Former Birmingham Post editor Marc Reeves has been given editorial control of all Trinity Mirror’s Midlands titles in the latest company restructure.
David Brookes editor-in-chief of the Birmingham Mail, Birmingham Post and Coventry Telegraph is to leave his position at the end of the year.
In his place comes Marc who returned to the Trinity Mirror Midlands business in a publisher role last year after a spell pursuing other projects.
It completes a notable comeback for an editor who initially quit TM when the Post went from daily to weekly in 2009.
Marc left along with the then Birmingham Mail editor Steve Dyson, with David, then editor of the Coventry Telegraph taking over as editor-in-chief of all three titles.
Now it appears the tables have turned with Marc succeeding David in the editor-in-chief role.
Simon Edgley, managing director, Trinity Mirror Midlands, said: “David has made a significant contribution to our titles and the business over many years, including very successful tenures editing the Coventry Telegraph, the Sunday Mercury and of course the Birmingham Mail.
“He has led the editorial team through some very challenging times, and is in very large part responsible for making our newsrooms the multi-media pioneers they are today. His hard work and leadership leaves the business well prepared to hand over and I am looking forward to working with Marc in his new role.”
Added David: “The last few years have seen tumultuous change in the way we produce and publish content and I am incredibly indebted to the talented journalists in the newsroom who have worked tirelessly to achieve fantastic digital growth.
“I will miss the buzz of the newsroom but I have had the privilege of working with some truly amazing journalists over the years.”
Since leaving TM, Marc he has run his own public affairs consultancy and helped set up TheBusinessDesk.com’s West Midlands operation.
He returned to the company as publishing director, Midlands in July 2013.
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Publishing director/editor-in-chief. Spot the difference. This has been inevitable since he rejoined the company.
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Ah so the Hokey Cokey strategy has been employed – in, out, in out, shake then all about.
Based on this backwards forwards stance, Marc wants to keep an eye over is shoulder in case Dan Mason, Ian Dowell or Roger Borrell are lurking in the shadows.
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Damn autocorrect!
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Bringing people back into the business who actually know how to run newspapers? Seems like an uncharacteristic forward-thinking step from Trinity Mirror, and a very good move installing Marc Reeves as editor-in-chief.
Just need to bring back Steve Dyson, Darren Parkin and John Griffith and you’ll have a winning formula again.
Oh wait, will there be anyone left for them to manage?
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At least Dave Brookes will be finally able to have a rest, after more than a decade of frantic restructuring, new ‘strategies’ every six months, the constant loss of staff and expertise, and TM’s continued inability to dovetail the worlds of digital and print into a single and viable business model.
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Let’s hope that there’s no negative impact on my home-town paid-for weekly the Hinckley Times.
I see that it’s lost about a third of its circulation in the 40 years since I used to deliver it (as a broadsheet with eight columns of classifieds on its front page) – down from nearly 18,000 to just over 11,000 last year. Given some papers get close to losing that in a year, the Hinckley Times must be doing something right. Could be local news
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I remember when all the TM top brass suddenly started wearing their shirts open necked because Sly Bailey had said she didn’t like ties. Halcyon days.
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Agree with Ian Halstead, the world of digital has been a ‘feeling around in the dark’ exercise for too long. It needs commitment and hungry staff (hopefully lots of them) able to pioneer this new frontier. All I see is top-ten lists and daily shots of the weather in a local park sent in by a reader. Needs to be a bit more biting than that to attract a crowd.
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Brilliant, Slate Grey.. bring back Darren Parkin and Steve Dyson… priceless. You were joking right?
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Don’t make the fatal mistake of sitting in your ivory tower and never visiting the newsroom, discussing things with staff. I’ve worked for three newspaper companies, and never met any of the ‘directors’or ‘editors in chief’, just a brief glimpse of a suit as it heading into an office. Needless to say all the companies were aimless.
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Bring back Dan Mason and Ian Dowell I say.
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Streatham2 . hinckley is doing OK. One JP weekly has plunged from a high of 22,000 to about 7,000 in an area known for its reader loyalty.
The editor in chief largely responsible for this is doing very nicely in the JP hierarchy thank you
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And hands off the Sunday Mercury news and sport which still reaches the parts others don’t
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I wish Marc every success and hope he can revive the titles as they are very much in need of a sales boost. Unlike the E and S nobody seems to bother about circulation these days. As an old stager who enjoyed working for the Post when it was the country’s top regional morning selling nearly 100,000 and with the Mail when it hit 400,000 I can’t believe the way things have gone……the team are as valiant as ever so it must be management! I live on the outskirts of Stafford and can just about get the Black Country Mail yet I can drive ten minutes into Stafford and get the City edition!! Here’s hooping, Ken Jackson
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