We are pleased to finally unveil what we have been working on behind the scenes!
The Lead, a growing UK politics and culture online magazine, has appointed us to work alongside them to expand into the North through a series of local newsletters. Ed has taken on the role of Lead Editor (North), and Luke is acting as Senior Editor (North). Shirah will be supporting them behind the scenes in a research and communications capacity. The team will operate as a parallel newsroom to Dimi Reider, Natalie Morris and Leah Borromeo the London-based editorial team behind the original publication.
Initially launching in Blackpool, Bolton, Teesside, and Stoke-on-Trent, these titles – The Blackpool Lead, The Bolton Lead, The Teesside Lead and The Stoke-on-Trent Lead – will be expanding The Lead’s editorially independent coverage and campaigning around issues such as racism, equality, poverty and climate change into northern towns and cities that are often overlooked.
We are looking forward to working with a diverse range of freelance writers and journalists who can help us authentically represent and engage with issues of these areas. We also want to work collaboratively with local voices and news sources that are already established in the area, providing valuable coverage to the community.
Talking about the contract, Ed Walker said,
“Local journalism is vitally important for communities and it is evident from the scale of local digital audiences that local outlets currently enjoy the appetite for discovering what’s happening locally is very much alive.
“We are thrilled to be supporting The Lead in not just telling the stories in the North, but connecting and enabling communities through journalism.”
Lead Editor (National) Dimi Reider said,
“There are so many stories and struggles in the North that deserve coverage and campaigning in their own right, by and for the communities that live them…we are setting up a parallel, autonomous newsroom in the North that’ll work in equal partnership with the London team.
We are thrilled to be joined by editors as experienced and as enterprising as Ed and Luke, and can’t wait to help them lead on this ambitious expansion.”
Natalie Morris, Senior Editor (National) echoed these thoughts,
“As a Mancunian with a background in local journalism, I’m delighted and proud that The Lead is extending its focus to include the rich variety of communities and perspectives from the North of England. Established media is still far too London-centric, and widening this narrow lens is a crucial step in ensuring the stories we cover are more accurately representative of the nation as a whole.”
This contract is an exciting opportunity for us to combine our journalism and editorial expertise with our profound understanding of local northern audiences.
We will keep you updated as this project progresses. If you are interested in pitching a story/topic for one of these titles please let us know.
Alma 