An award-winning regional daily reporter has resigned from his job and announced his intention to take his former employers to an industrial tribunal.
Les Reid, who had been suspended from his job as political reporter at the Coventry Telegraph since last December, revealed on Twitter that he resigned from the Trinity Mirror-owned title last week.
He has also revealed his intention to take the paper to a tribunal and to write a book on what he termed the “decline of public interest journalism.”
The announcement of his resignation comes the day after Trinity Mirror announced that the Telegraph editor Alun Thorne was leaving later this month.
Alun is moving to a new role based partly in the North West and is currently working his notice having tendered his resignation earlier this summer. He is due to leave on 21 October.
In a tweet posted today, Les, pictured, described Alun’s departure from the paper as “good news.”
He tweeted: “I’ve resigned from @covtelegraph & I’ll reveal more on #ccfc/Ricoh saga. Major issues for journalism. Good news editor leaving.”
In a later tweet, he added: “I resigned from @covtelegraph last week declaring intentions of tribunal & book on decline of public interest journalism.”
Les’s resignation announcement also coincided with the news that Coventry City’s Ricoh stadium has been sold to London Wasps,
Until his suspension, Les had been in the forefront of the Telegraph’s coverage of the long-running wrangle over the arena, which at one point saw the club playing its home games in Northampton.
Alun, who joined the paper in 2012 after three years as editor of the Birmingham Post, told HTFP he was unable to comment on Les’s decision to resign.
In a statement issued yesterday, he said: “I have enjoyed five years as editor within Trinity Mirror Regionals which has given me phenomenal experience.
“I will be sad to say goodbye but I would like to think that I have left the Coventry Telegraph in better shape that when I took over, having significantly grown our digital audience over the last two years.
“However, I know I am leaving a brilliant and gifted team to take it to the next level.”
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He has a point. How pathetic is YOUR paper’s coverage of council meetings, other than sending out e mails for reactions to council press releases. Readers are paying for a service they are no longer getting (along with regular reporting from courts). I met a local councillor who said the local paper never covered meetings any more personally but rang him up afterwards to scramble a bit together. Lack of staff was excuse.
One can understand his frustration with what bosses and kids think is proper journalism.
Good luck fellow hack.
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Sad loss of a hard-working and principled journalist not afraid to take a stand in the interests of public interest journalism . . . good luck Les.
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Les Reid has a great reputation as a political journalist – nobody can pull the wool over his eyes and perhaps that was the problem. So much for the 4th estate.
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Having followed Reid’s work over the years, on local and national issues, it’s a sad loss that the city of Coventry has lost what is a clear and honest voice. Always digging and stating fact and never afraid to have his say as a national award-winning columnist.
We need more like Les. I wish him luck with his future career, I’m sure it’ll be a bright one.
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This is a really big loss for local media in the Coventry area. One of the best investigators in the country with a string of awards for public-interest journalism both locally & nationally.
Hopefully he’ll be moving on to bigger things.
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Les has been a really good political editor of the Cov Telegraph, always ready to challenge Coventry Council and our MPs – he was infamously abused on Twitter by Labour’s Bob Ainsworth in an attempt to intimidate him!
When one of my best friends, former Socialist cllr Rob Windsor, passed away, Les wrote the most amazing obituary for him – it was a beautiful gesture. Thanks for keeping us informed, Les – best of luck in the future.
Dan Crowter
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Les has consistently proved to be a perceptive,skilled journalist with telling the story straight foremost on his agenda. During the skyblues debacle he consistently aimed to report the truth & both sides of an increasingly acrimonious dispute. From what I gather this approach was not appreciated from certain quarters… Let’s just say Les has put his journalistic integrity first here – yet again – by quitting from what he saw as an unceasingly untenable position. Well done Les – the truth will always out.
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It’s a real loss to the Coventry Evening Telegraph, this. Les dug deep, and offered straight opinions on critical local issues.
I wouldn’t for a moment claim to agree with everything he wrote, but if you want truth and scrutiny then honest, fearless journalists like Les are critical to the success of the local press. I would there were more like him.
