Further promotions have been announced by a regional publisher as part of a recent editorial restructure.
Archant’s head of editorial production, Mark Hindle, has been appointed into the new role of director of central content and production.
Elsewhere Rob Setchell, editor of the company’s Norwich based television channel Mustard TV, has been appointed as its head of content.
The role will see Rob, pictured above left, working alongside Archant’s editorial departments to provide video content which is “increasing in demand from both audiences and advertisers”.
The moves follow Archant’s recent decisions to recreate the roles of editor of the Norwich Evening News and editor of the Ipswich Star.
Both Mark and Rob will report directly into Chief Content Officer Matt Kelly.
Said Matt: “As our audience’s demand for quality content across all platforms develops, so we too must change.
“These appointments underscore our continued commitment to creating relevant, engaging content – and help move us towards becoming the best local media company in the UK.”
Other recent job moves in the regional press include the following:
- The Scunthorpe Telegraph has appointed Trevor Green as sports editor in addition to his existing role as sports editor of the Grimsby Telegraph. Trevor replaces former sports editor Chris Sumpter.
- Amy Cole has been appointed as a reporter at the Somerset County Gazette
- The Newham Recorder has appointed Sophie Morton as acting news editor. Sophie, who previously served as a reporter at the Archant London weekly, replaces Freddy Mayhew, who is now news editor at Press Gazette.
- Ellie Cambridge has left her role as a reporter at the Surrey Comet.
- Shakila Barabhuiya has left her role as a community reporter at Portsmouth daily The News to join Badminton England as communications officer.
- Lauren Page has been appointed as entertainment reporter at Cumbria Live
- The Daily Record has promoted political editor David Clegg to the role of assistant editor (politics).
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As any fule kno, central content is only ever produced with cost-saving as its prime motive, never as a device to improve the output to readers in local markets. If Archant still wants to be the best local media business in the UK, as oft quoted by our chief exec, can anyone behind this strategy tell me how imposing generic, central content on unwilling editors is part of that strategy?
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Really not sure i would see being sent to the god awful Mustard tv as “promotion”
have they never heard of the trades descriptions act?
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Congratulations Rob. All the best in your new role.
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All this stuff was pioneered by TM years ago and all fell flat on its backside. Let’s see some fresh ideas. If there was no life in old school print models, independents wouldn’t be popping up faster than whack-a-mole on acid.
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Which ideas are you talking about Jeff Jones?
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Well, I thought a whack-a-mole on acid was a fairly fresh idea. Anyone know where I can get one?
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Not sure agree with the naysayers. Some page leads in local papers are god awful and I think it’s fair to assume good interesting content is a better swap.
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Excuse the pedant in me but it’s Trade Descriptions Act – not Trades!
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Yet another editor , or ‘content director’ to add to the seemingly endless pile of editors, or ‘contents’ bumping into each other in the corridors.
Better to create more front end reporting roles, reinstate photographers rather than scrape Twitter and Facebook for reader supplied snaps of sunsets and wildlife,invest in experienced community reporters to handle the work load,and staff up the branches before adding to the back office numbers,then the ‘.. quality content across all platforms’ will improve dramatically, however this is plainly all about cost savings in other areas.
And Matt Kelly, the demand for quality has always been there,it hasn’t just been ‘demanded by advertisers and readers, it’s been ignored and is whats driven thousands of ex readers away,and no number of ‘content ‘ Chiefs will get them back.
More Indians less Chiefs
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Nobody pays any intention to this nowadays, but it is supposed to be More Indians fewer Chiefs.
Fewer for countable quantities.
Less for uncountable quantities.
ie There has been less rain today, so fewer people are carrying umbrellas.
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Er, pedant striking again… It’s fewer, not less.
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Good old provincial and jupiter( the gas giant?),anything to divert attention away from the main issues in the piece
more office football/penalty shoot outs with the reps anyone?
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Now we know what happened to all those redundant sub-editors – they all re-trained as pedants.
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In my experience content editors are often well….not very good at editing. They just seem to make sure words fit into boxes. The words don’t seem to matter much judging by the poor grammar, punctuation, sentence structure and style in a lot of JP papers. The old subs were better for we youngster reporters, we could learn from them, but most have quit or lost their jobs.
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