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Ian Mayes is a British journalist and editing. He was the first "readers' editor" – a title he invented for the newspaper ombudsman role "Democracy, media and (cyber) ombudsmen", Organization of News Ombudsmen (ONO), 21 September 2010. — of The Guardian, from November 1997 to March 2007, and was president of the international Organization of News Ombudsmen from May 2005 to May 2007, ONO's Members Organization of News Ombudsmen serving as a board member from May 2002 after joining in April 2001. Mayes is the author of books including Witness in a Time of Turmoil: Inside the Guardian's Global Revolution, Volume 1, 1986–1995, published in May 2025.
Mayes began writing for The Guardian as a freelance in 1962, his first piece being a story on the features page (then edited by Brian Redhead) about the return of Laurie Lee to the village of Slad in Gloucestershire, where Cider with Rosie was set.Chris Elliott, I wanted to take you inside the paper' – a new history of the Guardian", The Guardian (Members area), 10 April 2017. It was towards the end of 1988 that Mayes joined the staff of the newspaper; his first ten years included launching The Guardian Weekend magazine and the daily G2 section with former editor Alan Rusbridger, and time served as deputy features editor, arts editor and obituaries editor.
From November 1997 to March 2007, Mayes was The Guardians Readers' Editor – a title he invented for the newspaper ombudsman role to suggest a bridge between readers and journalists — the first such appointment of a resident independent ombudsman in the UK. Other British newspapers, including The Observer, The Independent on Sunday and the Daily Mirror, quickly followed suit in appointing readers' editors, although Mayes was the only one to do the job full-time.Ian Mayes, "Trust me — I’m an ombudsman", British Journalism Review, Archive. The Guardian system was also closely replicated on newspapers such as Politiken in Denmark and The Hindu in India.
Through an influential weekly column called "Open Door",David Nolan, "Public editors, 'media governance' and journalistic practice", School of Culture and Communication University of Melbourne, p. 7. Mayes dealt with corrections and clarifications (14,000 in his decade in the post), "Guardian readers' editor Ian Mayes talks to PG", Press Gazette, 5 January 2007. as well as conducting a debate on the ethics of journalism. "Newspapers and accountability", Department of Journalism Studies, The University of Sheffield, 30 November 2006. Selections from the columns were collected in four books: Corrections and Clarifications (2000), Corrections and Clarifications 2002 (2002), Only Correct: The Best of Corrections and Clarifications (2005) and Journalism Right and Wrong: Ethical and Other Issues Raised by Readers in the Guardian's Open Door Column. A translated selection of the columns was produced by Moscow State University under the title Rabota nad oshibkami (Work on mistakes).
He was president of the international Organization of News Ombudsmen (ONO) from May 2005 to May 2007, serving as a board member from May 2002, after joining in April 2001. He has lectured and taken part in seminars on the function of ombudsmen in the media nationally and internationally (including in the US, Russia, Scandinavia, and Slovenia), inspiring newspapers in other parts of the world to create their own readers' editors; typically, The Hindu has referenced "the exemplary practice and experience of The Guardian, whose pioneering RE, Ian Mayes, had set the bar high." He is credited with the discovery of the "apostrofly", "an insect which lands at random on the printed page depositing an apostrophe wherever it alights". His last column as Readers' Editor appeared on 2 April 2007, since when he has been an associate editor of The Guardian. Ian Mayes page at The Guardian.
He has been honoured by the creation of "The Ian Mayes Award for Writing Wrongs" in 2008.Craig Silverman, Crunks 2008: The Year in Media Errors and Corrections, RegretTheError.com
Mayes subsequently began researching and writing the third modern volume of the official history of The Guardian (following earlier books by David Ayerst and Geoffrey Taylor),Chris Elliott, "The paper's relationship with its readers is unlike any other'", Press Reader, 8 April 2017. beginning in 1986, his aim being to "humanise the decisions that have shaped the Guardian and its editorial line". Drawing on more than 100 interviews, Witness in a Time of Turmoil: Inside the Guardian's Global Revolution, Volume 1, 1986–1995 was published in ay 2025.
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