A regional daily set to go seven-days-a-week from next month has created seven new editorial roles ahead of its planned Sunday launch.
The Western Morning News has now set a date of 22 June for the launch of its new Sunday edition originally announced at the start of April.
Editor Bill Martin, left, has revealed that the Local World-owned title has increased its editorial headcount by seven in preparation for the new initiative.
Some of the new additions to his team have been recruited directly while others have moved from other Local World titles and subsequently replaced.
Said Bill: “22 June has been confirmed as the date of the first editon and the build-up to that edition has already started.
“There’s been an overall increase of seven on the Western Morning News staff. Some of them have come from other Local World titles
“It’s been a great process to go through and there’s awful lot of interest down here.
“It seems to have sparked people’s imagination all across the spectrum and we’re in a very positive frame of mind.”
Most staff will work across the weekday and Sunday editions but a small number will be part of a specialist Sunday team that will include both reporting and production roles.
The Morning News will be the second regional daily to go seven-days-a-week in recent months following Trinity Mirror’s decision last year to launch a Sunday edition of the Liverpool Echo.
Local World has also hinted that other frequency changes could be in the offing at its West Country titles.
In an interview with HTFP earlier this year, chief executive David Montgomery said the company was looking at increasing the frequency of the Exeter Express & Echo, which went from daily to weekly publication in 2011.
Mr Montgomery said the decision to take the paper weekly, made under predecessor company Northcliffe Media, came too early and has left “a gap in people’s lives” in the city.
The company is continuing to look into increasing the paper’s frequency to twice or even three-times a week but no firm decisions have yet been made.
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Blimey – shout it from the rooftops, good news! Nice to see a publication realising it needs that most vital of resources for a new publication – journalists. Best of luck.
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I thought Monty’s future model was all digital !
Liverpool is very different to Plymouth.
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You know you should think this is good news, but I’m sure the already-over-worked staff are not singing from the rooftops.
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Great to hear a positive growth story in this industry! A great publication which uses its editorial and pictures properly. Lets hope that the rest of the industry sits up and takes note.
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