Early Journalism
After leaving Sussex University, Campbell settled in Brighton and became a journalist on Brighton Voice. Founded in March 1973 by Roy Carr-Hill and George Wilson, this ‘underground’ collectively run paper started life in a private home at 21 Clermont Terrace. By the late 1980s, it was based at Prior House, Tilbury Place, and published approximately every six weeks. The paper's content followed broadly anarcho-socialist principles, focusing on housing, the police, gay rights, civil liberties, environment, unemployment, anti-racism and fascism and women's rights.
Collective meetings were held at the "Open Café", 7 Victoria Rd, where the paper was typed up and laid out in the basement. Distribution was the main problem for the Voice, as many newsagents were reluctant to stock it, either because of its contents or fear of legal action from some of those ‘named and shamed’ in its pages. The paper sold well on the University of Sussex campus. As well as Duncan Campbell, notable members of the collective included housing activist Steve Bassam, later the city's Labour council leader and life peer Lord Bassam, and Daily Mail journalist Val Hennessy. The last issue of Brighton Voice was published in July 1989.
He was also a regular contributor to the New Scientist and Time Out magazine - which during the early 1970s had a much more radical editorial remit. In 1976, Campbell wrote a seminal story for Time Out - co-authored with Mark Hosenball, called The Eavesdroppers. It would for the first time the British news media printed the acronym 'GCHQ.' It stood for Government Communication Headquarters, and it was a highly secretive arm of the British secret services responsible communications interception.
The article would lead to deportation notice for its American co-author, Hosenball. Campbell, who could not be deported, was instead placed under MI5 surveillance, which included the tapping of his phones. The following year, Campbell agreed to talk with ex-Signals intelligence operator, John Berry, at the home of fellow Time Out reporter, Crispin Aubrey. After a three hour conversation, Special Branch arrested the three under the Official Secrets Act 1911, in what became known as the ABC trial.
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