A website editor has been promoted to a new role overseeing the print and online operations of Trinity Mirror’s expanded South Wales portfolio.
Paul Rowland, editor of Wales Online, will now be additionally editor-in-chief, South Wales, with oversight of the Western Mail, South Wales Echo and South Wales Evening Post and their associated weeklies.
The 33-year-old moves into the role held on an interim basis by Alan Edmunds, who is moving to become the full-time deputy to regional editorial director Neil Benson.
Paul, pictured left, will take up his new responsibilities with immediate effect.
He said: “I’m hugely honoured to be taking up the role of editor-in-chief for South Wales. It’s an incredibly exciting time to be involved in the business as we bring together the great strengths of our operations in Swansea and Cardiff, and I look forward hugely to working with the enormously talented teams in both centres to continue growing our vibrant news brands.
“As a proud Welshman, with family roots in Swansea going back generations and more than a decade of living and working in Cardiff, it’s a great privilege to lead this new phase for the media in Wales.’
Neil added: “Paul has proved himself to be one of our very best journalists and leaders, who fully understands digital and print, and the challenges we face.
“His top priority, with the help of an exceptionally strong editorial management team in South Wales, will be to lead the careful integration of our operations, capitalising on potential synergies while maintaining the local relevance that makes our brands unique. I wish him every success in his new role.”
Paul began his career as a trainee journalist at Trinity Mirror’s Media Wales division 11 years ago.
Catrin Pascoe, editor of the Western Mail, South Wales Echo editor Tryst Williams, and South Wales Evening Post editor Jonathan Roberts will all now report to him.
The Evening Post, along with the Carmarthen Journal and Llanelli Star, was recently added to TM’s South Wales portfolio as part of the company’s £220m acquisition of Local World.
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It’s a braver man than Minim who takes on any role with words like “editor-in-chief” in the job title these days. Let’s hope this is the next stage of a long and lucrative career for Paul in the far-sighted, visionary, and commercially and strategically flawless organisation that is Trinity Mirror – indeed, a New Day for everyone in that office.
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‘His top priority… capitalising on synergies’
Oh dear! It’s time to start looking for another job.
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It is sometimes hard to tell the difference between http://www.WalesOnline.co.uk and http://www.WalesOnCraic.com
The latter gets a surprising amount of traffic!
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Synergies… that sounds good!
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Editor in chiefs all used to be in their 50s at least and have the general demeanour of a Detective Inspector who’d once had a fist fight with Reggie Kray. What’s going on? Am I getting older or what?
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Let’s play HTFP bingo.
“exciting”
“vibrant”
“brands”
“synergies”
HOUSE!
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Many congratulations to Paul and best wishes from the North East. Paul helped us enormously during a successful secondment in Newcastle a couple of years back. He’s a quality appointment with an intelligent understanding of how to meet the needs of readers and grow audiences.
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You know you’re in trouble when someone starts talking about their local roots, like when the new work and pensions secretary talks about how his nan was on the dole once for five days.
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A few more details on my Welsh roots for the benefit of Jeff Jones, I was born and raised in Aberystwyth, have lived in Cardiff since 2004, and my father’s family have lived in the Swansea area for as many generations as they’ve been able to trace.
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Lovely to see the usual protagonists offering such support from their ivory towers.
Anyone who knows Paul or has seen him operate knows he is top class.
While not having fought a gangster or indeed have the ability to grow a quality beard, the work on content development and audience growth in South Wales he has done speaks for itself
Great appointment
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Nice to see an increase in editorial headcount at the top. Four where three used to be enough.
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When I trained as a reporter I think the experienced old hacks who led our course would have thrown a copy of McNae’s at us if anyone had dared use the phrase ‘capitalising on potential synergies’.
Can we leave that kind of thing to council press offices, please? Unless the plain English translation is a bit too grim to contemplate…
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Dan Owen: young man making his way up the career ladder is good news for that young man and his family. Well done, Paul, you have talent, energy and ambition. Young man making his way up the career ladder at TM… watch out, sir. Still, an able operator like Paul will be able to switch effortlessly to another sector/employer when the time comes. Which it soon will.
