John (Paddy) Coulter 1946-2024
It is with great sadness that Pambazuka News mourns the passing of journalist Paddy Coulter, who joined the ancestors on Sunday, 3 November 2024. Paddy was a champion of social justice and one of the founders of Pambazuka News.
For 12 years, he also remained the sole director of the company, with the expressed wish that Pambazuka would be one day relaunched. Unfortunately, he did not live to see this day.
A memorial service was held in Oxford for Paddy on 7 December 2024. The fact that a 300-capacity auditorium was packed was a testament to the warm hearted, generous, caring person Paddy was, both in his professional and personal life.
Paddy grew up in Northern Ireland and transcended the sectarianism that we normally associated with the region. He started his working life with the humanitarian organization Catholic Relief Agency, despite being brought up a Protestant. It was here that his lifelong interest and commitment to Africa began. He later shifted to journalism, which became his passion. Paddy was a strong supporter of independent journalism, and the human rights associated with maintaining it. He served as Chair of the international press freedom organisation, ARTICLE 19, and was also a trustee of the international human rights body, the Equal Rights Trust.
Paddy had an illustrious career in communications. He was Director of the International Broadcasting Trust (an independent television production company) between 1990 and 2001. He produced over a hundred television programmes covering issues relating to development and environmental change. For 30 years, he worked for the independent media consultancy firm, Oxford Global Media.
Paddy was keen on the training of journalists. Between 2001-2007, he was the Director of Studies for the Reuters Journalism Programme at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at Green Templeton College, University of Oxford. As well as being a Trustee of Fahamu, Paddy sat on boards of charitable trusts, such as Oxfam, Comic Relief, and the Media Trust.
Paddy’s commitment to social justice was expressed in his unwavering support for Fahamu. We miss him and hope to live up to his expectation of maintaining a space for a free and independent voice on Africa.
Fahamu expresses its condolences to his wife Angela, his daughters Rachel and Alice, his sisters, and all other family and friends.