View all newsletters
Sign up for our free email newsletters

Fighting for quality news media in the digital age.

  1. Archive content
September 23, 2004updated 22 Nov 2022 12:08pm

Campey quits after turbulent 18-month reign at YP

By Press Gazette

Campey: Post editorship marred by staff upset

Rachael Campey has resigned from the Yorkshire Post after 18 months as editor. After mounting speculation about her future, management made an announcement to staff on Wednesday.

One long-term staffer told Press Gazette that reaction to Campey’s departure would be “fairly dry-eyed” among the old guard on the paper.

But others felt that she was not given long enough to bring in her changes.

Campey brought in half a dozen senior editorial staff which caused waves among existing journalists who believed they had been sidelined.

She was the subject of a ‘no-confidence’ vote by staff on the flagship Johnston Press-owned paper in February, when journalists were unhappy at the treatment of women’s editor Jill Armstrong, who had been with the paper for 25 years. She had been told by Campey that her post was being scrapped and she could apply for the vacant position of features editor.

Content from our partners
MHP Group's 30 To Watch awards for young journalists open for entries
How PA Media is helping newspapers make the digital transition
Publishing on the open web is broken, how generative AI could help fix it

The Yorkshire Post and Yorkshire Evening Post NUJ chapel passed a motion which stated: “The Yorkshire Post chapel has no confidence in the Yorkshire Post editor and authorises the chapel committee to make all necessary preparations for the possibility of a strike.”

The row was resolved in March after Armstrong was given a new role.

When she took over Campey was understood to have been given a war chest to invest in a ‘dream team’ of new appointments One insider said: “We were told that she had been allowed a substantial budget to bring about the changes she wanted, but it would have to be justified and clawed back.”

New budgets were thought to be under discussion by management this week.

A Post journalist said: “The paper has altered radically but in the end too much had changed without the sales going up.”

The Yorkshire Post is one of the most prestigious regional newspapers. It won two honours in the Press Gazette Regional Press Awards in July.

Latest sales figures for the Yorkshire Post are 61,691 down 4.5 per cent year on year.

Johnston Press divisional managing editor Chris Green said: “Rachael has made a valuable contribution to both the Yorkshire Post and the company. I would like to place on record my appreciation for the work she has done.”

Campey said: ” I am proud of what the paper has achieved during my editorship – including an improving sales performance and industry awards. I would like to thank the journalists and staff who have worked to help me take the paper forward.”

Deputy editor Duncan Hamilton has become acting editor.

By Jon Slattery and Dominic Ponsford

Topics in this article :

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

Select and enter your email address Weekly insight into the big strategic issues affecting the future of the news industry. Essential reading for media leaders every Thursday. Your morning brew of news about the world of news from Press Gazette and elsewhere in the media. Sent at around 10am UK time. Our weekly does of strategic insight about the future of news media aimed at US readers. A fortnightly update from the front-line of news and advertising. Aimed at marketers and those involved in the advertising industry.
  • Business owner/co-owner
  • CEO
  • COO
  • CFO
  • CTO
  • Chairperson
  • Non-Exec Director
  • Other C-Suite
  • Managing Director
  • President/Partner
  • Senior Executive/SVP or Corporate VP or equivalent
  • Director or equivalent
  • Group or Senior Manager
  • Head of Department/Function
  • Manager
  • Non-manager
  • Retired
  • Other
Visit our privacy Policy for more information about our services, how New Statesman Media Group may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications.
Thank you

Thanks for subscribing.

Websites in our network