthony Hayward's excellent account of Pilger's work shows how [his] sensibility [to justice and injustice] has driven Pilger to create 50 British television documentaries over the last 30 years, programs that have changed public policy and saved lives… Pilger's professional life has been dedicated to exploring tragic situations, and Hayward stares unblinkingly into these horrors". However, in a negative review of the book, the British journalist Jon Snow wrote in The Observer that its "range from hagiography to catalogue" left him thinking that "the Pilger story is deserving of more" than the book delivers. In 2013, Profiles International Media published an updated account, Breaking the Silence: The Films of John Pilger, as an e-book to tie in with Pilger's documentary film Utopia.

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