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Multi-award winner Davies quits with no job to go to

Gareth-Davies-new-e1463476484158A weekly newspaper’s multi-award-winning chief reporter has announced he is leaving the paper next week.

Gareth Davies, who has won the Weekly Reporter of the Year award at the Regional Press Awards for the past four years, is taking voluntary redundancy from the Croydon Advertiser after eight years.

The renowned investigative journalist recently secured a notable victory for press freedom after the police agreed to revoke a harrassment order issued against him for doorstepping a convicted fraudster.

Father-of-one Gareth, above, announced his decision to move on in a series of Tweets last night, saying he would now be spending some time with his young son before deciding what to do next.

He said: “Sad to say that I’ll be leaving @CroydonAd next Friday (June 24). It’s been eight years and I’ve pretty much loved every minute.

“Well-known new company is making changes and I’ve decided it’s the right time for me to move on. So I’m going to spend some time with junior reporter and work out what to do next.

“It’s been an absolute privilege to work at the Advertiser, alongside some brilliant people in a town I’ve come to call home.”

The move comes amid an ongoing restructure at the Advertiser and other former Local World titles in Surrey, Kent and Essex following their takeover by Trinity Mirror last November.

Gareth originally received the anti-harassment warning from the Metropolitan Police in 2014 after approaching serial conwoman Neelam Desai for a comment on a story.

Police rejected his appeal against the warning, and the Independent Police Complaints Commission initially upheld that decision, but with the support of LW and then Trinity Mirror, Gareth took the issue to the High Court.

After a judge granted permission for a judicial review, the Met then agreed to revoke the warning and to pay most of the legal costs of the proceedings.

As reported yesterday, the College of Policing is now reviewing its guidance on the issuing of harrassment notices to journalists.

35 comments

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  • June 14, 2016 at 12:24 pm
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    HTFP’s love affair with Mr Davies had to come to end sooner or later….

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  • June 14, 2016 at 1:41 pm
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    ‘That’s enough’, to be fair to both HTFP and Gareth Davies he has won reporter of the year four years running, so is probably quite good at what he does and has been involved in quite a major story himself, so is deserving of some coverage.

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  • June 14, 2016 at 2:12 pm
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    All the best Gareth. Any half decent employer (assuming there are still some out there) should snap you up.

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  • June 14, 2016 at 2:25 pm
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    very true, he has been involved in a major story and that’s great he won. Well done, Mr Davies and good luck for the future. Now, let’s move on and see what stories there are from other award-winning journos out there.

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  • June 14, 2016 at 3:22 pm
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    Oh, wake up, the pair of you; the stench of sour grapes is choking me. This story isn’t about Gareth; it’s about what corporate greed is doing to British regional journalism. That TM could even be contemplating losing someone of his calibre tells you all you need to know about where we’re headed.

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  • June 14, 2016 at 3:40 pm
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    The fact that the Croydon Advertiser is prepared to let him take voluntary redundancy speaks volumes for the state of newspapers today.
    Gareth is obviously a good operator, has been recognised as such, and scored an important victory for press freedom over the doddering plods. Any self-respecting paper would be busting a gut to keep him, no matter how much time he wants to spend with his baby son.
    The fact that he’s being allowed to leave suggests once more that the suits don’t really rate editorial excellence when it comes to balancing the books.
    Perhaps the saved salary will be invested in another ad rep – or plonked into the management’s Christmas bonus pot. No wonder the industry is going down the pan.

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  • June 14, 2016 at 3:41 pm
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    Weird negativity from the first two commenters. I’ve never met Gareth, but he is clearly a talented reporter. The only surprise is that he hasn’t left for better things a lot earlier.

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  • June 14, 2016 at 4:08 pm
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    Brassington is right. TM does not care a hoot about the quality of its “products” as long as something is shoved out there at minimal cost. Where now the Croydon Advertiser, once a goldmine broadsheet of real standing in the town, now a ghastly wraith just about hanging on?

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  • June 14, 2016 at 4:25 pm
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    What intrigues me is that Gareth was allowed to take voluntary redundancy as I understand it was made clear at meetings to announce this round of cuts that voluntary redundancies were not being considered.

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  • June 14, 2016 at 4:39 pm
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    The fact that he’s left with nowhere to go to says it all, a sad indictment on the state of the U.K. Regional press and those running it

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  • June 14, 2016 at 4:58 pm
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    “At times we must purge things from this world because they should not exist. Even if it means losing someone that you love.”

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  • June 14, 2016 at 7:23 pm
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    Good luck Gareth. It was great to meet you at this year’s awards. I’m sure you’ll find a fantastic job.

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  • June 14, 2016 at 9:35 pm
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    There are still some good jobs in publishing out there, Gareth. Enjoy some quality time with Junior Reporter, then go and knock ’em dead when you’re ready for some adult company again! Good luck.

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  • June 14, 2016 at 11:09 pm
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    I suspect the sour grapes on here come from the Trinity Mirror thought police. Nobody casts aside talent quite like good old TM. Well done to the lad for having the stones to walk out rather than serve in an emasculated news operation. The only people who’d criticise such a move are those who never had the bottle to do it themselves and continue to leave their self respect In the foyer everyday. Work there if you want to, bills to pay etc, but don’t try and patronise people into believing it’s a decent setup or attack people who don’t fall for its garbage.

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  • June 15, 2016 at 8:24 am
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    Unless there’s more to the story this sums up the state of the newspaper industry in this country when an award winning journalist decided he’d rather be out of work than be somewhere he’d rather not be.

