At the age of 16, Hughes started his first job as a reporter at
Natal Mercury. Alex Hammond, his first editor, sent him to business school to learn
shorthand. Hughes then worked as a reporter for three years before returning to London, where he worked on
Fleet Street at a news agency. He eventually was hired by the London-based
The Daily Mirror. Shortly after accepting that position, The
Natal Mercury contacted Hughes and asked him to come back to be the Chief of the State Capital Bureau. He accepted. He later became a stringer and a
freelance writer for a number of papers in London and
The Christian Science Monitor in Boston. In 1955, at the age of 25, Hughes moved to United States and began working in
Boston for
The Christian Science Monitor. About 18 months later he was sent back to South Africa as a correspondent for
The Monitor. He filled that position for six years. Hughes was named the
Nieman Fellow at
Harvard University the following year. His achievements were readily recognized by
The Christian Science Monitor, and he was promoted to managing editor, a position which he held for nine years from 1970 to 1979, until he was promoted to editor and manager. During his three-year stint as Editor and Manager, Hughes became interested in owning his own newspaper. His initial purchase was a weekly paper in
Cape Cod, Massachusetts, called the
Cape Cod Oracle, based in Orleans. Hughes Newspapers, Inc. eventually included five weekly newspapers. The company purchased the
Cape Cod News in Hyannis from Frank Fallaci and founded the
Yarmouth Sun and
Dennis Bulletin in the towns of
Dennis and
Yarmouth. Hughes Newspapers also published the Lower Cape Shoppers Guide. Hughes sold the newspapers to the G.W. Prescott Publishing Co. in Quincy, in the mid-1980s. The new organization became known as MPG Cape Newspapers, and was operated by MPG Communications in Plymouth. Later MPG Cape Newspapers became Cape Cod Newspapers. Shortly before
Ronald Reagan was elected president, Hughes received a call from one of Reagan's advisors, asking him what Reagan should say in his acceptance speech, should he be elected. Hughes offered some ideas, which were remembered and used. Shortly after Reagan was elected, Hughes was asked to move to
Washington D.C. to serve in Reagan's administration from 1981 to 1985. Hughes initially served as the Associate Director of the
United States Information Agency, and was later appointed the director of the
Voice of America. In 1996,
Neal A. Maxwell called Hughes with concerns about the
Deseret News, a secular newspaper owned by
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Maxwell solicited his advice on improving the paper's circulation. When Hughes returned from the
United Nations he began work as a consultant for the
Deseret News. Following his counsel, the paper switched its distribution to morning rather than afternoon, which improved circulation. Following the success of this change, the board of directors asked Hughes to be the editor of the newspaper. Hughes accepted the position, and became the first non-
Mormon editor of the
Deseret News. He filled that position for 10 years, until 2007, In 2011 he received the National Council for International Visitors' Citizen Diplomat Media Award. for the
Christian Science Monitor. In 2014, he published an autobiography,
Paper Boy to Pulitzer, which he said he wrote for his children and grandchildren, and because “I thought I had a love story in me, and it’s about journalism. The greatest profession in the world.” ==Personal life and death==