Sanity Move for Worcester duo

Michael Purton (pictured), who has edited the Worcester News since Christmas 2017, is leaving to become head of PR for Malvern-based Sanity Marketing. And he will be joined by newsroom colleague Steven Collins.

“I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my time with Newsquest and will be very sad to say goodbye but, after 14 years in regional journalism, now feels the right time for a new challenge. I’m very proud of everything we’ve achieved at the titles I’ve led, especially the incredible job we’ve done in the past 12 months by being the trusted source of information for our communities during the Covid pandemic,” he said.

Before joining the Worcester News Michael was editor of the Stroud News & Journal, the Gloucestershire Gazette and Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard. Following a management reshuffle in 2019, he regained oversight of the Gloucestershire titles.

He also had responsibility for Berrow’s Worcester Journal, the world’s oldest existing continuously published newspaper, as well as the Malvern Gazette & Ledbury Reporter and Evesham & Cotswold Journal.

During his time as editor in Worcester, the News won Newsquest’s News Brand of the Year award for 2018. The following year it enjoyed success at the Midlands Media Awards, organised by Birmingham Press Club, where the publication won the Campaign of the Year Award, which acknowledged its ongoing coverage of a schoolboy’s battle against leukaemia and fundraising efforts which realised £500,000 in under four weeks.

Michael’s colleague, Steven Collins, who will oversee a team of writers at Sanity Marketing, joined the Worcester News over two years ago. He was the first of 80 Facebook-funded community news journalists to join a regional press newsroom under a UK-wide scheme administered by the National Council for the Training of Journalists.