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September 29, 2005updated 22 Nov 2022 4:58pm

Northcliffe names editors for West Country papers

By Press Gazette

By Jean Morgan

Northcliffe has appointed three editors in the West Country to fill
vacancies at the Western Morning News, the Evening Herald in Plymouth
and the Express & Echo in Exeter.

The editor-in-chief of the Western Morning News and Evening Herald, Alan Qualtrough, has been made editor of the WMN.

Qualtrough became editor-in-chief following the retirement of Barrie Williams from the WMN in July.

He
joined Northcliffe in Plymouth in 1991, one of two editors recruited
from the national press to head newspapers in the group. The other was
Terry Manners at Bristol’s Western Daily Press.

Qualtrough had
previously been news editor of the Daily Express and the Sunday People
in a career that started on the Liverpool Daily Post.

Qualtrough’s deputy at the Evening Herald, Bill Martin, will now become editor.

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Martin began his career at Northcliffe in 1989 before moving to Norwich and then London to freelance.

He returned to the group in 1997 as news editor of the Herald and was made deputy in 2001.

The
appointments are the first editorships for both Martin and Marc Astley,
who takes over from Steve Hall at Exeter’s Express & Echo on 3
October.

Astley is currently deputy editor at the Nottingham
Evening Post and has spent 16 years at Northcliffe. He spent almost
five years at the Hull Daily Mail as head of news, content editor and
assistant editor before moving to Nottingham. He previously worked for
his new paper in the mid-1990s as deputy editor and news editor.

“The
years I spent at the Express & Echo were among the most enjoyable
of my career,” he said. “It’s an honour to be returning to take the
editor’s chair.”

Hall is now editor of Northcliffe’s Derby Evening Telegraph.

Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog

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