A senior reporter at a daily-turned-weekly newspaper has left to become a press officer after 11 years working at Northcliffe titles.
Emma Pearcy has left the Torquay Herald Express, where she mainly covered the Teignbridge area, which has its own edition.
She has left the title to join Teignbridge District Council’s media and communications team and was presented with a farewell card and gifts, including a mock front page, by colleagues at the paper.
Editor Jim Parker said: “Emma has worked extremely hard to develop her patch and has become an invaluable member of the editorial team here. We wish her every success for the future.”
Emma started out in journalism at the North Devon Journal before moving to the Herald Express, where she has spent the last seven years.
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It has become a constant trend that newspaper reporters, particularly experienced ones, are fleeing newspapers to join PR companies because the pay rates in our regional and weekly newspapers are just about poverty level.
As each experienced journalist finds the escape tunnel so the quality of newspaper content diminishes.
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Best of luck to Emma, but what puzzles me about Observer’s comment above is that most PR companies I see advertising say ‘agency experience required’ i.e. they will not consider journalistic experience as relevant.
I should know, having applied for so many PR jobs.
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