Birmingham World Goes “Live”
Fionnuala Bourke
Former Birmingham Mail journalist Fionnuala Bourke (pictured) has spoken about her “excitement” at taking over as launch editor of a city news website, saying it promises to be a “fresh voice” for its patch.
Birmingham World (birminghamworld.uk) went “live” this week (September 10, 2021) – unveiled as the sixth in a new series of websites from JPIMedia, covering areas away from its traditional heartlands. Sites for London, Glasgow, Liverpool, Manchester and Newcastle have also been launched in recent weeks while titles for Bristol and Wales will go live in due course.
JPIMedia is a national, regional and local multimedia group which owns titles across the country.
Birmingham-born Fionnuala, former commercial audience editor for Reach plc in the Midlands, Cheshire and Lincolnshire who has spent more than 20 years working as a journalist in the city, said: “We’re so excited to launch this new website in Birmingham – bringing a fresh voice to news, entertainment and football. With the Commonwealth Games on the way, exciting developments transforming the city skyline and the youngest population in Europe – there’s a lot to celebrate.
“We want to shine a light on matters affecting city life as well – including the quality of our air, business survival rates and inequalities in health and education.
“What’s On news is important to us too – we’ll be bringing reports on the latest restaurants, theatre shows, concerts, festivals, sports events and more……and we’ll be keeping up-to-date on the football as well. We want to bring the news that matters to communities across the city.”
Other members of the editorial team include video journalist Nick Dee, who has been reporting on Birmingham news for more than five years; ex-BBC Sport journalist Ben Ramsdale who will be covering football and news reporter Joe Forte, formerly of the Worcester News.
Meanwhile, regional publishers have been urged to follow Reach plc’s lead in committing to making at least 30pc of its senior managers being women. Reach has pledged to reach the target in both senior management and at boardroom level by 2023.
The move means it is now part of the 30% Club, a campaign group that aims to get companies to commit to gender balance on boards and in senior management. Now Daily Mirror editor -in-chief Alison Phillips, has vowed to put pressure on other publishers to do the same in her role as chair of campaign group Women In Journalism. “Thirty per cent by 2023 seems like a great place to start for every organisation working to improve its gender diversity – it’s clear, it’s achievable and we hope it triggers a natural momentum for continued improvement,” she said,
