Rebekah Wade (born 1969) is a British journalist and newspaper editor. She is currently editor of The Sun newspaper.

Wade decided she wanted to be a journalist from the age of 14. She first worked for the French magazine Architecture Aujourd'hui in Paris, before returning to Britain to work for Eddie Shah's Messenger Group.

She joined the News of the World in 1989 as a secretary, and rose through the ranks, first as a feature writer for its 'Sunday' magazine, before eventually becoming the paper's deputy editor. In 1998 she transferred to the News of the World's weekday counterpart, The Sun, to become its deputy editor, before returning to the News of the World in 2000 as editor; at the time, she was the youngest editor of a national British newspaper.

While at the News of the World, she oversaw its controversial campaign of 'naming and shaming' convicted paedophiles, after the murder of Sarah Payne. The paper's decision led to angry mobs terrorising those they suspected of being paedophiles, which included several cases of mistaken identity and one instance where a paediatrician was attacked. The campaign was labelled "irresponsible journalism" by the Chief Constable of Gloucestershire.

Despite the controversy, the paper's sales rose under her leadership. In January 2003, she moved back to The Sun, replacing her former boss David Yelland , to become its first female editor.

She is married to the actor Ross Kemp.

External links

BBC Profile of Rebekah Wade