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Terrible way to treat a superb journalist whos reporting of the saga was absolutely top notch. Not afraid to ask hard hitting questions and getting facts out in the public domain which are vital to public opinions. Wish you all the best of luck Les in the tribunal and look forward to your book.
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The standards of journalism employed here have been exceptional. Reid got the first interview with the otherwise uninterviewable, brought to the forefront the mystery surrounding the running of a hedge fund operated football club and the local council operation that owned the stadium. His reward, mystifyingly, was to be removed from reporting on the events of the local football club and the milieux of local politics that surrounded it by the local paper. Everyone with an objective interest into the story has missed his insight as a result.
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The Coventry Telegraph have lost a very accomplished and award winning journalist. Les’ articles were always honest, truthful and often ahead of any other media, breaking exclusives on many important issues. I wish him all the best in the future.
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He brought an excellent insight into the labyrinthine world of sport and politics in Coventry. His reward for getting interviews from the previously unheard of, and asking difficult questions of all sides was to be removed from the story. His insight has been sorely missed.
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Need more people like Les in reporting, not fewer. Sad to lose another voice of experience.
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Sorry to see an excellent, principled and talented local paper journalist leave my old paper in such a way. His work on a vital issue for the city should have been lauded by his paper, not stifled. Wouldn’t have happened under Geoff Elliott, John Cross , Geoff Grimmer or Alan Kirby. A sad day for Coventry, the Coventry Telegraph and regional journalism. Good luck Les.
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Incredible loss for the Cov Tel. Les was a reporter who always adhered to the highest standards of integrity, honesty and hard work. He and I fell out a couple of times working on the CCFC story – as is the nature of journalism v PR – but I trusted him implicitly and can’t believe he was side-lined so readily by a paper that lost all its edge once he was taken out of the picture.
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I don’t know the specifics behind the dispute and the resignation but on a personal level I’ll miss Les, and I hope he gets on elsewhere. I’ll never forget the kind words he wrote about my friend (and ex-Coventry Councillor) Rob Windsor upon his death. They brought a lot of comfort to me and to others.
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Good luck with it Les, I trust there’s a good reason why you’d take a paper I know you loved to work for for years to a tribunal.
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This is a massive loss for the Cov Telegraph. Les’ reporting on the issues surrounding Coventry City football club were consistently even handed and he constantly strove to uncover actual news, pressing and pursuing all sides equally in what became an increasingly murky situation.
I hope one day we will get to the bottom of a story that seems very odd indeed. In the meantime I’m sure Mr. Reid will have success in his future endeavours and I wish him all the best.
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Tribunal? Can you gain from that? Good luck.
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Terrible loss for the local community and those seeking the truth.
Les will be sorely missed for his wit as well as sharp insight.
Fight the good fight Les – It’s their (and our) loss.
#PUSB
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I don’t think an excellent editor like Alun Thorne is ‘good news’. Saying it is on Twitter is very poor form.
Under Alun’s leadership, the Coventry Telegraph has been a lively publication, and I hope Alun will be remembered as the editor who successfully navigated the tightest of tightropes when covering the Coventry City/Sisu/Coventry City Council issue.
His #bringcityhome campaign was clever and made the paper’s opinion clear, but that didn’t stop the paper covering the issue in a balanced way.
Actions speak louder than words – and Alun’s actions as editor of the Telegraph show he is a second-to-none journalist
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Excellent editor leaving, that should say.
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Something rotten in the state of Denmark, or the Telegraph in this case, for someone like Les to leave under such a cloud. A more straightforward and honest reporter on local issues I struggle to think of, they don’t give away back to back awards for nothing, sad loss.
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I always used to look out for what Les had to say. At a time when the industry is crying out for honest, impartial journalists who don’t mind ruffling a few feathers, I think they will regret losing someone of Les’s stature.
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A wise old editor once told me that journalism is best played as a team sport. Les has form for criticising his employer.
http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/node/38047
Celebrating someone leaving their job never makes you look good.
Looking at all these comments from people who only read the Telegraph for Les’s work, Trinity Mirror will be in trouble!