    I can’t imagine what the regional press will look like at year end after so many talented quality staff all gone and those publications and newsrooms that remain being pale shadows of what they once were just a couple or more years back.
    The upside of this being a whole pool of superb ex regional press staffers populating other forms of local and independent media businesses.
    All good wishes to Gareth, you’ll find there’s plenty of work for talented people in the outside world.

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  • June 15, 2016 at 9:27 am
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    As I mentioned on another thread, I also think this guy isn’t the type of person they want working for them anyway.

    For me, there are aspects of journalism you can and can’t teach. You can teach writing (to an extent), you can teach people law and how to ask a question etc.

    But there’s things you can’t teach, for instance, that ‘sense’ that something is off with someone or a situation. It serves you well during an interview when you suspect the other person is hiding something or telling fibs, but it also helps you see through the tripe you get served up by your employing company, you know when you’re being taken for a ride before most other people probably would.

    Also, journos are agitators by nature and they don’t like bullies. They’d be the same if they were writing about the council or a police cover up as they would if their company was shafting their colleagues. The idea of being a corporate cheerleader would be anathema to any self-respecting journalist.

    None of this is what a company with brand editors and commercial copywriting teams aplenty really wants though, which is why most of them have left or been binned off. There’s absolutely no shame in falling foul of a company like Trinity Mirror, it should be worn like a badge of honour.

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  • June 15, 2016 at 9:33 am
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    Could HTFP mean “voluntary redundancy” in the sense that he’s voluntarily decided to leave, rather than taken an official VR offer.

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  • June 15, 2016 at 9:40 am
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    I did a similar thing and don’t blame Gareth for his brave decision. Unless you have worked for TM you have no idea what the powers that be are doing in newsrooms across the UK. What TM is being allowed to get away with is the mindless cull of many talented journalists and no one outside the industry seems to be taking any interest. I have been told by former colleagues that the new structure is a hideous nightmare and no one knows what they are supposed to be doing. Good luck to you Gareth, I am sure you will have no problem gaining new and more valued employment elsewhere in the near future.

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  • June 15, 2016 at 10:19 am
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    There’s something not quite right about this affair. Why would he go? Why would they let him go? And why isn’t he going somewhere else?

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  • June 15, 2016 at 10:31 am
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    Good luck to a talented reporter. I quit JP with the loss of much money for much the same reason (crap company) a few years back. I could see the future, and what I see now I do not like at all.

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  • June 15, 2016 at 11:03 am
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    Anyone totting up the body count of this Trinity Mirror carnage?

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  • June 15, 2016 at 11:53 am
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    Everyone on here keeps banging on about his awards and numerous scoops but tell me this, has he ever produced an amusing cat video that’s gone viral? Did he ever write an amusing 11 things about Croydon you’d only know if you grew up in the 1990s article that got 1000 shares on Facebook? How many Yo mama jokes has he penned?

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  • June 15, 2016 at 12:56 pm
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    Shocking that a talented young fella like this should be given VR. My guess is he’s landed another job. Good luck to him if that’s the case.

    Meanwhile in other news . . . . my Johnston Press share has fallen in value again. Now worth just 30p. Well done Mr Highfield and the JP team. I know the share price suggests you haven’t a clue what you are doing but this particular small investor is happy with the way you are running things. You have my full confidence. In fact I’m seriously considering buying a second share as a long-term investment for my grandson.

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  • June 15, 2016 at 2:27 pm
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    Some people have expressed shock that he hasn’t another job lined up. Sometimes people are happy where they are and don’t see redundo coming…
    Or he’s given himself a sabbatical in the expectation of finding another job when he’s ready/the redundo runs out.

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  • June 15, 2016 at 2:44 pm
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    @That’s enough: You have a point. Maybe it’s time to regionalise HTFP? Then Mr Davies can dominate the news headlines in the southern editions of HTFP?

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  • June 15, 2016 at 2:58 pm
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    This guy is one of the best journalists in Britain. He doggedly pursues proper public interest stories, sheds light on corruption at the heart of the establishment and pokes fun at bureaucratic insanity. His departure from the Croydon Advertiser is a crushing blow for the paper’s reputation, not to mention for democracy and transparency in the area he serves. What newspaper worth its salt would let this chap go? Press officers all over Croydon must be throwing parties.

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  • June 15, 2016 at 5:55 pm
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    The football writer at my paper – one of the best regional sports journalists around – has also just packed his job in. Not for a stellar job elsewhere, just because he’d had enough of the way the industry was heading, the ridiculous hours and the lack of gratitude from the money men. Both he – and Gareth Davies – probably deserve far better than what was on the table if they had stayed.

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  • June 16, 2016 at 7:03 am
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    Oldadrep. You obviously aren’t sharp enough to get the joke. That’s why you were in semi-skilled employment selling ads.

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  • June 16, 2016 at 7:48 pm
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    Sorry but I don’t think its right that people are using this comments strand to settle personal scores with individuals who have nothing whatsoever to do with this story.
    Fair comment is fair enough but this is not what I am talking about.
    It’s not the first time either: I do feel that too sizeable a serving of snark is being dished out on HTFP in this way.

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  • June 17, 2016 at 6:15 pm
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    Did anyone else see the interview he did last month with Press Gazette where he (quite rightly) talked about the way young reporters saw sales reps get bonuses for doing their jobs while they had no incentive other than their love of the job, and how he believed more money should be spent on journalists and journalism?

    I reckon his pro-journalist stance will have lost him the support – if there was any in the first place – of the phone monkeys and bean counters who rule over the local media, and that he’s jumping before he could get pushed.

    All speculation, of course…

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