Ferrari says dummies of the Evening Mail are looking good and strong
Journalist and broadcaster Nick Ferrari is to be the editor of Richard Desmond’s new London newspaper, the Evening Mail.
Ferrari, 43, scion of a famous London family of journalists, will continue his morning, five-days-a-week LBC 97.3FM talkshow, The Nick Ferrari Programme, and his work for Sky News’s Sunrise and BBC1’s Heaven and Earth.
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The six weeks of talks which led to his appointment on Tuesday will undoubtedly have majored on his high profile among London listeners. Desmond and Ferrari believe the synergy created by the radio show and the newspaper will provide, in the new editor’s words, “the most invigorating and exciting blend of news, features and campaigning journalism that has ever been available on London streets”. Confirming the paper will be named the Evening Mail, Ferrari said: “It will launch when our opposition least expects it.”
Explaining why he was persuaded to become editor, he said: “What’s fantastic is that I continue with my job at LBC, which has more listeners in London than Nicky Campbell had.
“It’s a totally London radio station and we campaign against congestion charging, for more police officers on the streets and for better schools. I live and work and am raising two kids in London and I care enormously about the city. If you realise that I will have 15 hours a week on LBC plus this London paper, there will be only eight Londoners who don’t hear my words every week. We have calculated this.”
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He is the fifth former editor of The Sun’s Bizarre column to make it to an editor’s chair, following John Blake (Sunday People), Martin Dunn (Today), Piers Morgan (News of the World and Daily Mirror) and Andy Coulson (News of the World).
Asked how he would manage two full-time jobs, Ferrari told Press Gazette: “The paper will not come out until the early hours of the afternoon so I will be able to come back to Express Newspapers from LBC. In the morning, I’ll have had the benefit of talking to Londoners for three hours about what worries them, so there is no editor in the land who knows better what stories are exciting, angering or pleasing Londoners than me and that will be reflected in the paper.” Ferrari started his new job on Wednesday, writing a welcome column for the paper designed to take on the Evening Standard and free Metro. He said the Evening Mail’s distribution was still being worked out.
Ferrari will have a dedicated London news team “plus the back-up of all journalists at Express Newspapers”.
He said: “I am very excited to be going to work with loads of folk I know already.” He believes dummies of the new title are looking good and strong.
He said the chance to broadcast to a city like London and edit its evening newspaper was too great to turn down.
“I am London’s answer to David Beckham. Not in looks but in the positions I have been given. All these jobs and hopeless at all of them. I have been very fortunate and I intend to do my best with this job.”
He says he gets on well with Desmond. “Sensational, really. He is what this newspaper industry needs. Larger than life, prepared to take a risk and he employs lots of people.
“If he thought it wasn’t going to work and I thought it wasn’t going to work we wouldn’t want to get involved.
“You should look at his track record, which is pretty substantial in the world of journalism.”
Express Newspapers editorial director Paul Ashford said: “Nick is a fantastic newspaperman who understands the power of the broadcast media on which he regularly stars.
“We believe that his unique combination of media skills will give our newspaper a significant edge over its tired rivals.”
He started his new job on Wednesday, writing a welcome column designed to take on the Evening Standard and free Metro. He said the Evening Mail’s distribution was still being worked out.
Ferrari will have a dedicated London news team “plus the back-up of all journalists at Express Newspapers”. He said: “I am excited to be going to work with loads of folk I know already.” He believes dummies of the new title are looking good and strong.
He said the chance to broadcast to a city like London and edit its evening paper was too great to turn down. “I am London’s answer to David Beckham. Not in looks but in the positions I have been given. All these jobs and hopeless at all of them. I have been very fortunate and I intend to do my best with this job.”
He says he gets on well with Desmond. “Sensational, really. He is what this newspaper industry needs. Larger than life, prepared to take a risk and he employs lots of people.
“If he thought it wasn’t going to work and I thought it wasn’t going to work we wouldn’t want to get involved. You should look at his track record, which is pretty substantial in the world of journalism.”
Express Newspapers editorial director Paul Ashford said: “Nick is a fantastic newspaperman who understands the power of the broadcast media on which he regularly stars. We believe that his unique combination of media skills will give our newspaper a significant edge over its tired rivals.”
By Jean Morgan
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