Andy Parkes Email & Phone Number

South East England

I held direct responsibility for 17 newsbrands in a newly created region of the company.The Brighton Argus was transformed, both in-paper and online. This iconic title, once the company's worst performer, was turned around in just 12 months to become Newsquest's best performing daily title. New titles were launched and the Argus website achieved record digital audiences. At Newsquest's Excellence Awards in 2017 it was crowned Newsbrand of the Year and Digital Sales Centre of the Year, achieving 70 per cent year-on-year digital revenue growth. The Argus recorded the best performing daily circulation and also topped year-on-year profit growth for the company. It was the top performing daily title nationally in the ABC audit for Jan-June 2018. The London titles included the revitalised News Shopper series, the largest distributed free newspaper series in the capital with the biggest online audience for a single newsbrand. The Richmond and Twickenham Times, the Guardian series and the 164 year old Surrey Comet completed the newsprint portfolio, all of which were relaunched in 2018 as part of an ongoing development strategy plan.

Promoted to group managing editor for south London I had responsibility for 23 newspapers and managed and directed a team of more than 100 journalists. The titles were redesigned and re-directed to ensure they were positioned right at the heart of their communities and were relevant to the entire readership. I relaunched and oversaw websites for each title, as well as ensuring social media was used to maximum advantage to create and maintain audience. The newspaper and online titles won a series of national and regional awards as well as launching the careers of scores of young journalists who have since moved on to greater challenges.

As the longest serving editor for London's oldest and best free newspaper I appointed and led a highly talented and hard-working team of journalists. The 13 newspapers quickly became the flagship titles for the company and News Shopper won more than 90 editorial awards during my time as editor, including being named Newsquest's best weekly paper on five occasions. It also won a string of national awards, including the Newspaper Society’s Best Website and Campaigning Newspaper of the Year. This was followed by the same title at the Shepherd Neame awards. I was also named Newsquest’s Editor of the Year.