LONDON: Crusading British newspaper editor Harold Evans has died in New York aged 92, his wife Tina Brown said Thursday, prompting a flood of tributes.

UK Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden, whose brief includes media, described Evans a "giant of investigative journalism", a reputation he established at the helm of the Sunday Times.

Ian Murray, executive director of the Society of Editors, paid tribute to Evans, who died of congestive heart failure on Wednesday.

"Sir Harold Evans was a giant among journalists who strove to put the ordinary man and woman at the heart of his reporting.

"He took on the establishment without fear or favour and earned a deserved reputation as one of the world's greatest editors.

"In his 70 years as a journalist he never lost sight of the need to maintain integrity in our profession. He was a true champion of a free press and holding the powerful to account," Murray said.—AFP