Medway News
The Medway News was a weekly newspaper covering the
The newspaper was known as the Chatham News, the Medway News and just the News but held the title Rochester, Chatham and Gillingham News (often known as the Roch-Chat-Gill) for the longest period.
Until late 2008 it was published from offices in New Road Avenue,
The newspaper's offices moved from the centre of Chatham to Gillingham Business Park and were shared with the News's sister paper, the East Kent Gazette, which had been based on the same site in Sittingbourne since its foundation on 21 July 1855. Both titles were then edited by Christine Rayner, editor of the East Kent Gazette since 1995.
The News featured general news, a leisure section, a business page, a film review, comment, village news and sport. The Medway Standard, specialised in sports news, particularly coverage of
Previous reporters at the newspaper include
The editor until its closure was Christine Rayner and the news editor Nicola Jordan.
The News was part of Kent Regional News and Media, owned since July 2007 by Northcliffe Media. Other titles in KRNM included the East Kent Gazette (which published its last edition on 7 December 2011) the Whitstable Times, Herne Bay Times, Isle of Thanet Gazette, Thanet Times, Folkestone Herald and Dover Express.
Northcliffe announced closure of the News just a fortnight after a failed takeover by the rival Kent Messenger Group, which would have seen the KRNM titles subsumed into the KM portfolio.[1] KRNM bosses blamed the Office of Fair Trading for halting the deal. The office referred the newspaper deal to the Competition Commission, because of the possible monopoly it might create. This meant the cost of the deal and process of takeover would have increased.[2]
The last edition of the News was published on Thursday 8 December 2011, a day after the final Gazette. Northcliffe had intended to cease publication a week earlier but the editor and staff asked to publish a farewell souvenir issue looking back over the News's 156 years. [3]
History
| 1859 | Joseph Clayton |
|---|---|
| 1859 | Henry Foster |
| 1885 | George Neves |
| 1921 | C P Wootton |
| 1923 | H J Ross |
| 1927 | Harry Couchman |
| 1950 | Eddie Albon |
| 1959 | Graham Parrett |
| 1968 | Eric Wintle |
| 1970 | Gerald Hinks |
| 1993 | Jon McElhill |
| 1995 | Murray Evans |
| 2001 | Diane Nicholls |
| 2008 | Christine Rayner |
The first editor-proprietor of the News was Joseph Clayton, a bookseller, who soon discovered he needed a journalist, and brought in Henry Foster from The Spectator.
Foster eventually became sole proprietor. When he died in 1885 his heirs sold to Parrett & Neves, publishers of the East Kent Gazette at Sittingbourne, George Neves becoming editor. He died in 1921.
Neves was succeeded C. P. Wootton, H. J. Ross, Harry Couchman, and Eddie Albon. In 1959, Graham Parrett – great-grandson of W. J. Parrett, whose company bought the News in 1885 – became editor until 1968 when he became managing director of Parrett & Neves' publishing company, Associated Kent Newspapers. His deputy Eric Wintle was promoted to editor and stayed in that role briefly (he later became the company's editorial director) before
In 1988 Parrett & Neves sold Associated Kent Newspapers to
The News office
The News was initially published and printed at 30 High Street, Chatham. In the late 1960s, after printing and production was centralised at Crown Quay Lane,
In summer 2008 it was announced the New Road Avenue office would shut and the News would move to Gillingham Business park, sharing an office with its older sister paper, the East Kent Gazette.
References
- ^ "Newsagents lament loss of Kent weeklies". holdthefrontpage.co.uk. Retrieved 1 December 2011.
- ^ "Medway News and East Kent Gazette face closure". businessforkent.co.uk. 25 November 2011. Archived from the original on 26 April 2012. Retrieved 2 December 2011.
- ^ "Staff to produce souvenir editions of axed Kent weeklies". holdthefrontpage.co.uk. 2 December 2011. Retrieved 8 December 2011.
Sources
- Company records of Parrett & Neves
- Kelly's Directory of Rochester, Chatham, Gillingham and Strood