Time for a new editor in this chair for 2010...
LAST Tuesday, the long-awaited announcement on the future of the Birmingham Mail was made to staff, and then to the wider world.
Along with the changes to newspaper publishing strategies in Birmingham, the company also announced the departure of its Birmingham editors, including yours truly.
Since then, I've had many calls and emails from friends, colleagues and contacts asking all about the changes.
As I'm sure you'd understand, here and now is not the right place or time to discuss the new strategy. That has already happened (eg: here and here and here), and the time is now right to move on.
The company owns the papers and has every right to plan their futures. It has done so after lengthy consultation with many parties, including me.
But what I can say is this.
It has been a privilege working on these fine newspapers. (I'm referring to the Birmingham Mail, Sunday Mercury and the Evening Gazette in Teesside here, the three papers I've worked for in my time with the company).
They have provided me with great experiences, from my days as a reporter to my last seven years as an editor. I've been really lucky and will never forget my 17 years with the company.
It has been quite a wrench to come to the decision to move on, but I feel it is the right time to seek new challenges elsewhere. I leave wishing everyone at the company the very best for the future.
The only thing I'd like to add re. my forthcoming departure is a note on the newly-announced editor David Brookes.
I've known David since I first spent some time on work experience with the Birmingham Mail as a student in 1990. He was then chief sub on the Mail.
Since then, he has served as deputy editor (production) on the Mail, moving on to around ten years as editor of the Sunday Mercury before the last year as editor of the Coventry Telegraph.
He has great experience on the Birmingham newspapers, and a life-long knowledge of the city.
David is committed to accuracy and quality, and loves to give readers something in their papers that they just have to pick up.
While it was a wrench to leave the Mail myself, I know that in David is a worthy successor. And whatever the various opinions on the new strategy for the paper, I know that David will lead it well and that it has the best chance of success with him in the chair.
Although I'm currently on a pre-booked holiday, I'm pleased to be returning to work as normal on November 2 and to be staying on until December to help pave the way for David.
It's going to be a difficult period to assist with taking 40-odd journalists into redundancy, but I'm wanting to be involved in that as I know all those affected, and want them to have the best-possible, most consistent approach as they go through this consultation.
And then, come the end of 2009, it's the time for new beginnings for many of us.
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Steve Dyson - Blog from the Editor on recent issues and events.
meh
What a shame (he he), after last year's clueless re-shuffle by Dyson, Reeves and Dunn! I am surprised that even the the fools at Canary Wharf stuck by you for this long! What goes around comes around!
Is that it then? No more 'live' Birmingham Mail? From when?
I am a big critic of yours but I take no glee in what's happened to you. You are as much a victim as the dozens of journalists the company is about to shove on the scrap heap and even though financially you are bound to be worse off you can at least leave before your conscience is completely eroded away by Canary Wharf.
Newspapers can still make profits but they just can't do it for the big dividend hungry shareholders of large corporations. They will have to become smaller scale businesses, possibly even funded by philanthropists or worse still by people with a hell of a lot of cash who want to play Citizen Kane - Evening Standard anyone?
You should have jumped ship long ago but for whatever reasons you didn't. So there will be no more recriminations from me. I wish you all the best in finding a new life.
Thanks for the comments.
'Ex-Staffer'... the strategy changes at a date-to-be-fixed in January, although there will obviously be a lead up to this.
'Dane'... I appreciate your sentiment, but am not looking for any. I genuinely believe that the company, which owns the paper, should decide on its own strategy having taken on board all that has been raised in the consultation. I believe it has done this. Yes, my departure coincides, but I'm content to seek fresh challenges and don't see it as 'jumping ship'. Indeed, I'm busily assisting forthcoming editor David Brookes from now until the year-end. But I'm grateful for your best wishes.
'ex snapper'... not worth responding to you, my friend, but best wishes anyway.
Indeed ex-snapper deserves no response from Steve, except I'd like to remind him/her that he decided to leave, he wasn't sacked, so the (very spiteful) proverb means nothing anyway.
All the best Steve, I hope you find a worthy challenge.