Press release - 2 July 2014 11:15

Piers Morgan named most influential UK journalist on social media

The former Daily Mirror editor and ex-CNN talkshow host picked up the prize in the second of Press Gazette's Social Media Journalism Awards sponsored by Mynewsdesk.

The prize was awarded after taking into consideration the views of an expert panel of judges, voting forms filled out by more than 200 Press Gazette readers and also taking into account the number of followers the journalists have on social media.

Picking up the prize Morgan, who has more than four million followers on Twitter, said: "I don't win many awards as you can imagine. Social media is the future for journalism whether you're using it to provoke debate, for information or to be entertained.

"I've embraced it pretty wholeheartedly, Press Gazette has done the same. My advice to any journalist who thinks Twitter's not for me, or I saw Paxman the other day saying it's for the brain dead, is: it may be, but it's what the youth of today are using as a form of communication. I like to embrace everything that's for the future rather than for the past. It's the best journalistic tool that I've encountered and I wish it was around when I I had been a newspaper editor because of the ease with which you can find out what's happening anywhere in the world in real time."

Adam Cranfield, Head of Marketing at Mynewsdesk, said, "This year we have seen cutting edge use of social media by journalists. It has brought people closer to breaking news stories around the world in a way publications and traditional media channels never could, from those reporting from the front line of war zones to the live tweeting of the phone hacking trial. However, social media also provides the opportunity to communicate and influence journalists in much the same way as journalists influence the public. It has become an invaluable resource for finding and communicating stories and it's vitally important that we support journalists through social media and digital technology."

Press Gazette's editor Dominic Ponsford said: "Our top 50 most influential journalists list has many famous journalists on it and some less well know names. Because we took into account the views of readers, plus the expert judges, as well as the number of followers journalists have - the list includes some less well known journalists who are clearly highly rated by their peers and by followers in their local communities.

“What we have created is a great list of must-follow journalists which highlights the extent to which journalists today have become brands and publishers in their own right, independent of their employers.”

Morgan could not be at last night’s drinks reception to launch the top 50 most influential UK journalists on social media list, but he recorded this video message which you can watch below or by clicking here.

The Press Gazette top ten most influential journalists on social media are:

1 - @Piers Morgan
2 - @CaitlinMoran
3 - @PaulWaugh
4 - @JohnRentoul
5 - @FleetStreetFox
6 - @PaulMasonNews (Paul Mason)
7 - @Mehdirhasan (Mehdi Hasan)
8 - @PeterJukes
9 - @AlexTomo (Alex Thomson)
10 - @RodneyEdwards

The rest of the top 50 (in Alphabetical order)