A second regional daily has appointed a new standalone editor four years after the role was merged with that of a sister title.
David Powles, left, has taken on the editorship of the Norwich Evening News, which had previously been overseen by Eastern Daily Press editor Nigel Pickover.
Last week HTFP revealed that Archant, which publishes both newspapers, is seeking a new editor for the Ipswich Star.
Both the Star and the Evening News lost their own editors in August 2012 in a restructure which saw Nigel move from the editor’s chair at the former to take on both the Evening News and the EDP.
David served as news editor of the Evening News, before becoming assistant editor at the EDP and the Evening News.
He was then put in charge of Archant’s newly-formed central investigations unit in March 2015.
A journalist of 15 years, he had joined the Evening News as a reporter in 2006, having previously worked at the Lancashire Evening Post and Burton Mail.
David will also assume the editorship of the Norwich Advertiser weekly newspaper and both paper’s websites.
Said David: “Norwich is the city where I was born, spent much of my childhood and have enjoyed living in for the past decade.
“To be given the opportunity to edit the city’s daily newspaper is a dream come true. I look forward to ensuring our readers continue to enjoy a great value, quality newspaper and brilliant website.”
Nigel retains the editorship of the EDP in the latest restructure, and the Ipswich Star editor’s role is being advertised on HTFP.
Said Nigel: “I am absolutely delighted for David and this appointment is testament to his hard work for us over the past decade.”
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Good move – print may be dying but it’s not dead yet. I hope David breathes new life into a title that has been run down by previous regimes.
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What’s going on at Archant? It’s almost as thought they actually believe in content and journalism. This won’t last.
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So what happened to the much heralded central investigations unit? Is it still running?
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Time to unlock the warehouse of redundant editors?
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Mick Dinim – pleased to meet you. (NB other readers: the Dinims are a sadly decayed branch of the Minim clan and fell into impoverished obscurity in the West Midlands long ago). Anyway, surely “daily editor role revived” deserves a website of its own these days. Whatever next – Publisher Celebrates As Circulations Soar? Trinity Mirror Says Online All Smoke And Mirrors?
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Odd that Archant have reverted to editors for their two failing Evening titles. Difficult to conclude anything other than that this has the look of a march towards digital only for both papers overseen by the two new editors.
The Evening News in Norwich, bizarrely named since it is sold alongside the morning paper (Eastern Daily Press) in newsagents each morning, has fallen from a sale of 50,000 in the late 80s to little more than 10,000 a night now. That is surely an unsustainable sales figure in the long term for a printed product.
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Poor soul being given the poisoned chalice of the Norwich evening news,must be relief after the AIU post but at least there’s not much more damage to be done or readers to be lost I guess.
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@ PR turned journo
How can we tell?
And one typo “..ensuring our readers continue to enjoy a great value, quality newspaper .”
S/be ‘reader’
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@biter is correct- nice bit of investigations work sir, they may be looking for a new ‘Holmes’ to take over the running of things so you’d be ideal!
The sideways moving and reduced roles of editors does indeed point to a move to and focus on digital as opposed to continuing with two lame evening print publications spurting money and bumping along the bottom and who’ve long ago lost their audiences along the way.
It will be interesting to see just how bad the latest ABC figures are for the IES and NEN then watch what investment and development plans are put into keeping both of these morning evening papers alive,or whether the migration to free or online only happens sooner rather than later.
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” ensuring our readers continue to enjoy a great value, quality newspaper ”
Population of Norwich 230,000
EN ABC copy sale 10,600 = 5%
good luck with that then
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Jesus wept: from an “investigations” unit that broke such devastating stories as insurance costing different amounts depending on where you live to editor of a newspaper.
His first act today was to write a ‘welcome letter’ to readers so devoid of content that it had to be double-spaced to fill the gap, pleading for ideas on what to put in the paper.
Good luck bud.
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Here’s the open letter. http://www.eveningnews24.co.uk/news/an_open_letter_from_the_new_editor_of_the_norwich_evening_news_1_4528429
Basically an editor signalling he has no idea why anyone is buying the paper and constructing an ‘Alamo’ style defence of the current 10,000 readers with a plaintive cry. ‘Tell us what you like and if we print the stuff you say you like we hope you will keep buying it.’
Surely you would get a better idea of why the circulation is plummeting by asking the people who have stopped buying it in their many thousands.
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Beyond clueless and wholly embarrassing.
Looks like a paper on its last legs and awaiting its imminent fate; going free, going online or closing.
This is little more than a desperate plea to hold on to the 10,600 buyers by telling them how good the paper is (?) and a grovelling message to the other 220,000 locals not buying it to do so as the paper includes’ money off coupons and savings vouchers’
Though he has missed the point that only those few buying it will see the message, the others, presumably who he’s aiming at won’t see it or care either way.
This from the paper that offered free cinema tickets for news stories and tweets everyone that they’re using their social media comments in a published news story? Or the paper that regularly asks folk to email in with stories or pictures?
Far better use of his time would be to canvass why so many thousands of people have stopped buying this awful paper and speaking to the hundreds of local business people,ex advertisers giving the NEN a very wide berth and advertising elsewhere.
Only then will he get real pointers as to the way ahead,and the root cause of the papers rapid demise,however if he did he wouldn’t get the answers he wants.
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View over the car park…
Canvass? That’s crazy talk. All the ‘boys’ at the top already know what their public like, they have been doing it for years. Experts, all of ’em.
Move along now.
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Good point @dole queue
theyre the ones who have all the answers and know best, that’s why the company’s in such good health
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I genuinely feel sorry for this guy,being given a role that clearly no one else wants in the belief that it’s some sort of career step up, bit like cpt Smith delighting in being given control of the Titanic.
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