• #followjourn: Lucy Land/editor
• New editorial and media job vacancies on Journalism.co.uk
• London Lite could close following consultation
• Fifteen new media, editorial and journalism jobs this week on Journalism.co.uk
• Essex hyperlocal website teams up with Archant to launch magazine

A hyperlocal website in Essex has teamed up with regional newspaper publisher Archant to launch a print edition.

EverythingEppingForest.co.uk, which was founded in 2008 by local journalist David Jackman, will bring out the glossy monthly magazine from next month.

Printed by Archant, it will be delivered to 10,000 homes in the area and will include local community news and information, events and advertising.

In a statement published on the Everything Epping Forest website (not directly linkable – scroll down), Archant London commercial director Tony Little said: “We are delighted to have set up this partnership with David who is a much-respected local journalist, with important contacts in the local area.

“His success with Everything Epping Forest should be applauded and we are delighted to get involved with such a successful community-focused initiative.”

• Archant London restructures its senior editorial team
• Adrian Jeakings will replace John Fry at Archant
• Nutshell.org.uk: A new directory for local blogs
• Norfolk blogger supports Archant journalists facing job cuts
• Newsquest titles run BNP ad

Food blogger and pie maker Brays Cottage Pork Pies has voiced support for Archant journalists facing job cuts, hosting a guest post from a former reporter.

Blogger “Sarah” describes local newspapers as “part of the warp and weft of a community ” and states Norfolk has some of the best in the Eastern Daily Press (EDP) and The Norwich Evening News.

She goes on to urge people to email Archant expressing their concerns about job losses.

The anonymous reporter highlights campaigns championed by Archant publications and the role of local newspapers within the community, in their contribution.

If public bodies are making cuts (aren’t they all?) who’s going to tell you about it and who’s going to give you a voice to shout about it?

Who’s going to tell you about crime, both major and minor, on your doorstep? Who’s going to tell you about events in your neighbourhood?

Who’s going to highlight the ordinary people who do extraordinary things to help charities and the community? Who’s going to tell you the quirky little stories that make you smile over your cornflakes?

The full blog post can be found here.

• Essex hyperlocal website teams up with Archant to launch magazine
• Archant London restructures its senior editorial team
• Media release: Extra Newspapers launches new hyperlocal titles
• A wee exit roll call for Scottish journalists
• Digital Strategy: Why Camden council is moving into hyperlocal websites

A council newspaper currently under review, will continue to be published weekly while the local authority considers a revised code of practice passed by parliament last night.

Tower Hamlets Borough Council, which publishes East End Life, said the code would “be considered as part of the review” due to go before the council’s cabinet on 11 May.

The Code of Recommended Practice on Local Authority Publicity – of which there is no legal obligation for councils to follow – was put forward in an attempt to crack down on “wasteful” use of council resources. It was passed by parliament last night.

Tower Hamlets’ review, which was launched in January, will “fully take into account the views of residents, businesses, schools and anyone else with an interest in the paper”, the council said in a statement. In February Jon Slattery reported that the Conservative opposition leader at Tower Hamlets said the council is ‘fighting to the death’ to preserve East End Life.

Commercial newspaper for Tower Hamlets, the Archant-owned East London Advertiser, today welcomed the revised code.

“The problems that we face, not just in the East End but across other areas too, are that the councils are out to control the papers by starving them of revenue in some cases and also being able to control messages they are putting out,” group editor Malcolm Starbrook told Journalism.co.uk.

The Newspaper Society has also welcomed the new code, highlighting the importance of ensuring the new rules are effectively enforced.

“We hope that all local authorities will be encouraged to use the local media, which remain the best-read and most trusted form of local news and information,” Lynne Anderson of the Newspaper Society said in a statement.

The National Union of Journalists, which had called for an independent review to establish the impact free council newspapers have on commercial titles, dismissed allegations of blame placed on local authority publications.

We reject the assertion – made by the Communities and Local Government Secretary, that local authority publications are responsible for the decline in local newspaper sales. We believe that attempts to maintain profit margins by cutting overheads, rather than by investing in quality journalism lies at the heart of the current decline in circulation amongst many local and regional newspapers.

