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Regional daily editor role revived four years after being axed

Terry HuntA regional daily editor role is to be recreated almost four years after it was merged with that of a sister title.

Regional publisher Archant is seeking a new editor for the Ipswich Star to “focus fully” on the newspaper, which is currently overseen by East Anglian Daily Times editor Terry Hunt, left.

The search for a new chief for the Star comes at what Terry termed a time of “renaissance” for Ipswich, as the Archant sister titles prepare to move to a new office in the town in August.

Terry will continue in his role as EADT editor once the new Star editor is announced, with the job currently being advertised on HoldtheFrontPage.

Terry told HTFP: “We’ve been banging the drum for years on the need to believe in Ipswich and focus on taking advantage of its many assets.

“It’s finally happening, we’ve got all the movers and shakers in the same direction. People are believing Ipswich has a really exciting future.

“We’ve invested in a new building which we’re moving into in August. It’s us showing we believe in Ipsich and our industry.

“We’re looking at that situation and saying now is absolutely right for the Ipswich star to have some exciting developments.”

The Star lost its own editor in August 2012 in a restructure by parent company Archant which saw Terry, who has run the EADT for 20 years, add the newspaper to its portfolio.

Star editor Nigel Pickover took up the editorship of both the Eastern Daily Press and Norwich Evening News in the reshuffle.

EDP editor Peter Waters left the company as a result, while Evening News boss Tim Williams took on a new post as development editor for Archant Anglia.

Both the EADT and the Star will leave their home of 50 years on Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, to move to a new base at Portman House, Princes Street, in August.

18 comments

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  • May 5, 2016 at 8:31 am
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    Hurrah! Another editor into the mix!
    There’s simply not enough of them in the company and this is just what’s called for to bring the thousands of lost readers back.

    Will the innovation and forward thinking never end?

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  • May 5, 2016 at 9:21 am
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    Another Renaissance – hurrah! Where’s John Donne, Will Shakespeare and Ben Jonson then? Where’s Michelangelo and Leonardo? You can’t have a Renaissance without people like them. Whatever, I’m moving to Ipswich forthwith.

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  • May 5, 2016 at 9:28 am
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    Excellent decision, and counter to TM’s policy, which has seen several former Local World editors leave in recent weeks.
    Assume there’s an element of personal bitterness from Tractor Boy, but if he takes a breath, would hope he’d feel able to welcome this positive move.

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  • May 5, 2016 at 9:55 am
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    Most interesting thing about the job as is they’ve put the salary in – very rare.
    What I can’t work out is, is £50,000 a lot or a little?

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  • May 5, 2016 at 9:58 am
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    All a bit little a bit too late with the EADT and ES having lost thousands of readers,yet another editor brought into the fold will have their work cut out chasing shadows and trying to recapture a market that’s gone elsewhere never to return.

    Maybe they are doing a U turn in trying to shut the stable door and grab a few paper copy sales after the horse has bolted.

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  • May 5, 2016 at 10:01 am
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    THERE. IS. NO. FUTURE. IN. PRINT. You may as well have a spotty youth overseeing the website operation as a print-oriented editor in charge of things. Print is the past, very, very sadly.

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  • May 5, 2016 at 11:01 am
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    Just seen the advert for the editorship. £50k? Is it a job or a hobby? Or perhaps it is part-time. No wonder the regional Press is dying. Still somebody has to pay the management bonuses. That salary for a “fairly chunky” evening paper is an insult to our profession.

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  • May 5, 2016 at 2:03 pm
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    For a 5-day-a-week title with paid-for circulation of just 8.5k, £50k doesn’t seem that bad. Plus the roles appears to still report to Terry Hunt according to the job description.

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  • May 5, 2016 at 2:50 pm
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    I didn’t see anything in the job description that suggested this editor would not also be responsible for digital, so not sure why the scorn on that front. And £50k is a proper salary isn’t it? Wish I was so lucky. In Ipswich as well… I imagine that goes a long way :-)

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  • May 5, 2016 at 4:17 pm
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    I wish I was working for a company hiring good editors, not sacking good editors. That’s all.

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  • May 5, 2016 at 5:28 pm
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    Editing a daily paper is a very responsible job with lots of aggro and deserves a proper salary. To do it well requires a lot of ability and experience. Top town hall pen pushers are pulling over £200k and their minions less pro rata. This job should pay at least £80k and probably £100k. Bet the ad manager is on more than £50k. Top sub-editors and reporters should be on £30 to £40k. Heads of department should get more. As for the small circulation, were journalists properly paid when circulations were booming? No!
    Sadly, editors delighted in screwing down staff wages and now the managements are doing the same to their own key editorial executives. No wonder the industry is losing so many talented people. I despair.

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  • May 5, 2016 at 5:35 pm
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    @ Scoop – why would it have to be a “spotty youth” overseeing things? Why not one of the many highly talented, technically able and forward-thinking digital journalists of the sort who have redefined the media landscape over the last 20 years?

    Or do you think they should specifically go looking for a middle-aged, balding, Jaguar-driving white man with a conservative outlook on life? The sort of person we are traditionally used to seeing as the local newspaper editor?

    I know which I would rather put my trust in to take local journalism forward.

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  • May 5, 2016 at 6:49 pm
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    With circulation dropping 50% in five years it’s not about quality of news it’s about decline of print. The satirical website The Onion is worth more than the whole of Archant.

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  • May 5, 2016 at 7:07 pm
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    Newspapers with editors? WTF. It’ll never catch on.

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  • May 6, 2016 at 10:24 am
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    *looks on at east anglia with pangs of jealousy…*
    how long does it take to get to ipswich from canary wharf?

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  • May 6, 2016 at 10:51 am
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    “There is no future in print.”
    Print is still responsible for 90 per cent of most publisher’s revenues.
    While digital revenue grows, and will continue to do so, its current importance is massively overstated.
    Most newspapers groups don’t even properly factor in the journalists costs to the digital P&L accounts
    Of course sectors of the industry (regional dailies for example) are in terminal decline in print but many weeklies will profitably be around for decades.
    Most newspaper groups continue to make healthy profits – in part due to the heavy cuts in editorial and other budgets – and the industry still employs thousands of journalists – just seemingly not the ones who comment most often on here.
    Our industry is in transition for a host of reasons. We don’t like it, but have to live with it and must try to work with it.
    Appointing an Editor for a title can only be a good thing.

    Pint of bitter anyone?

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  • May 6, 2016 at 1:07 pm
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    response to Cynic. – “its current importance is massively overstated.”

    Terrible, just terrible, statement. I hope for us that you do not hold a position of influence. Digital IS the reason publishers have seen a decimation of their circulation and revenue over the past 10 years.

    Although I doubt very much the 90%, lets just accept it at 90%. This is of current revenue, not taking into account the huge lost revenue we have seen over the years by not being at the forefront of digital adoption or creativity in publishing where it should have been.

    Will the argument still be “print still accounts for 90% of revenue”, when revenue is £10 and you’re turning the lights off on your way out?

    Pint of Mead down the Nelson?

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  • May 6, 2016 at 8:49 pm
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    Of course £50,000 would tradionally have been a joke of a salary for an editor when any experienced and senior journalist could earn more in PR, broadcast or the national press for a job with far less responsibility. But, at the same time, it is probably a fair salary for the job on offer. Put simply: editors aren’t what they used to be. Whoever gets it will probably be a perfectly good journalist, maybe even a decent manager, but not the best of the best as most have left the local press long behind.

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