Friday 16 October 2009

Hey, that's no way to say good-bye to an editor

There's a great picture in Harold Evans' autobiography 'Paper Chase' of 'Big Tom' Henry, a legendary editor-in-chief of the Manchester Evening News pushing the last page to the foundry surrounded by compositors.
It was a rare honour from the comps to mark Henry's last edition on 17 November 1989. There are no comps left now thanks to new technology but it was still sad to read a post by HoldtheFrontPage publisher Paul Linford about the low key departure of Paul Horrocks as editor of the MEN after 12 years in the post and 34 with MEN Media.
Paul writes on The Journalism Hub: "At the time of the announcement, no date was given for Mr Horrocks' actual departure, with the MEN Media press office merely saying it would be "some time in October" and promising to let us know more nearer the time.As it happened, that time came and went without any further word on the matter.
"After receiving an out-of-office message from Paul this morning, we checked back with the press office who confirmed that in fact he left on Friday. Doesn't it all seem a tad low-key for someone who has been such a high-profile figure in the industry over the past decade?"
The post is headlined: Horrocks departs without fanfare.

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