A weekly editor who has spent more than 25 years with the same newspaper has become the latest senior journalist to make the move into PR.
Chris Prime, left, editor of the Newark Advertiser for the past 10 years, worked his last day at the family-owned weekly on Friday.
Chris, who first joined the Advertiser as a trainee in 1986, is joining the press office South Kesteven District Council, in Grantham, Lincolnshire.
He will be replaced in the editor’s chair by Sharon Hodkin, who is stepping up from the role of deputy editor.
Chris has spent all of his career with the Advertiser apart from a spell at the Nottingham Post.
After rejoining the paper as news editor in 1994, he became deputy editor in 2004 and editor in 2008.
Said Chris: “I have spent most of my working life in Nottinghamshire, particularly Newark and have been privileged over the years to have worked alongside many talented and committed colleagues.
“I started in journalism as the hot metal days were coming to an end and have, of course, seen massive changes in the way news is published and consumed.
“I was delighted, however, that in my last week we were able to lead the paper with the announcement that a £15m scheme to build a replacement school for children with learning difficulties in Newark looks set to go ahead.
“There has been a long campaign to replace the school buildings, which have been described as the worst in Nottinghamshire, and the Advertiser has backed it from the start.”
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Regular hours. Decent money. Treated like a human being instead of a machine. Must all have its attractions even if the work might be dull.
But here we have another editor not able to say why he is quitting.
It’s getting to be a habit from people who have always demanded answers from others.
Are there gagging clauses? Just asking the question.
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Having jumped shipped myself into the often equally murky waters of PR I agree with @paperboy. Speaking from experience of council press office dealings with Hull City Council (Labour turned Lib Dem for a while) and Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead (Tory), expect the politics and spin that inevitably comes from councillors/council leader wanting his/her messages out there!
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Sometimes there are gagging orders; other times it’s just common sense. Never leave under a cloud, especially if you think that you might (extremely unlikely though it may be) wish to return to the industry/company at some time in the future. It is bad form to attempt to go out in a blaze of glory, mainly because it invariably achieves nothing, other than portraying you as an unemployable, indiscreet and naive proposition. Do that and just watch your opportunities dry up.
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Not sure why anyone thinks there is any mystery about this – Chris is leaving because he’s got a new job! The comments here seem more applicable to stories where editors have left without a job to go and kept shtum about their reasons – but as Antiquarian rightly points out, this is more often a case of people wanting to leave on good terms and not wanting to burn bridges than them being subject to ‘gagging clauses.’
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