Recruitment push by Reach plc

Graeme Brown

Reach plc, publishers of numerous newspaper titles in the Midlands, including the Birmingham Post and Birmingham Mail, are creating new journalism jobs in the West Midlands.

Graeme Brown (pictured) who edits the Birmingham Mail and online Birmingham Live, said that the titles were seeking  a content editor, two nostalgia writers, a video specialist, TV and showbiz writer, money writer, property writer and an engagement producer. An agenda editor, two news reporters and a life writer are also being recruited to focus on the Black Country.

Altogether, Reach is taking on a total of 50 new journalists as part of a recruitment drive across its regional titles in England and Wales. The latest appointments come in the wake of plans to take on 76 new sports journalists across the country.

A Reach spokesperson said: “A number of our sites and teams are growing this summer, as we continue to invest in our online journalism, expanding our reach and implementing our Customer Value Strategy.”

Meanwhile, the 2021 Digital News Report from the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism notes that regional and local newspapers are used by six per cent of people in the UK each week in print and eight per cent online.

According to a survey conducted amongst 2,000 people as part of the report, even during the coronavirus pandemic local newspapers were seen as only the third-best source for local Covid-19 information by UK respondents.

By contrast, local newspapers were seen as the best source for Covid-19 information by 53 per cent of respondents in Norway, where, the survey reports, local newspapers are valued more than twice as much as they are in Britain. Across 38 countries local newspapers were seen as the best source of news for local announcements (48%), local crime (31%), the local economy (30%), local politics (29%), local sport (27%), and schools and education (22%).