A long-serving regional editor who was named the best in the business in 2012 is stepping down after 36 years in the industry.
Steve Hall is bowing out as editor-in-chief of Reach plc’s East Midlands titles including the Derby Telegraph which he has edited in two separate spells, with a stint as managing director of the paper in between.
He will be replaced as editor-in-chief by Marc Reeves, whose portfolio will now take in all Reach newsbrands across the East and West Midlands.
Steve, left, revealed he is planning a new venture which will he said would “utilise the skills” he developed in leading both the editorial and commercial teams in Derby.
Under Steve’s leadership, the Telegraph was named newspaper of the year at the Regional Press Awards in 2016, while he himself was named editor of the year at the 2012 awards after a successful campaign to save Derby’s Bombardier rail factory.
He said: “I have had a wonderful 36 years in regional media and have worked with some of the most fantastically talented and committed people. Together we have fought to save jobs, expose abuse scandals, track down on-the-run paedophiles, build new hospital units and raise hundreds of thousands of pounds for charity.
“I wish all the teams in the East Midlands – and across the wider Reach group – every success for the future.
“I now plan to take a short break before utilising the skills I developed leading both editorial and commercial teams in a new venture.”
Before taking over at Derby for his first spell as editor in 2005, Steve edited the Express and Echo in Exeter, then a daily title, for seven years.
He became MD in 2012, but returned to the editor’s chair four years later as well as being appointed to his wider role as regional editor-in-chief, also overseeing the Nottingham Post, Leicester Mercury and Burton Mail.
Reach’s regional editorial director Alan Edmunds said: “Steve is a first class editor with a superb record and has been a leading figure in the Midlands media for many years.
“During his time steering the East Midlands region for Reach he has led many important changes in excellent fashion. He has our most sincere thanks and will leave at the end of November with our very best wishes.”
With Marc now taking on an expanded brief, his role as senior editor in Birmingham will be taken over by Anna Jeys who is also promoted to the role of editor of Birmingham Live.
Julie Bayley, who has run the Telegraph website under Steve for a number of years, is promoted to the position of editor for DerbyshireLive.
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I worked with Steve for ten years at the Derby Telegraph and I can vouch for him being the most dedicated, driven, talented and, most of all, honest colleague I ever had. His industry awards are a testament to the quality of his work but they don’t tell the story of how much he cares for his colleagues and the city of Derby. I am just proud to call him my pal.
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Whatever the reasons for him leaving, the gene pool of top quality, time served and experienced editors in the uk regional press is further watered down,soon there’ll be no true editors left in the industry.
Good wishes to Steve on his new venture.
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Good luck Steve. A great guy from the start of his career.
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I normally tend to avoid commenting on my own stories, but an exception has to be made for Steve Hall. From 10 years of observing and writing about this industry and the previous 20-odd working in it, I would have no hesitation in nominating him as the best regional editor of his generation.
His Derby Telegraph has consistently punched above its weight and, as successive Regional Press Awards judging panels have recognised, the Bombardier campaign in 2012 and the Horrors of Aston Hall expose in 2016 stand out as shining examples of regional journalism at its best.
That said, I think the continued high quality of the paper is down to brilliant succession planning over several decades rather than to one particular individual editor.
Each of the past six editors has been someone who was either promoted from within (Mike Norton, Neil White) or who went back there having previously occupied a senior role on the paper (Neil Fowler, Mike Lowe, Keith Perch and Steve himself), meaning they already knew the paper – and the city – inside out.
Steve, who was news editor of the paper in the early 1990s, is himself a product of the culture of excellence that has been nurtured over the course of that time, but his real achievement has been to maintain and build on those foundations in an era when staffing levels were a fraction of what they once were.
Given the editorial resources that some of those predecessors enjoyed, there is no telling what the Telegraph might have achieved under his leadership.
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Best of luck Steve, top editor, top dude.
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Worked with Steve in both Nottingham and Exeter. One of the great campaigning editors – whether it be fights for justice, changes to the law or, in Exeter’s case, using the prestige of the paper to help raise millions for a new haematology unit for leukaemia sufferers that was ahead of its time and transformed treatment in the South West. All the best for the future.
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I have known Steve for over 30 years and, one thing I know for sure, the Derby Telegraph and the City of Derby will be worse off without his influence, input and integrity. Good luck Steve in your new venture, your talent and tenacity will bring more awards.
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All the best for the future, Steve. Great journalist and lovely man.
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