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I only need to say three words – tall poppy syndrome
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Sad to hear that Les is going. A first class journalist who has worked tirelessly on several big issues in the city – not just the Coventry/Ricoh saga. He held all sides to account throughout – covering what has been a very divisive issue. He also went about his work in an open and transparent fashion – always willing to engage with fans on social media. His coverage of the death of his friend Russell Joslin was particularly admirable.
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I think this is the reverse of tall poppy syndrome. In any case the Cov newsroom knows the real story.
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I look forward to reading the reports from the tribunal case, which no doubt a local reporter will be at, tirelessly scribbling away. Or maybe not.
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In my long experience of newsrooms, staff are unlikely to know the full story in such cases. It will no doubt emerge at the tribunal
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From re-reading the article above, Les Reid is not celebrating the departure of the editor but expressing the view that his exit is good news for public interest journalism.
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Les has form for criticising his employer says Rose and Crown. Better than the gutless ones who sit like mute slaves taking their pay cheque.
Without passion for job might as well plod along in a building society or bank.
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It seems clear this fellow possesses saintly qualities. I think someone needs to make contact with Pope Francis to commence the process of canonisation.
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There are always two sides to a story – and this tale will be no different. Publicly stating you think it’s ‘good news’ that someone has left / lost their job is extremely poor form for starters.
As a reader of the CT, I’ve seen how the paper has changed for the worse since Les suddenly disappeared a few months ago. The editor and others may be proud of their list-filled website but the paper itself is a shadow of what it was during Les’ tenure.
One of the reasons Les is so good is because he throws everything he has into a story. But gone are the days when reporters spend months on just one story. That’s how it appeared and it must have made his colleagues rage when they were forced to take on some of his workload.
The current situation is probably a bit like the KP saga in English cricket – everyone comes out of it looking worse off although at least one of them gets a book deal!
I wish all involved the best of luck in the future and I cross my fingers the CT will get back to where it once was.
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I have never known such a long list of plaudits for a journalist leaving his job. It seems extraordinary. That’s all I would say. Extraordinary. I am sure htfp will cover the industrial tribunal.
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Idle Rich, you are right, the sheer volume of tributes is remarkable. Truly remarkable.
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Quite simply, Les is one of the best journalists I had the pleasure to work with – integrity second to none, good luck for the future Les.
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The loss of Les from the Coventry Telegraph exposes the decline of quality journalism at local level. His political analysis was second to none, keeping politicians on their toes at all times. I only hope the truth can finally be revealed.
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Here’s a more telling view from inside the newsroom…
http://m.holdthefrontpage.co.uk/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.holdthefrontpage.co.uk%2F2014%2Fnews%2Fjournalists-deny-gagging-claims-over-stadium-deal-coverage%2F#2697
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No CT, all it perhaps tells us is that some staff can side with an editor and employer fearing more job losses. It also looks like a closing of ranks by a few staff with the paper being criticised by the public and the facts due to come out if there’s a tribunal and book. Staff won’t know the facts and will have only heard one side with a colleague suspended for nearly a year. So why release a statement?
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Picked up the Cov Telegraph the other day and couldn’t believe its content. Forty pages max full of flim flam charity stories and several pages obviously bought in already subbed from an agency. From the staff list, it looked like they had about six reports. What a tragic end for a once great paper.
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Les has been great for the Coventry Telegraph which is unfortunately in rapid decline. Les has always told the truth even though he didn’t always print things I had given him. Les knows most of what went on behind the scenes regarding the Ricoh Arena and hopefully if he does write his book he will be able to give out some more facts regarding this saga. Good luck Les in whatever you do and should you require anything from me please don’t hesitate to ask.
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Sad news, he’s an outstanding reporter. One of a kind and an inspiration to younger hacks.
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Wasps RFC has not paid a penny to Coventry Corporation for its half of ACL, the company that runs The Ricoh. In fact, 24 hours before the council made its decision to sell in secret, Wasps begged the Chinese Government’s investment agency to bankroll the deal. That is just the sort of story Les would have got in before the full council met!
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