The union also pointed out that some commercial newspaper groups such as Trinity Mirror have “lucrative printing contacts” for several London borough publications.

The NUJ does not recognise the Communities and Local Government Secretary’s description of biased, politically motivated local government publications, lacking editorial integrity, which he claims are so prevalent. The day-to-day reality for journalistic staff working on these publications is one of habitual struggles to resist attempts by local authority cabinet members and chief executives to dictate content. Indeed, NUJ members working in Press and PR – both in and outside of local authorities, are bound by both defamation law and the union’s ethical code.

• Jon Slattery: Tower Hamlets scraps press table but fights to save East End Life paper
• Council news round-up: ad revenue shortage for East End Life and plans for new council TV
• Council publications axed days after restrictions agreed by parliament
• Evening Standard: Andrew Gilligan on council ‘propaganda’ newspapers
• Greenslade: MPs reject code to restrict council-run newspapers

#followjourn: Lucy Land

Who? Land is editor of West London Living, an independent guide to west London.

Where? Land previously worked on Archant magazines Grove and the Resident, where she was editorial assistant, and Northwest, where she was editor. West London Living has a fortnightly newsletter, and can be followed by RSS and on their Flickr photostream. Land’s LinkedIn is available at this link.

Contact? @WL_living

Just as we like to supply you with fresh and innovative tips every day, we’re recommending journalists to follow online too. They might be from any sector of the industry: please send suggestions (you can nominate yourself) to judith or laura at journalism.co.uk; or to @journalismnews.

• #FollowJourn: @marieteather/freelancer
• #FollowJourn: @mattchorley/London editor
• #FollowJourn: @timesjoanna/web development editor
• #FollowJourn: @annajleach/ShinyShiny editor
• #followjourn: @chriscondron/head of digital strategy

NWN Media, which publishes titles including the Evening Leader and the Chester Standard, has become the latest regional media group to partner with property search engine Nestoria for its property listings.

Prior to signing up the Johnston Press division, the start-up has made deals with fellow regional newspaper group Archant and the Independent.

It’s also partnered with listings sites Zoopla and PropertyNews.com.

• Archant and Telegraph in geotagged search launches
• Adrian Jeakings will replace John Fry at Archant
• New look for Archant’s Eastern Daily Press
• Motors.co.uk expands regional newspaper deals
• Regional online traffic compared; Johnston Press comes out top

The Norwich-based publisher Archant has announced a 61.1 per cent fall in operating profits for the year up to June 2009, despite a rise in digital revenues.

Archant, which runs a range of daily and weekly titles in East Anglia, London and the south west of the UK, made £14.8 million in operating cuts so far this year, according to the figures released over the weekend.

The group’s newspaper and printing operations saw a 25.3 per cent decrease in profits over the same period to £49.1 million, while magazine profits were down by 22.2 per cent to £21.7 million.

In contrast, the company’s digital revenues increased by 18.9 per cent – but this rise was not enough to offset the downturn in traditional revenues for the publisher.

“Adjusting to this new and different world and restoring levels of profitability will take time. We remain confident of our ability to exploit the many opportunities to do so, utilising our powerful brands and building on our relationships with our readers and advertisers,” said chairman Richard Jewson in the release.

• Northcliffe’s operating profits drop 81 per cent
• DMGT digital revenues boosted by search portals while local media profits fall
• Johnston Press chief executive million pound earnings revealed in annual report
• FT results: FT.com paid-for subscriptions up 9%
• NYT second-quarter operating profit more than twice 2009 figure

At the end of last week regional newspaper publisher Archant set live its new look Eastern Daily Press site – part of changes ahead of a larger redesign later this year.

Here’s a snapshot of part of the home page, which now features a wider layout and simpler navigation. The design follows that already seen on the revamped East Anglian Daily Press and Evening Star titles, which will be rolled out group-wide.

