Daniel John William Wootton is a New Zealand-born journalist and broadcaster. He is executive editor of The Sun newspaper and host of talkRADIO's drivetime show. In 2007, he joined the News of the World. In 2013, he joined The Sun on Sunday and became editor of the Bizarre column the following year. In February 2016, he became associate editor of The Sun and in March 2018 was promoted to executive editor. Wootton has made appearances as a show business presenter on the ITV Breakfast shows Lorraine and Daybreak. Since 2015 he has also been a regular contributor and panellist on Big Brother's Bit on the Side.
He started his career as a journalist in his native New Zealand, writing an entertainment column for the Wellington-based broadsheet newspaper The Dominion Post and was also a reporter for the daily television showGood Morning. He came to the United Kingdom when he was 21, and after a spell working for trade magazines, he found a job with Broadcast magazine. Wootton joined the News of the World TV team in February 2007, becoming TV editor in November 2007, and show-business editor in November 2008 until its closure in July 2011, when he then became a columnist and feature writer for the Daily Mail and editor-at-large for Now magazine. In 2013, Wootton joined The Sun newspaper launching a new column on Sundays. He was made editor of the newspaper's Bizarre column in 2014, and promoted to associate editor in 2016. He was named 'Showbiz reporter of the year' at the 2010, 2013 and 2018 British Press Awards. Wootton also made appearances as a showbiz reporter on ITV's morning show Lorraine between 2011 and 2019, and has been a guest on BBC Radio 5 Live. In 2015, Wooton and The Sun received widespread criticism for an article he penned for the tabloid titled "Hollywood HIV Panic". Writing in The Independent, Tom Hayes referred to the piece as an "insidious piece of stigma-reinforcing" journalism, HIV policy advisor Lisa Power, who was quoted in the article, called it "vile" and noted her "disappointment" that Wooton had "lent his name to such a shameful piece". Further criticism came from the Terrence Higgins Trust who called it "irresponsible", the British Medical Journal, Owen Jones and Lead HIV Consultant, Dr Steve Taylor. He's hosted a weekly talkRADIO show called "Dan's Dilemmas" since March 2018 and in February 2020 he took over as host of the station's drivetime show, replacing Eamonn Holmes. In July 2020, libel proceedings, brought by Johnny Depp against Wootton and News Group Newspapers, began in the High Court of Justice in the case of Depp v News Group Newspapers Ltd. The action relates to an article published in 2018 in The Sun describing Depp as a "wife beater".
Personal Life
In 2013 he announced on his Twitter account that he is gay.
