A weekly editor has been seconded from her paper to drive forward a recently-launched Sunday sister title.
Publisher Local World launched a Sunday edition of its West Country flagship the Western Morning News earlier this year.
Now it has seconded North Devon Journal editor Lisa Templeton, left, to edit the edition for the next three months.
Bosses say the move is designed to ready the paper for its next marketing push.
The Sunday edition of the Morning News hit the streets on 22 June with seven new editorial roles created ahead of the launch.
Editor Bill Martin said: “Feedback we have had from readers and advertisers has been overwhelmingly positive and we want to accelerate our drive to grow the South West’s own quality Sunday newspaper.
“We feel that in order to ready the newspaper for the next phase of development it requires a dedicated focus, Lisa will bring exactly that.”
Devon & Cornwall Media managing director Mark Sainsbury added: “We are very proud of what we have produced so far and the Sunday title is still evolving and being refined to make the newspaper and magazine even better for our readers.”
Lisa informed staff at the Barnstaple-based Journal of the move earlier this week.
Patrick Phelvin, editor of the Tiverton Gazette, is now covering for her at the Journal for the twelve week period.
No sales figures for the Sunday edition of the Morning News have so far been made public.
According to its most recently-audited ABC figures, the daily title has a circulation of 26,699.
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Tick tock tick tock….
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Are Bill & Mark auditioning for roles as Jackanory presenters?
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Whose editing the Tiverton Gazette?
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Good luck Lisa on Bill and Mark’s Most Excellent Adventure!
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Mmmm, anyone else, like me, wondering what the “next stage of development” after this “next stage of development” for the Western Morning News on Sunday might be? The next few issues might well turn out to be collector’s items.
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Too little, too late. We had one chance to make this work and we blew it through timidity, muddled thinking and ‘too many cooks’. As any fule kno, you get one chance at a new brand launch, not two. The readers have tried it, disliked it and moved on.
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By far away the best thing in the WMN on Sunday is the West magazine you get with it every week – and even then, in last week’s issue their main cover star pic and feature had been in a rival, superior magazine locally over a week previously.
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I expect Lisa’s first act will be sit down with the Production Editor of the Western Morning News on Sunday to see where things might be improved. It’s all relative, after all….
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I’m free and available to help if anyone wants to call me!
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Oh dear.
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See like, what this paper needs like, is more travel features from this neck of the woods to engage the WMN readership. If the Plymouth Herald can do it on their website, why can’t the WMN on Sunday do it in print?
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Best of luck Lisa – hope the move becomes permanent.
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Ah: so it’s all going to have been her fault…
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The magazine is half-decent but who goes to the cinema to watch a rotten film because the popcorn is okay?!
Almost six months in and I can’t remember a splash worthy of the name, less still which might have prompted me to buy the paper.
And I expected so much more from a title with the might of the third most-powerful individual in the SW – source: WMN on Sunday Power 150 – behind it!
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