The editor of one of Johnston Press’s leading weekly titles is leaving newspapers after 25 years for a journalism lecturing role.
Tracy Powell joined the staff of the Worksop Guardian in 1988 and became editor of its sister paper the Mansfield Chad four years ago.
Now she is moving on to take up a role as senior lecturer in journalism at Nottingham Trent University.
During her time as editor, Tracy led a campaign for an MRI scanner for the main hospital in the area which raised £700,000 in just nine months.
Said Tracy: “I’ve enjoyed my time at Chad hugely. Not just in terms of working with the team, the titles and the websites, but also the communities of Mansfield, Ashfield and Hucknall, to which I’ve grown extremely attached.
Since joining the Guardian as a trainee she filled most roles in the Chad newsroom before succeeding long-serving predecessor Jeremy Plews as editor in 2009.
Managing director John Bills said: “Tracy will be missed. No two ways about it. She’ll be missed by her team, and she’ll be missed by the communities into which she’s become embedded.
“I would like to wish Tracy all the best in her new venture, and thank her for all that she has done during her 25 years’ service.”
JP’s editorial Director for South Yorkshire and Peaks James Mitchinson added: “I have known and worked with Tracy for 12 years. She is unflinching in her expectation of excellence, and demands 100 per cent from her staff, all of the time.
“I wish her well in her new role as a senior lecturer in Journalism at Nottingham Trent University, a role I’m sure she’ll excel in.”
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Good luck Tracy.Vital that people with current journalism experience are helping train the journalists of the future.
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Best of luck Tracy. I can’t think of a better person to train tomorrow’s journos. You will be brilliant.
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Bring back Trunky the News Elephant!
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The woman has spent her life in weekly newspapers and is now a lecturer???
The mind boggles!
What can she tell her students about life on a daily newspaper?
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EX-JP . Seeing as most dailies are now weeklies, she’ll be ideally placed I would imagine. Good luck to her.
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TP is a fantastic journalist and editor who over the years has inspired nurtured, and mentored many other journalists, myself included. I feel privileged to have worked with someone of her calibre, with such a passion and commitment to journalism. I will always be thankful for everything she has done for me, not least when she came to my rescue when a rabid pub landlord, who was built like a tank, was all up in my grill and about to drop me! Anyone who knows her will have no doubts whatsoever that she will make a first rate lecturer. Farewell TP, boss, and dare I say it, friend.
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Canute… most dailies are not now weeklies.
But don’t let the facts stand in the way of a rubbish riposte
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EX JP sub – Out of interest, why are you an ‘ex’ sub? Not up to the job?
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If I wanted to get a job as a teacher in a high school I would no doubt need a degree and a few years of teacher training.
Therefore can anyone explain to me to why it seems to be relatively easy for ex-journos to leave newspapers and walk straight into journalism lecturing roles? Do the same rules not apply?
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‘High school’? Whereabouts in the North-East are you? Massachusetts? I can’t think of anyone better suited to be a journalism lecturer than someone with 25 years experience in the industry, at every level, plus previous lecturing experience.
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