Andy Coulson Exclusive: Interview - from 2005

Andy Coulson gave an exclusive interview to Press Gazette editor Ian Reeves in April 2005 after the News of the World had been controversially named Newspaper of the Year in the British Press Awards for a string of scoops.
Here are some of Coulson's quotes that might seem relevant today given the fresh row over allegations of phone-hacking surrounding the NoW when Coulson was editor:
"I don't think tabloid journalists have been top of anyone's popularity list. But as an industry we spend more of our time beating ourselves up about it than we probably have at any time before. All we ever seem to do is criticise ourselves, and crticise the way we do our job.
"Yet I've got nothing to be ashamed of, and this goes for everyone on the NoW, in what we do for a living. The readers are the judges, that's the most important thing. And I think we should be proud of what we do."
He also told Reeves: "Tabloid newspapers in this country do more for its people than any newspapers in the world. We are connected to our readers in a way that just doesn't happen in other countries. And that's something we should celebrate."

• In the interview, Coulson stressed the amount of "thought and analysis" that went into any News of the World story. "We talk about our stories in great detail prior to publication," he said. Coulson added that journalists who had worked at the NoW and then returned "were surprised by the degree of discussion and analysis that goes on before we decide to publish a story."
  

• Reeves noted that the NoW's victory at the British Press Awards had not gone down well with other national newspapers and some editors had suggested boycotting the awards. He wrote: "The Guardian has devoted thousands of words to its objection to the News of the World being crowned."

I found the interview among my own collection of backcopies and gave it to Press Gazette to scan in. You can read the full Coulson interview here.