John Robertson, of the Newbury Weekly News, has taken over as president of The Newspaper Society from Tim Bowdler.

His vice-president is Trinity Mirror Regionals managing director Stephen Parker.

New president

John (left) is now part-time deputy chairman of Newbury Weekly News and parent company Blacket Turner after stepping down as chairman and group managing director last year.

He told regional newspaper publishers at the Society's Council meeting yesterday that he would focus his presidency on industry investment in local editorial.

He said: "Even though it has been proved many times that when people want to trade, especially for houses, jobs, cars or household goods they turn to their local paper, it is by and large the editorial content that retains them as readers week in week out.

"Every national story is a local story somewhere. We are judged by our local communities on how we report that story, and the way in which we treat the local people concerned establishes our credibility.

"In each locality we serve, our investment in editorial is massive compared with our competition. We spend thousands of pounds a year in collecting stories from all areas of our communities, whether from our own reporters, local correspondents, sports club or league secretaries, or readers' letters.

"News is our lifeblood; we have a huge advantage over anyone else in being able to gather it; let's use it and capitalise on our strength."

John has been in the newspaper industry since 1968 when he started out as accountant with the East Anglian Daily Times.

He joined EMAP as company secretary and then served as director and general manager of West Norfolk Newspapers for four years before becoming managing director of Oxley & Son (Windsor) Ltd, an independent printing and publishing company, proprietor of the Windsor, Slough and Eton Express.

In 1985 he was appointed managing director of Newbury Weekly News (Printers) Ltd, an independent, privately owned publisher of the Newbury Weekly News Group titles. And in 1997 he was appointed group managing director of Blacket Turner & Co Ltd and chairman of its subsidiary companies.

Stephen Parker (right) is a main board director of Trinity Mirror plc. He was previously MD of the Northern Region of Trinity Mirror's regional newspaper division, and has held posts at the Liverpool Daily Post and Echo, the Newcastle Chronicle & Journal and at Thomson Regional Newspapers.

The Newspaper Society labels itself "the voice of Britain's regional and local press", and represents around 1,300 daily and weekly, paid-for and free, newspaper titles in the UK.

A new president is elected from Society membership every year, in July.

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