Conor McNicholas

Conor McNicholas is a British journalist and editor. He formerly edited Top Gear and IPC-run music magazine, New Musical Express (NME).

His first professional post on a magazine was on a fledgling Manchester publication called Sub, where he wrote a spoof horoscope under the pen name of Snufkin. After a period working on various magazines for Dennis Publishing, McNicholas went on to write for the dance press holding senior positions at both Ministry and Mixmag magazines before going on to edit Muzik.

McNicholas served as editor of New Musical Express from 2003 to 2009. At the start of his term at NME he boosted sales by focusing on the 'new rock revolution' which included bands such as The Strokes and White Stripes. However, there was some criticism over McNicholas's reign as editor, especially claims that the quality of writing had slipped, the genres of music covered had become less broad and that the magazine contained less content than in previous years.

In 2007, Morrissey announced that he was suing both McNicholas and NME for libel over an article on the singer's views on immigration. The case was settled in June 2012 when NME issued a statement saying "we apologise to Morrissey if he or anyone else misunderstood our piece".

In June 2009 it was announced that McNicholas would be leaving the NME to take over as the editor of Top Gear magazine. He left after less than a year to work at News International on the launch of Buzz magazine at The Sun.

He later served as Executive Content Director at the content agency Redwood. He is now CEO of the full service digital engagement agency AllTogetherNow, which he founded in 2014.

During his editorship McNicholas has won several industry awards including:

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