Ryan John Butcher Email & Phone Number

London, England, United Kingdom

London, England, United Kingdom

When I started as Web Editor at PinkNews, the editorial team was directionless, siloed and consisted of three full-time news reporters. Now – four years, a global pandemic, the urgent introduction of new processes and a promotion to Head of News later – the editorial team is 17 people strong, operating 7 days a week, 365 days a year, with a proven track record of breaking major exclusives, crucially debunking misinformation and telling authentic stories authentically. I'm especially proud of my work helping to form the company's values, supporting my team during COVID-19 and raising thousands for LGBTQ+ refugees. Responsibilities include: • Setting the agenda for PinkNews while maintaining our position as the world’s leading LGBTQ+ media outlet. • Leading on the commissioning of SEO and social-friendly news, features, opinion and other content using analytics tools to optimise traffic and engagement.• Managing the operations of the editorial team, including the rota of permanent team members, freelancers, assisting in development opportunities and providing a duty of care to more than a dozen members of staff.• Playing an integral role of introducing new initiatives to meet the requirements of both the editorial team and the wider business. During my time at PinkNews I have led on the introduction of an e-commerce offering, development of an audience strategy, in-person and online events and creating new pipelines for commercial opportunities.• Keeping up to date with industry trends, finding innovative ways to enhance performance across the site. • Focusing on diversifying our editorial output and the voices we platform to better represent the community we serve, with a big focus on both trans journalists and journalists of colour.• Ensuring that content published on PinkNews is legal, decent, ethical and honest, compliant with the company's mission statement and values.

London, England, United Kingdom

indy100, the anarchic sister site to The Independent, owned by ESI Media, was originally built to capitalise on the Facebook boom at a time when social media traffic was paramount. With traffic leaking following major changes to the algorithm in 2017, it was my responsibility to give indy100 a new focus and direction while increasing the number of eyeballs on the site. Before long I’d redefined indy100’s voice, tone and ethos as a champion for social justice and increased the number of unique visitors by a third within 12 months. Responsibilities included:• Leading on the editorial direction of the site, setting the tone of our journalism, signing off on daily news lists and commissioning stories, features, interviews and video.• Working with social media and SEO editors to implement new strategies, grow traffic and improve audience engagement.• Using analytics tools and Google Trends to monitor unique users and page views, analyse story performance, shape our agenda and plan future content.• Subbing stories to make sure they’re of the highest standard, in keeping with the indy100 tone, ensuring our journalism is factually accurate and both legally and ethically sound.• Prioritising LGBTQ+ content and focusing on minority voices within the community through campaigns around homophobia and transphobia, Section 28 and issues facing people from ethnic minority backgrounds.• Managing a mid-size team of in-house journalists and freelancers, from holidays, monthly rotas and payroll to skills, development and career progression.

London

For more than four years and 50 issues I worked as deputy editor for the longest-running and largest-reaching LGBTQ+ print publication in the world. During this time I helped oversee the complete relaunch and redesign of the magazine and website not once, but twice, and kept magazine sales and web traffic strong and steady year-on-year despite an industry-wide decline. Responsibilities included:• Working with the editor to manage, plan and organise the magazine’s editorial content across both print and digital formats, for 13 issues a year on a four-weekly cycle, as well as working with the web editor to ensure synergy and cohesion across both platforms to help drive the publication’s agenda.• Creating a monthly magazine to brief and within budget, managing external freelancers and in-house journalists, photographers, designers and additional creatives.• Serving as the magazine’s chief sub-editor, setting the tone and house style of the magazine, rewriting copy where necessary, fact-checking and writing headlines.• Securing and delivering major exclusive content and news stories, including interviews with Sir Ian McKellen, Grace Jones, David Cameron, Ed Miliband, Nick Clegg and Bonnie Tyler. Yes, THE Bonnie Tyler• Arranging and project-managing photoshoots to brief and budget in locations across the world.• Collaborating with the commercial team to ensure consistent revenue flow and identifying new advertising opportunities.• Overseeing the marketing department to ensure promotion for each issues and representing Gay Times as an authoritative voice through external media opportunities.

Lincoln, United Kingdom

Like all the best journalists, my first job was in local news where I quickly became a qualified, skilled and proficient news and features writer, working at the largest local newspaper in the East Midlands. Writing in-depth news and feature articles, off-diary exclusives and major breaking news, I wore a number of different hats throughout my time at the Echo and assisted in the paper’s transformation from a daily title to a weekly title, implementing new strategies in terms of social media and digital output. I was also runner-up in East Midlands’ journalist of the year 2010 – and still think I was robbed to this day.