“The EDP is Archant’s most popular newspaper website (around 2.5m page views, and 280k monthly unique visitors), and is a regular award-winner. The changes made this week are to intended to give the site a more modern approach (…) and represent the first major redesign since the site was launched in 2001,” James Goffin, Archant regional web producer, told Journalism.co.uk.

“We’ve also reviewed the content on the site to make sure it is fully in tune with what our readers are looking for.

“This first-stage of the relaunch will be followed up later this year with new features as part of our move to a new joint content management system for print and web.”

Congratulations to Archant’s Norfolk web team (Celia Sutton, Tracey Tutt and Vince Yallop) for the EDP overhaull – am sure they’d appreciate any thoughts?

• Archant London restructures its senior editorial team
• Adrian Jeakings will replace John Fry at Archant
• OJB: Archant web editor on geotagging
• Norfolk blogger supports Archant journalists facing job cuts
• Essex hyperlocal website teams up with Archant to launch magazine

Since I started using Twitter I’ve always been amazed (and grateful) at how quickly calls for technological help and assistance with ideas and projects are answered. It’s one of the main reasons I’m a fan of Twitter.

There are plenty of media/journalist Twitter databases out there, but below are the beginnings of a list of digital editors on Twitter.

What do I mean by digital editor? In this instance, a journalist working primarily online, on web projects or co-ordinating multimedia output. The web editor of a newspaper site or magazine site, for example. It’s in no particular order, except for being divided by ‘traditional’ industry sectors at the moment, but if this isn’t useful, just let us know – would be great to get more international representatives too.

But the criteria for inclusion on the list are intentionally loose – this is aimed at networking, problem-solving and idea sharing between journalists working in the same space and similar roles. (Feel free to nominate any additions or drop us a tweet @journalismnews)

UPDATE April 16 – please read blog post two on how to message the group via Twitter

Newspapers

Alison Gow (@alisongow) – executive editor, digital, Liverpool Daily Post & Liverpool Echo

Kevin Matthews (@kmatt) – head of web and data, Liverpool Daily Post

Neil MacDonald (@xxnapoleonsolo) – deputy head of web and data, Liverpool Daily Post

Jo Wadsworth (@jowadsworth) – web editor, Brighton Argus

Tom Pegg (@tomatthechad) – digital content manager, Mansfield Chad

James Goffin (@jamesgoffin) – regional web producer, Archant

Sarah Booker (@sarah_booker) – web editor, Worthing Herald

Gustav Svensson (@gustavsvensson) – web editor, entertainment and arts, Sydsvenskan.se

Stephen Emerson (@stephen_emerson) – deputy online editor, Scotsman.com

Sam Shepherd (@SamShepherd) – online journalist, Bournemouth Daily Echo

Joanna Geary (@timesjoanna) – web development editor, business, Times Online

Sarah Hartley (@foodiesarah) – head of online editorial, MEN Media

Iain Hepburn (@iainmhepburn) – online editor, DailyRecord.co.uk

Lucia Adams (@luciatimes) – web development editor, Times Online

Carmen Boles (@carmenb) – online news editor, Gazette.com

Marcus Warren (@MarcusWa) – editor, Telegraph.co.uk

Dan Owen (@danowen) – executive editor online, Trinity Mirror

Steve Nicholls (@steve_nicholls) – multimedia editor, Birmingham Post

Anna Jeys (@ajeys) – multimedia editor, Birmingham Mail

Steve Wollaston (@stevewollaston) – multimedia editor, BPM Media and Sunday Mercury

Julie Martin (@jules_27) – Teesside Evening Gazette

Helen Dalby (@helendalby) – regional multimedia manager, NCJ Media

Nick Turner (@nickincumbria) – head of digital content, CN Group

Christian Dunn (@christiandunn) – digital news editor, NWN Media

Hugh Dixon (@hugh_d) – web editor and production editor, thisisbath/Bath Chronicle

Paul Cockerton (@paulcockerton) – web editor, Lancashire Telegraph

Dan Owens (@hornetdan1979) – deputy news editor, Northampton Chronicle and Echo

Dan Kerins (@dankerins) – web journalist, Southern Daily Echo

Broadcast

Marsha Graham (@marshagoldcoast) – multimedia manager for 102.9FM Hot Tomato, Australia

