A regional daily editor will hand over the reins for a day to one of the stars of hit BBC TV Dragons’ Den.
Duncan Bannatyne will be the guest editor of The Northern Echo next Monday, with current editor Peter Barron stepping aside after 12 years at the helm to become his deputy.
Profits from the sale of any newspapers above average on that day and the following day will be donated to the Bannatyne Charitable Trust, along with 10pc of the proceeds from an advertising feature to commemorate his editorship.
15-year-old local Paralympic hopeful Lyndon Longhorne will also join the paper for the day as an assistant to the Dragon’s Den star – whose business empire is based in the North-East.
Writing about the move in his blog, Peter said Mr Bannatyne’s entrepreneurial roots could be traced back to local newspapers as he found 100 customers in his neighbourhood in Clydebank, Scotland, so he could start a paper round to buy a bike.
Peter said: “He’ll be running the news conference from the famous old chair occupied in 1871 by the great campaigning editor William Stead who died on board the Titanic.
“He’ll be going out on assignments, organising a photo-shoot, and generally calling the shots.
“It should be a lot of fun but there’s also a serious side to it. Duncan is a passionate charity campaigner and the profit from the sale of any newspapers which are above the Monday average will be donated to the Bannatyne Charitable Trust.
“The more papers sold on Tuesday March 22, the more money goes to his charity.
“A special advertising feature, to commemorate his editorship of the paper, will also be sold, with 10 per cent of the proceeds going to his foundation.
“My only worry is that he might prove to be too good and that I don’t get back in the chair.”
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sounds like a bit of fun to relief the gloom in the industry.
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Sounds like the Echo are being a bit stingy with the cash offered to the trust..
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I hope Mr Bannatyne points out, to Newsquest management, that it is a bad idea to give your product away for free on the internet, at the expense of your core business (ie newspapers).
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He’ll be going out on assignments, organising a photo-shoot, Is this what the editor of the Northern Echo normally does?
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Oh Northern Snapper, get over it. You’re not ‘giving it away for free’ if you’re selling adverts online. You must have escaped when the dinosaurs died out.
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Oh dear Northern Snapper – MOVE ON you must be kidding yourself if you think Newspapers are still the “in” thing – its a dying media
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