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Many congratulations to Paul, a richly-deserved reward for the many years of hard work put into helping make WalesOnline the strong website it is today.
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Congratulations to a young man who is obviously talented and has great local credentials. I genuinely hope you are a success.
Let’s hope your success with “content development and audience growth” highlighted by Dan Owen is actually more meaningful that thousands of Farcebook likes and zillions of clicks on meaningless bait.
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Good luck Paul.
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Give it up Dick please. It’s Friday, the sun is shining. Can’t you be out doing something which makes you happy, rather than than playing Grim Reaper on here? Unless that actually makes you happy……
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Cripes! He is 33! Barely out of newspaper nappies and running all those titles. Good luck .
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Capitalise on synergies = Merge into oblivion
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As some football manager once said: ‘If you’re good enough, you’re old enough.’
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Maybe this is Trinity Mirror’s great plan we’ve been waiting for – get rid of the experienced, older heads and bring on the kids.
Well, you won’t win anything with kids!
Seriously, no disrespect to Paul. I’m sure he’s earned his place at TM’s ever-shrinking round table, but just have a think about some of the fine experienced editors they’ve got rid of in Wales over the last few years.
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Wonder if editors-in-chief at TM get to write or approve their own press releases? Paul would you ever allow language like this in your papers/websites?
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Paul, I didn’t say you weren’t from Wales, that wasn’t really my point.
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It really grinds my gears the way the thought police descend on these threads and always bemoan the lack of enthusiasm for things which are quite clearly ridiculous.
Paul may indeed be a great guy and hugely capable, but Jehovah himself couldn’t oversee the sheer number of titles the modern TM editor is expected to and still do a proper job.
The idea that by bemoaning the state of the company or the industry at large is somehow being overly negative is ludicrous, seeing as the last big TM story got negative about was the launch of New Day, which bombed for all the reasons said ‘moaners’ said it would after an embarrassingly short lifespan. I’m not negative, I just don’t like to see an industry I once loved being eviscerated. What’s wrong with that?
I fully understand people have got mortgages to pay and have to be seen to get onboard with all this stuff, we’ve all done it to lesser or greater extents – but anyone from TM who actually thinks TM has its readers’ interests at heart has the worst case of Stockholm Syndrome I’ve seen since Patty Hearst,
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I don’t know this chap but he sounds talented and a more than able journalist. However, does a 33 year old have enough life experience for this role? It’s scary to think I’ve a leather jacket older than that!
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So what you’re saying Jeff is you don’t mind people commenting, so long as they agree with you? And that it’s impossible that people might know more than you, as someone who from memory has left the industry already?
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Jeff Jones should know by now that6 it’s editors-in-chief, not editor-in-chiefs. I was going to say I was surprised that no-one else has pointed it out before now, but I should have known better.
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Curious, yes that’s exactly what I said. The straw man is so big Edward Woodward and all his friends are stood inside it asking for an ice pack.
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Jeff Jones. I salute you. Spot on.
Curious. That’s not what he said at all.
FWIW I know more than you and Jeff Jones . . . put together.
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*facepalm*
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Stay classy, Harry Blackwood.
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I’m sure you do Harry – which explains why you have so much time to spend on here sharing your wisdom with us!
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“Jeff Jones should know by now that6 it’s editors-in-chief,”
I know! Shocking spelling eh!
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It’s not the lack of spelling ability that lets you down, Jeff. It’s your ignorance of the rules of grammar. Keep trying.
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Cuts deep that Digger.
I write for nationals and have won awards my friend, I’ve got nothing to prove.
Strange that you’d open unleash an ad hominem argument though against someone posting in their spare time on an internet message board, but seemingly have nothing to say about a company which frequently turns out print products for actual sale that are strewn with errors and outright falsehoods.
Are you one of TM’s winged monkeys?
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