Rob Winder (@robwinder) – news editor, Al Jazeera website, Washington DC

Tom Thorogood (@TomThorogood) – digital news editor, MTV

Magazines

Martin Stabe (@martinstabe) – online editor, Retail Week

Victoria Thompson (@VicThompson) – assistant online editor, Nursing Times

Neil Durham (@NeilDurham) – deputy editor, GP and Independent Nurse

John Robinson (@PulseToday) – digital content manager, Pulse Today

Peter Houston (@p_houston) – editorial director for Advanstar Communications, Europe

Alex Smith (@alexsmith68) – web editor, Building.co.uk

Keira Daley (@daleyrant) – web editor, Australian print magazine

Lara McNamee (@lovelylara33) – assistant intelligence editor, ICIS

Gabriel Fleming (@gabefleming) – online editor, Nursing Times

Janie Stamford (@janiestamford) – contract catering editor, Caterer & Hotelkeeper

Robin Latchem (@lgcplus) – online editor, Local Government Chronicle

Keely Stocker (@keelystocker) – digital content manager, Drapers Online

Scott Matthewman (@scottm) – assistant manager, The Stage

Specialist website

Michael Hubbard (@michaelomh) – founder and music editor, MusicOmh

Krystal Sim (@krystalsim) – web editor for sustainability magazine BSD – bsdlive.co.uk

Arun Marsh (@ArunMarsh) – content producer/editor, Local Gov

Rick Waghorn (@MrRickWaghorn) – publisher, MyFootbalWriter

Emma Waddingham (@emmawad) online editor, Legal-Medical.co.uk

Michael McCarthy (@HealthGuide) online editor, LocalHealthGuide

Steve Gooding (@rmtimestech)- Romney Marsh Times

Manoj Solanki (@ManojSolanki) – SeekBroadband.com

Graham Holliday (@noodlepie) – digital editor, Frontline Club

Craig McGinty (@craigmcginty) – publisher, ThisFrenchLife

Mark Crail (@markcrail) – managing editor, XpertHR

Freelance

Adam Oxford (@adamoxford)

Rachel Colling (@rachcolling)

Ashanti Omkar (@ashantiomkar)

• #FollowJourn: @kmatt/head of web and data
• #FollowJourn: @xxnapoleonsolo/ deputy head of web and data
• #FollowJourn: @alisongow/executive digital editor
• How news flows though the partially integrated newsroom of Liverpool Post and Echo papers
• Headlines and Deadlines: Journalist tweets being shot or why Twitter works

Archant Norfolk, which publishes the Eastern Daily Press and Evening News amongst others, has announced 54 [since updated to] 34editorial redundancies as part of ongoing plans to integrate news operations at the division.

The new system, the implementation of which began more than a year ago, involves a £2 million investment by the publisher.

The publisher will enter into a consultation with staff, it confirmed in a press release.

“We have reduced staff numbers in our other departments such as marketing and advertising sales recently and editorial has not been subject to any major review in the last two years,” said Stephan Phillips, managing director, in the release.

• More Trinity Mirror cuts: three North West and North Wales weeklies closed
• Redundancy round-up: 50 jobs to go at the Telegraph and 78 at Trinity Mirror
• TATLER launches Russian edition
• NUJ Release: Guardian must consult NUJ over pay freeze
• MediaWeek to go online-only; 18 Brand Media editorial jobs cut

Archant’s EDP24 site has released a new local business directory complete with search results plotted on a Google map, which can be refined by distance.

The directory builds on Archant’s existing jobs and property sites, Jobs24 and Homes24, which use geotagging technology to map the listings.

Built into the directory are a range of packages for advertisers looking to have a listing on the site.

Still no word on Archant’s geotagged news plans though…

In a similar vein, Telegraph.co.uk announced a partnership with vertical search engine Nestoria last week to ramp up its property listings.

