Campaign gathers pace to save Whitby Gazette editor Jon Stokoe as PG launches online petition

Press Gazette is backing a campaign calling for Johnston Press chief executive Ashley Highfield to keep redundancy-threatened Jon Stokoe as editor of the Whitby Gazette.

Stokoe is facing the axe despite being one of the most successful regional newspaper editors in the country – ABC figures show his paper was the fifth best-performing fully paid-for local weekly newspaper in the UK with print sales up 2.1 per cent to 9,540.

This was despite the fact its cover price increased from 55p to 90p in that period.

Stokoe is understood to be on 'gardening leave' and the Whitby paper is being run by Scarborough News editor Ed Asquith. Johnston Press is also proposing to close the Whitby Gazette's offices and move to smaller premises.

Johnston Press is currently consulting on proposals to make the job of Whitby Gazette editor redundant.

Following yesterday’s news there was an outpouring of support for Stokoe from local residents and fellow journalists using the #saveourstokoe Twitter hashtag.

Here are a few of the messages of support:

Surely a local paper is at its best when it's edited by a local man.@gazetteinwhitby #SaveOurStokoe

— Andrew Newton (@andynewts) March 7, 2013

#saveourstokoe all the Sisters are behind you. Jon has helped us raise so much money for charity! Xxxx retweet!!

— Sisters Of Real (@SistersOfReal) March 7, 2013

@jonstokoe cares about the town and has worked tirelessly to make the local paper the heart of the town. RT #saveourstokoe

— Silverback Chaps (@silverbackdan) March 7, 2013

Heartwarming to see all messages of support for @gazetteinwhitby editor @jonstokoe. Papers like his need dedicated editors. #SaveOurStokoe

— Adrian Braddy (@DalesmanEditor) March 6, 2013

And people ask me why I went into PR! A sad day for local papers @jonstokoe don't give up without a fight #saveourstokoe

— Marie Lozman (@MarieLevy) March 6, 2013

And a user named @shaun199 has been distributing this image: