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Editor set to leave Trinity Mirror daily amid reshuffle

Chris StylesA regional daily editor is set to step down after six years in charge at the paper and 14 in senior editorial roles at publisher Trinity Mirror.

Teesside Gazette editor Chris Styles, pictured, is leaving the Middlesbrough-based title which he has run since 2012, having spent the previous eight years as deputy editor at Newcastle sister daily the Chronicle.

Last month TM announced a restructure which will see Hull Daily Mail editor Neil Hodgkinson widen his brief as Lincolnshire and Humber editor-in-chief to include the group’s North East titles, including both the Gazette and the Chronicle.

The current Chronicle editor and North East editor-in-chief Darren Thwaites is shortly due to take over the editor’s chair at the Manchester Evening News following Rob Irvine’s decision to step down.

However TM has denied that Chris’s departure is linked to the restructure, which will take effect when Rob leaves the MEN at the end of this month.

A company spokesman said a further announcment on Chris’s replacement would be made in due course.

During Chris’s tenure, the Gazette covered the historic closure of the Redcar steel plant and launched the Invest in Teesside campaign to support the region’s economic fightback and devolution ambitions.

Last year, the newspaper moved to modern offices in Middlesbrough after leaving their previous home of almost 80 years.

Said Chris: “It has been a privilege to serve as Editor of the Gazette and I am immensely proud of what the team has achieved.

“During the past six years, I have worked alongside supremely talented and committed colleagues who care passionately about the Gazette and Teesside.

“It is thanks to them that an increasing number of people read the Gazette’s trusted content every day. I will always be grateful for their efforts in ensuring the Gazette’s content really matters to our readers.”

Darren added: “Chris has steered the Gazette through a period of transformational change in recent years, helping the team to reach new audiences and develop new skills.

“As editor, he always fought Teesside’s corner and championed its many successes. He leaves with our very best wishes for the future.”

4 comments

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  • March 20, 2018 at 5:39 pm
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    Chris was a great support to me over many years. I know from my work in the Teesside area how much he is respected among businesses, politicians and readers. TM has lost another skilled editor and ambassador, who genuinely cares about his staff and the community they serve. Good luck Chris – you will be a great success in whatever comes next.

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  • March 21, 2018 at 10:57 am
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    Surely it’s madness to have daily newspapers without an editor. And how is someone expected to run said daily newspapers in Newcastle and Middlesbrough when they’re based in and already in charge of dailies in Yorkshire / Lincolnshire etc. Where does knowledge of the local area and local issues come in. Yet again TM is only concerned with cost cutting and no interest in the quality of its titles or the staff they employ.

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  • March 22, 2018 at 12:37 am
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    Did he leave of his own volition, or was he ‘stepped down’ by management? Either way, the report should have given reasons explaining the decision. If he was axed, why pander to Trinity Mirror’s corporate evasive euphemism?

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  • March 22, 2018 at 6:48 am
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    Ex Regional Journo

    If you look at the dire content and overall lack of genuine local news in the majority of regional dailies ( certainly where I am) you’ll see why they’re doing it; copy sales in free fall, papers with little or no advertising,and what there is taken at heavily reduced give away prices means costs need to be cut, so content chiefs sacrifice grassroots community news people would pay for,in favour of easy to obtain cheap (free) RGC ,social media scrapings and generic puff to fill templated boxes, and that really doesn’t require an editor or anyone with knowledge of the area or it’s issues any longer.

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