Dave Brookes, Coventry Telegraph editor, is to return to Fort Dunlop as editor of the Birmingham Mail and editor-in-chief of all Birmingham titles. Dave was previously editor of the Sunday Mercury and also worked on the Birmingham Mail for many years.
John Griffith, managing director of BPM Media said: “Dave knows our Birmingham titles inside out. Under his editorship, the Mercury won numerous awards and in Coventry he has gained valuable experience editing a successful overnight newspaper. I'm delighted to welcome him back to Birmingham.”
Steve Dyson (pictured), editor of the Birmingham Mail and Sunday Mercury, has chosen to leave his position. Steve said: "It has been a privilege working on these fine newspapers. They have provided me with great experiences, from my days as a reporter to my last seven years as an editor. I've been really lucky and will never forget my 17 years with the company.
"It has been quite a wrench to come to the decision to move on, but I feel it is the right time to seek new challenges elsewhere. I leave wishing everyone at the company the very best for the future."
Steve will stay on until December to help implement the planned changes.
Birmingham Post editor Marc Reeves has also decided to leave the company. Marc, who led the project to assess the Post's publishing strategy, will remain with the business until the end of 2009, to ensure the title is successfully established as an online daily and a print weekly. His successor will be appointed later this year.
Marc said: "I'm delighted that I am able to leave the Post on a high as it takes a really ambitious and brave step and one that puts it in an even better position to meet the challenges of the economy and the changing media environment.
"It was my lifelong ambition to edit the Birmingham Post, my home town newspaper, and I've had nearly four years doing exactly that. I feel truly honoured to have been editor when the Post celebrated its 150th anniversary, and to have played a part in the development of its online services and forays into social media.
"My focus now is shaping the Post for the changes and challenges ahead and handing over the reins to my successor before I leave at the end of the year."
John Griffith said of Steve and Marc's plans to leave the business: 'We wish both Steve and Marc every success in the future. They have both made a great contribution to their titles and to the Birmingham business. I respect the fact that both have decided this is an appropriate time to move on."
Darren Parkin, editor-in-chief of Trinity Mirror's Coventry weeklies series, will replace Dave Brookes as the editor of Coventry Telegraph. Darren started as a reporter in the Midlands in 1993, became the youngest editor in the country on the Wolverhampton Ad News in 1996, then editor of the Solihull News in 1997. After a break, he returned to Coventry in 2005, where he has been editor of the Times series for the past 4 years.
Debbie Davies, managing director of Coventry Newspapers, said: “This is a richly-deserved promotion for Darren, who is one of our brightest and most innovative editors. He's done an outstanding job on our weekly titles and I'm sure he will build on the great work Dave Brookes has done at the Telegraph.”
