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Family-run newspaper in bid to expand beyond city

A free newspaper set up by two former regional press staff is hoping to expand its operation beyond the city it servesĀ in the New Year.

The Yorkshire Reporter, which launched in July 2013, currently has a monthly print-run of 45,000 across Leeds, although it also carries news from other parts of the county.

However, while it currently reports on news received from further afield, it is considering expanding to actively cover areas including Doncaster, Harrogate, Huddersfield and York.

The Reporter, which has a motto of “we might print sad but we won’t print bad”, was set up by Brian Holmes and Lesley Anne Coates, who have both previously worked in sales at the Yorkshire Evening Post.

Yorks Reporter

It is currently distributed from 70 of its own branded stands in Leeds and outlets offering it include supermarkets, libraries and the city’s three main hospitals.

Editor Lesley Anne’s son-in-law serves as a web designer, her daughter-in-law as a journalist, her son as a historian and her granddaughter as a junior reporter at the paper.

Said Lesley Anne: “People pick the paper up and think ‘they must have quite a team’, and they’re always very shocked when they find what the core team is.”

The paper will make a decision by April on whether to expand further across the county, with Lesley Anne adding: “The title gives us the potential to go where we want.”

Commenting on the Reporter’s editorial stance, she said: “Every time you turn the news on it’s just so depressing.

“I thought ‘I’m so fed up of putting the news on and half the time I can’t bear to hear it.

“I made the stance that we’re not having anything horrific in the papers, although there are sad stories.

“The general feedback has been ‘I don’t know what it is about your paper but it’s so uplifting.'”

17 comments

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  • December 16, 2014 at 8:00 am
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    Editor talking like a salesman… sounds like she’s living in a Disney film.

    Wonder if she sings the Happy Working Song every morning to get her staff motivated.

    PS – new year isn’t capped up.

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  • December 16, 2014 at 8:27 am
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    Head. In. Hands.

    *laughs*

    *sighs*

    *sobs*

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  • December 16, 2014 at 9:08 am
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    Observer – I agree with your comment. It does state in the story that the woman quoted was a sales person.

    People who believe that bad news should be ignored are probably as much a danger to press freedom as Hugh Grant and his Leveson cronies.

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  • December 16, 2014 at 10:02 am
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    Rupert Bear,

    It also says she’s the editor, so perhaps should talk like, and be seen to act like, an editor.

    But we agree.

    I just despair when ‘proper’ editors are being made redundant across the country, when people who aren’t journalists are claiming the title.

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  • December 16, 2014 at 10:11 am
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    I hadn’t heard of the Yorkshire Reporter.
    At a time when the ‘big boys’ are full of gloom, doom, misery, redundancies, cutbacks and closures, these people have managed to launch a new local paper.
    Not just any paper, but a paper with a circulation of something like 45,000 copies.
    I give them 10/10 for effort and judging from their print run, and the fact that they are looking at expanding, I also give them 10/10 for achievement.
    Publishing monthly means their content balance shouldn’t be the same as a daily or a weekly and their “sad but not bad” stance makes good sense in this context.
    So will HTFP viewers please stop slinging mud, get alongside them, show some support, and let’s show our gratitude to the people who are keeping local papers alive and well in the 21st Century.

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  • December 16, 2014 at 10:18 am
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    Good luck to them. However, all you budding subs out there can have some fun with the following – copied directly from their (there?) website.

    We are a Independent Printed Free Monthly Newspaper which is currently available free to pickup from various outlets.

    We have now been publishing our paper the yorkshirereporter for over twelve months

    Due to us been unindated with requests from people not currently in our distribution area, and also with many request for our back issues we are now launching our website and making our Paper available to Download through our Members section online.

    Our Paper and Our Website focuses on Local News, Health, Sports, Art & Museums, History Articles, Culture, Motor Car and Bike Reviews Extra Features and Topics of Interest to our Readers throughout Yorkshire.

    The Paper has been very successful for local business promoting and selling there Quality goods and services throughout Yorkshire and beyond, who have embraced our paper which has delivered positive results and deemed by them to have now filed a gap in their market that was missing and gives our readers the opportunity to support there local community.

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  • December 16, 2014 at 12:23 pm
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    Nobody Stated that bad news should’ve ignored, we as a company thought it would make a change to print more uplifting news,.
    Life’s full of doom and gloom but it’s also full of good things, it’s just that we tend to focus more about what’s wrong with this world rather than what’s right about it.

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  • December 16, 2014 at 2:34 pm
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    We need a bit of positivity in this world. Its nice to pick up a paper, read it from back to front and not have to see all the misery in the world. We advertise with the Yorkshire Reporter and have done for the past 12 months. Our customers are saying the same so it obviously works. n anyway whats wrong with been nice, so stop been negative n PRINT POSITIVE!!!!!

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  • December 16, 2014 at 5:07 pm
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    If Bertie’s example is accurate it shows how slipshod things are now in some quarters. The bring shame on us all but we wish them good luck to their enterprise in getting a paper out in the present climate.

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  • December 16, 2014 at 6:52 pm
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    Refusing to print bad news is not a danger to press freedom, it is a choice of the newspaper. People wanting to read or hear about all the doom and gloom in the world have more choice than enough across the platforms. I personally find it refreshing to read a paper that celebrates the community it serves, and many of my family, friends and colleagues all enjoy reading the Yorkshire Reporter for this same reason. It is a popular read – so much so that the stands are often empty within a couple of hours. I commend the Yorkshire Reporter for doing such a fantastic job, there is no local paper in the area that comes anywhere close to being as good. Keep it up!

    ps, I could point out errors in the article on here, and in some of the negative comments you have bothered to make – but hey, we are all human and none of us perfect!

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  • December 17, 2014 at 2:27 pm
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    laura,

    Perhaps not ending sentences with an exclamation mark might be a good start.

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  • December 17, 2014 at 7:01 pm
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    Observer,

    As I said, none of us are perfect. I’m pretty sure that includes you too.

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  • December 19, 2014 at 8:52 am
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    Observer… you are wrong while Laura is quite right. Her comment should end with an exclamation mark because she is making an exclamation… ie “hey!”

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  • December 19, 2014 at 8:53 am
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    Also, Observer, I forget to add…Laura is a name and therefore capped L.

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