Jon Rhodes
The editor of The Gazette, Blackpool, is to leave his job amid a fresh management shake-up at Johnston Press.
Jon Rhodes leaves after just over two years at the daily paper. He was previously head of news and features at the same paper for eight years.
The news comes just a day after we reported that the newspaper groups’ chief executive Ashley Highfield was warning that the number of full-time journalists working across Johnston Press’s local titles will fall further.
Former Blackpool Gazette editor Gillian Parkinson, currently Johnston Press North West editorial director and editor of the Lancashire Evening Post, will assume additional responsibility for the newspaper following Jon’s departure.
Rhodes, 43, has worked for JP-owned titles since 1992, including spells at the Lancashire Evening Post and Yorkshire Evening Post, after starting his career at the Chester Evening Leader straight from school.
He told HoldTheFrontPage: “It has been an incredible honour and privilege to have been editor of The Gazette.
“In the last two years we have seen our total audience grow to more than 300,000 readers a week, won several awards, launched many hard hitting campaigns and investigations and raised hundreds of thousands of pounds for local charities – none more so than the £268,000 Gazette readers gave in 2014 to transform two Blackpool-based hospices.”
Susan Windram, group editor of Johnston Press subsidiary North East Press’s northern weekly titles, also announced her departure from the publisher yesterday.
