Hemel Hempstead Evening Post-Echo

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The Evening Post-Echo was a British newspaper published in Hemel Hempstead and launched in 1967.

This newspaper was notable for three reasons:

1. It used the then cutting-edge technology of photo-typesetting at a time when the old 'hot metal' process was the norm.

2. It was one of the few non-national newspapers to publish six days a week.

3. It was neither national nor local, but a regional newspaper covering three counties (Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire).

From launch, the paper flourished and grew, attaining a circulation of over 90,000 copies per night at its peak.

Background to launch

Launched initially as two papers, the Evening Post and Evening Echo, it was an attempt by the

Reading Evening Post – were part of this strategy. Lord (Roy) Thomson
invested millions in the experiment, which he believed would profit from what he saw as huge advertising potential in prosperous communities north and west of London.

His efforts were thwarted from the start by demands from the print unions, which insisted on unsustainable manning levels. Thomson management was less robust than it might have been because it feared union repercussions at

Sunday Times
.

Journalists

Many Fleet Street figures such as

News International
. Other outstanding journalists worked on the Post-Echo in its heyday. They included
Sunday Times ) and David Felton (The Independent
).

The Post-Echo's assistant editor, John Marquis, who worked in London for both

negligence
at two hospitals. Melanie Phillips won the Young Journalist of the Year award the following year (1975).

Former

London Sun and the Daily Star. Johnson founded and launched The Punch newspaper, a bi-weekly London-style popular quality tabloid, in Nassau, Bahamas, in February 1990. Johnson is the editor, owner and publisher of The Punch newspaper. The Punch was credited with bringing down the Old PLP Government of the late Bahamas Prime Minister Sir Lynden Pindling
in August 1992. The Punch is considered by many to be The Bahamas' most read and controversial newspaper.

Several Post-Echo journalists became authors. Stephen Pile wrote

the Falklands War, the My Lai Massacre and the Hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper
.

Design and photography

In its early days, the Post-Echo won many design awards, using

Evening News and Evening Standard, on the newsstands and was seen by many Fleet Street
observers of the day as the future of newspapers. One of the Evening Post photographers, Alun John went on to become the award-winning launch Picture Editor of The Independent.

Famous articles and awards

In 1973 it published a powerful and much-praised series of articles about the poisoner Graham Young which resulted in a book by Tony Holden called The St Albans Poisoner. He was one of a four-man investigation team led by Marquis, which included Lee Harrison and reporter Philip Smith, both of whom later worked on The National Enquirer in the United States.

However, it was Marquis's hospitals investigation the following year which landed the Post-Echo its first major writing award, with Phillips taking her award 12 months later.

Demise

Despite its editorial excellence, the Post-Echo eventually bowed to the inexorable rise of

freesheets and their demands on advertising revenue[3]
and the deep recession of the early 80s eventually saw its demise. It closed in 1983 with the loss of 470 jobs.

At the time of its closure, the editor was Trevor Wade, who went on to edit the Reading Evening Post.

References

  1. ^ "Media Top 100 | 78. Peter Wright | guardian.co.uk". The Guardian. 14 July 2008. Retrieved 23 March 2010.
  2. ^ "Peter Wright Biography". Manchester Evening News. 25 October 2007. Retrieved 23 March 2010.
  3. ^ "Watford Observer History". Watford Observer. 10 September 2004. Retrieved 23 March 2010.
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