As a blog post from Nestoria announcing the deal says:

“The partnerships has two dimensions: Telegraph users are presented with a Telegraph branded version of Nestoria property search, and Telegraph estate agents will have their 150,000+ listings displayed on Nestoria.”

• Nestoria signs up NWN Media for property search
• Publishers’ vertical search can rival Google, says AOP forum
• If you’re a fan, please nominate Journalism.co.uk in the Mashable Open Web Awards 2009
• William Reed moves into vertical search
• Video search engine blinkx signs up Telegraph.co.uk

We just heard news that Ian Davies, director of business development at Archant, has died in a plane crash – as reported at the BBC, Press Gazette and in his group’s newspaper, the Norwich Evening News.

Journalism.co.uk is extremely sad to hear of this tragic accident.

On a personal note, I met Ian and some his colleagues for the first time, at the WAN conference in Amsterdam last fortnight.

Despite cornering him after a long conference session to badger him for information about Archant’s hyperlocal news plans, he was only too friendly towards me, happy to help and give suggestions for stories.

I later had opportunity to chat with him more informally and find a bit more out about his views on the media and what he does. He assured me he would always be willing to contribute to related articles.

True to his word, last week he was quick to contribute to an article I was working on at the last minute. I’m very saddened by the premature end to his life.

In an email he told me he was looking forward to working more flexibly at Archant from January, so that he could fit in more time for his passion, flying. His website shows some of his interests. That his life was cut so short, when he had so much enthusiasm for his projects, seems a particularly cruel hand of fate.

Our condolences go out to Ian’s family, friends and colleagues.

• Take our survey: ‘What do UK journalists do after losing their jobs?’ #laidoffjournalist
• Adrian Jeakings will replace John Fry at Archant
• Archant London restructures its senior editorial team
• Johnston Press joins AOP
• Norfolk blogger supports Archant journalists facing job cuts

Journalists at Archant Suffolk titles the East Anglian Daily Times and Ipswich Evening Star are to produce content for both papers’ print and online platforms.

The titles’ websites will also have three ‘editions’ a day, with content published online to coincide with peaks in audience traffic at breakfast, noon and ‘drive-time’.

• Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – use Twitterise to schedule an announcement
• New look for Archant’s Eastern Daily Press
• Big numbers vs local audience – what should regional newspapers chase?
• Guardian: Mirror Group websites join ABCe
• How many US newspaper blogs are edited?

Following the news that Archant’s CEO John Fry will be the new chief executive at Johnston Press, Archant have announced that Adrian Jeakings will replace him.

Jeakings, currently finance director at the Archant group, will commence the role on November 1. Prior to working at Archant he was the group finance director of the Stationery Office.

Brian McCarthy will replace Jeakings as Archant’s group finance director.

The chairman of Archant, Richard Jewson, said in a release published today: “Both Adrian and Brian have contributed a great deal to our success and it is a tribute to John Fry that he has created such a strong management team”.

Johnston Press have also released a statement announcing that Fry will take over from the retiring CEO, Tim Bowdler, from January 5 2009.

In the release, John Fry said: “I am extremely excited to be joining Johnston Press and relish the opportunity to build on the success of Tim Bowdler and his team. The company has a strong local media franchise covering large parts of the UK and Ireland which I look forward to developing in both print and digital formats.”

• FT.com: Archant boss John Fry finalising contract with Johnston Press
• Archant London restructures its senior editorial team
• New look for Archant’s Eastern Daily Press
• Essex hyperlocal website teams up with Archant to launch magazine
• Archant’s director of business development, Ian Davies dies in plane crash

Johnston Press is set to appoint John Fry, currently the chief executive of Archant newspaper group, to replace outgoing chief executive Tim Bowdler.

• Adrian Jeakings will replace John Fry at Archant
• Despite group redundancies and pay freeze, Johnston Press CEO’s pay package nears £1m
• InPublishing: New chief executive’s plans for Johnston Press
• Computerworld UK: Johnston Press sales staff get 800 iPads as part of ’24-hour digital’ shift
• Johnston Press joins AOP