Уильям Томас Стэд: Пионер журналистики и реформатор викторианской Англии.

English newspaper editor (1849–1912)

William Thomas Stead (5 July 184915 April 1912) was an English newspaper editor who, as a pioneer of investigative journalism, became a controversial figure of the Victorian era. Stead published a series of hugely influential campaigns whilst editor of The Pall Mall Gazette, including his 1885 series of articles, The Maiden Tribute of Modern Babylon. These were written in support of a bill, later dubbed the "Stead Act", that raised the age of consent from 13 to 16. Stead's "new journalism" paved the way for the modern tabloid in Great Britain. He is considered to have influenced how the press could be used to influence public opinion and government policy, and advocated "Government by Journalism". He was known for his reportage on child welfare, social legislation and reformation of England's criminal codes. Stead died in the sinking of the RMS Titanic. A year later the family moved to Howdon on the River Tyne, where his younger brother, Francis Herbert Stead, was born. Stead was largely educated at home by his father, and by the age of five he was already well versed in the Holy Scriptures and is said to have been able to read Latin almost as well as he could read English. It was Stead's mother who perhaps had the most lasting influence on her son's career. One of Stead's favourite childhood memories was of his mother leading a local campaign against the government's controversial Contagious Diseases Acts – which required prostitutes living in garrison towns to undergo medical examination. From 1862 to 1864, he attended Silcoates School in Wakefield until he was apprenticed to a merchant's office on the Quayside in Newcastle upon Tyne, where he became a clerk.

Stead contributed articles to the fledgling liberal Darlington newspaper The Northern Echo from 1870 and despite his inexperience was appointed editor of the newspaper in 1871. Aged just 22 Stead was the youngest newspaper editor in the country. In 1876 Stead joined a campaign to repeal the Contagious Diseases Act, befriending the feminist Josephine Butler. The law was repealed in 1886. He gained notoriety in 1876 for his coverage of the Bulgarian atrocities agitation. He is also credited as "a major factor" in helping William Ewart Gladstone win an overwhelming majority in the 1880 general election.

Stead was appointed assistant editor of the Liberal Pall Mall Gazette (a forerunner of the London Evening Standard) in 1880, and he helped transform a traditionally conservative newspaper "written by gentlemen for gentlemen".—with his interview with General Gordon in 1884. In 1884 Stead pressured the government to send his friend General Gordon to the Sudan to protect British interests in Khartoum. The eccentric Gordon disobeyed orders, and the siege of Khartoum, Gordon's death and the failure of the hugely expensive Gordon Relief Expedition amounted to one of the great imperial disasters of the period. During the following year he managed to persuade the British government to supply an additional £5.5 million to bolster weakening naval defences, after which he published a series of articles. He distinguished himself in his vigorous handling of public affairs and his brilliant modernity in the presentation of news. In 1886 he began a campaign against Sir Charles Dilke, 2nd Baronet, over his nominal exoneration in the Crawford scandal. The campaign ultimately contributed to Dilke's misguided attempt to clear his name and his consequent ruin. Stead employed Virginia Crawford, and she developed a career as a journalist and writer, researching for other Stead authors, but never wrote on her own case or Dilke in any way.