Two regional dailies have been given dedicated editors for the first time in four years after a management shake-up was made permanent.
Newsquest Dorset has confirmed that Andy Martin, of the Bournemouth Echo, and Diarmuid Macdonagh, of the Dorset Echo, will have their acting editorships made permanent.
The move marks a return to separate editors for both titles, which had been under the helm of Toby Granville since December 2011, when the late Neal Butterworth was made redundant from his role in Bournemouth.
Both Andy and Diarmuid were seconded to their roles in February when Toby took on the temporary role of editorial development director at Newsquest, which has also now been made permanent.
Andy Martin, left, and Diarmuid Macdonagh, right
Andy was deputy editor and head of news at Bournemouth and has been managing the news desk at the title since 1997.
He started his career at the New Milton Advertiser as a trainee reporter before joining the newspaper.
Vincent Boni, managing director of Newsquest Dorset, said: “I am always pleased when it is possible to recognise talent and achievement in our demanding media businesses and even more so when talent rises through the ranks.
“Andy is an accomplished and tenacious journalist who has championed the conurbation’s issues and triumphs for many years. Now he has the recognition and clout to enter the fray with even more vigour.
“With significantly higher audience numbers than any of his predecessors had to play with I look forward to where he will be taking us.”
Diarmuid was deputy editor and head of news in Weymouth, and had been managing the news desk at the Dorset Echo since 2009.
He started his career at the Reading Post as a trainee reporter and joined the Dorset Echo as a senior reporter in 1991.
Vincent added: “I am extremely pleased to congratulate Diarmuid on his editorship. Rarely do you get the pleasure of making an appointment so deserved and after many years of hard graft as a journalist, so many of them at the Dorset Echo.
“I am particularly pleased to be working with him and look forward to seeing how he will develop further the largest audience the Dorset Echo and its sister publications have ever had.”
Toby will now focus on working with editorial teams across the group, supporting them to become genuinely multi-media.
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Woohoo! We just might win this thing!
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Yup, sounds good doesn’t it. However I think Jeff Jones might adopt a different attitude if he knew how much blood was on the carpet and how few staff these papers now have.
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So weren’t the previous editors very dedicated then?!!
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Isn’t it remarkable that Newsquest bosses become instantly available for comment when it’s good news? When they’re sacking people, there’s never anyone around.
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Nice to see the management wallahs who decided to do away with dedicated editors in the first place are sticking around to see the reinstatement of the roles. ‘Take responsibility for the management okey cokey in this part of the world guv? Not me guv..’
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Give it three months and they’ll be replaced by one super-ed for the whole of the south of England. You watch… Newsquest have got no idea.
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Having edited both titles in the past, perhaps I should keep my mouth shut. But I will say that it makes a refreshing change to see two good, solid, newsroom veterans(sorry, boys!) given the chance. Strange phraseology from Vincent, though. Is he simply trying to say that since Dorset’s population has risen, there are more potential readers(clickbait!!)? Ps. HTFP looking for a decent sub.? That headline literal really hurts. . .
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an editor for every paper in the land and banish all group editors from the empire. Now there’s a genius idea! Can I have my £70,000 a year now please.
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