An editor axed six years ago by Johnston Press will compete with the newspapers he used to run after being appointed to launch a new freesheet.
Newsquest’s Eastbourne Independent will be distributed at supermarkets and other outlets across the Sussex town for the first time on Friday, with 13,500 copies available initially.
The Independent will be edited by Peter Lindsey, former editor of the Johnston Press-owned Eastbourne Herald and Eastbourne Gazette with which the new title will be in direct competition.
The paper will rival the Johnston Press-owned Gazette, and it launch comes two months after JP acquired the free weekly Brighton & Hove Independent, which runs in competition with the city’s daily Newsquest title, The Argus.
A screenshot from the Eastbourne Independent’s counterpart website
Peter previously worked as a group editor within JP, working at the Crawley Observer, Sussex Express series, Eastbourne Herald and Gazette, and Observer series in Hastings.
He lost his job in March 2009 as part of a series of cost-cutting measures following the merger of the company’s TR Beckett and Sussex Newspapers divisions.
Said Peter: “I am delighted to be working on this exciting project. I will be putting my heart and soul into this new paper.
“I will be reporting on the news as well as being actively involved in the community – just as I was when editor before.
“Eastbourne is a wonderful place, full of wonderful people, and it will be a privilege to be able to communicate and interact again with the public in this way.”
Since leaving JP, Peter has worked as journalism course leader at City College Brighton and Hove.
Newsquest Sussex group editor Mike Gilson said: “The Argus has always covered Eastbourne as part of its county-wide service but the Eastbourne Independent will get right down into the community, reporting on what is important and celebrating local life.
“In Peter Lindsey we have the ideal journalist to do this. He knows the town and surrounding area like the back of his hand.”
Dawn Sweeney, managing director of Newsquest Sussex, said: “The Eastbourne Independent will give readers and advertisers a new platform in the town. We are committed to delivering a first class service.”
JP has responded to the launch by unveiling plans for a relaunch of the Gazette which will see it switch from tabloid to broadsheet.
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Good luck Peter. Sounds like fun and you are definitely the best man for the job!
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I am just waiting for newsquest news in Scotland and greater manchester. Watch this space
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I sincerely wish you success., You are an inspiration to all former JP staff, and deserve to succeed. There is room in Eastbourne for both titles.
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Come off it Mike Gilson. The Argus once had a superb reporting team at outposts like Eastbourne and Hastings but disbanded them to save money. all its coverage for past ten years or so has been very poor as it retreated into Brighton.
Sadly JP failed to take advantage as they stripped their offices of staff, indeed closing some at important places like Lewes.
So it’s war between two puny armies of skeletons armed with pea-shooters. But only one between them all.
Should be fascinating unless you work for them!
Good luck to Pete, though.
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Gilson and Lindsey, quite a formidable team. Interesting to see how JP reacts to the threat, both editorially and commercially. I suspect the effort will be going into the latter.
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I doubt there’s room for both, but it’s going to be fun while it lasts! Welcome back and good luck, Peter.
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Good luck, as a bitter ex-JP staffer, I hope it does really well. Once the advertisers realise that 13,500 will reach a lot of people, upto 50k. There will be a big battle to undercut each other’s advertising.
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Good luck Peter, News in Eastbourne is going to be interesting again.
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Lets face it, The Argus yesterday put a 14 page supplement in the paper yesterday ‘A day in Summer’ to be exact 14 pages of pictures taken on the 21st June 2015, yes 14 pages full of one day in the summer????????????????
Then two pages of Yesteryear….
They have very sadly had it!
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Best of luck Peter.
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Good luck mate hope it spreads here. The best the Observer could come up with this week was 2 pics of a legally parked Lorry (inc most of front page)
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Maybe JP can find an experienced hack they shoved out to grass to match PL. Otherwise even with NQ’s sad state (The Argus sells only about 12,000 copies a day for heaven’s sake!) inept JP will be gobbled up by the greedy Gannett in this scavenge for scraps.
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Do I detect signs of a u-turn over killing off papers? Or are these two ailing giants trawling for click-bait by the sea.
Everyone in the industry senses that digital income is nowhere near where it should be considering the effort put in by hard-working staff.
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A knee jerk reaction from Newquest to JP buying the Brighton Indy.
Not even Newsquest can handle too many freebies at the price of newsprint.
Newsquest haven’t pulled off a profitable result in years – Just over five years ago Newsquest bought Property Weekly in Worthing for a cool million. Messed around with it, upset the estate agents,two years later no worth a quid!
Goodness knows who’s running things at Newsquest but they really and truly don’t have a clue.
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Good luck, Peter
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