Tributes to respected journalist Brian Walters, 72
TRIBUTES have been paid to respected Neath-born journalist Brian Walters, who has died, aged 72.
A former reporter with the Western Mail, Mr Walters was part of a south Wales media dynasty, his father being the owner of the Neath Guardian, Port Talbot Guardian and associated newspapers.
He is probably best remembered for being the local government editor for the South Wales Evening Post and the paper’s first correspondent at the Welsh Assembly in Cardiff.
Secretary of State for Wales Alun Cairns led the tributes.
“Brian Walters was a brilliant journalist and a first-class champion of Swansea,” he said. “I first met him when I was selected for Gower in 1995. Although we immediately struck a warm rapport and a shared passion for Swansea, he was always prepared to ask the difficult questions to ensure full and proper scrutiny.
“He would challenge policy decisions and champion causes about Swansea in equal measure. He built strong relationships with politicians of all parties and was regarded positively across the political divide. This is the true measure of standing and respect of any journalist.”
Professor Andrew Davies, former AM and Welsh Government minister and chairman of the Abertawe Bro Morgannwg Health Board, said: “I knew Brian Walters for many years, particularly in the early years of the National Assembly, and always held him in high regard as an excellent local newspaper journalist and someone with real integrity.
“I well remember some of his investigations and scoops, not least the infamous Pink Films episode (in which a Conservative party parliamentary candidate for Swansea West was forced to stand down after a row about a failed film project), when he demonstrated his commitment to truth and honesty and with considerable journalistic skill.
“He also had a great sense of fun, with an infectious laugh, whether that was over a pint or the annual boules competition, which he organised.”
Cllr Robert Francis-Davies, Swansea council’s cabinet member for investment, regeneration and tourism, said: “Brian was a first-class journalist. He was an honest and trustworthy gentleman. Nothing he loved more than to put the world to right over a few pints in the Queens.
“Brian, along with others, raised thousands of pounds for charity by starting the Lord Mayor’s Boules Tournament. He cared about Swansea and he cared about his fellow journalists. He put others before himself. My thoughts are with his family at this sad time.”
Former Neath MP Lord Hain said: “Brian was one of the top journalists of his era in Wales.”
Born in 1947, Mr Walters was the youngest of three children.
His father, Norman (NT Walters) was managing editor of the Guardian group of newspapers.
It was the closest thing south Wales had to a media dynasty. His three brothers and uncles were all involved in the press, either in journalism or on the printing side.
His mother, Margaret, was born in Narberth and the family moved to Neath in 1946 to take over the newspapers.
Mr Walters attended Emmanuel Grammar School in Swansea.
After a short spell with the Neath Guardian, Mr Walters moved north, working in Accrington and the West Lancashire Gazette and then the Halifax Courier.
There followed spells on the Western Mail in Cardiff, the Birmingham Mail, as the local government correspondent at the Yorkshire Evening Post, a period in the civil service as press officer with the Central Office of Information in Leeds, and five years as chief local government correspondent on the Halifax Evening Courier.
In the mid-1980s he moved back to Wales as local government editor for the South Wales Evening Post. When the Welsh Assembly started in 1999 he took on duties covering the workings of the Senedd in Cardiff.
He later left the Post and was quickly snapped up as a political and media adviser to Blaenau Gwent Welsh Assembly Member Trish Law.
The five years he spent at the Senedd were among the happiest of his career.
Mr Walters wore his heart on his sleeve in terms of political affiliation (not that it ever told in his writing) and was a former Father of the Chapel (FoC) shop steward at the Evening Post and with the Swansea branch of the National Union of Journalists.
He will be remembered by his colleagues for being a journalist who saw his career as a craft. Always professional, always truthful and accurate in his reporting, always blessed with a fine sense of humour, he was a wonderful mentor to a succession of journalists who came up through the ranks at the South Wales Evening Post, many of whom still recognise that debt of gratitude to a master craftsman journalist.