Reach announces ‘largest digital launch yet’ with Yorkshire Live

Among the new hires are football writers Dominic Howson and Ricky Charlesworth (above), who join from the Sheffield Star, while Nathan Hemmingham has been recruited from HullLive to become the site’s Sheffield United correspondent.

They will report into head of football for Yorkshire and Lancashire, Tom-Marshall Bailey. A new office will open in Sheffield alongside the Leeds and Huddersfield offices with a five-strong team, led by Fay Preston, who has joined from HullLive.

Neil Hodgkinson, Reach’s editor-in-Chief for Yorkshire, Humber and Lincolnshire described the new launch as “extra special”.

He said: “This is an exciting time for journalism in Yorkshire. Three new websites, 12 new journalists, a new office in Sheffield and more resources in Leeds. That sort of positive investment does not happen very often.

“It is always special to be involved in launches and it is extra special when it happens in God’s Own Country. Yorkshire Live is the biggest of the Reach Live projects and the team led by Chris is determined to deliver great news and sports stories from all corners of the county.

“They are loving the experience and the enthusiasm and talent already being demonstrated augurs well for the future. This will be fun!”

Reach has now hired almost 50 new journalists since the start of the year as it looks to build on a successful 2019 for audience growth.

David Higgerson, Reach PLC’s chief audience officer, said: “We launched into Leeds three years ago and the team have shown we can build a loyal audience by doing local journalism differently, as we already were doing in Huddersfield.

“The launch of YorkshireLive is really exciting, and we’re delighted to be able to add so many extra journalists to an already strong team in Yorkshire.”

Reach said its reporters were working in new patches “to ensure we report the news you really care about”. The local sites will be LeedsLive, SouthYorkshireLive, NorthYorkshireLive, MyBradford, ExaminerLive and HullLive.