Toby Porter
Mitcham,UK
Summary
My career has progressed at each step, nurturing talent and adding value and respect to each product. I bring the full range of editorial skills to every title, including super-productive contacts, sure-footed investigative focus, deep analytical understanding, inspired ideas for features and analysis, an accessible style, a meticulous eye for detail, a super-friendly manner and a driven belief in each product.
Overview
31
31
years of professional experience
Work history
Online Editor, Planning
Haymarket Media
London
06.2022 - 02.2025
- Homepage editing and daily updates, trawl for stories, daily bulletin, writing two stories a day, training, feature ideas, neighbourhood plans
- Brought relentless drive to investigate and intense eye for detail to stories
- Introduced extra rank of news to ensure a wide variety of up-to-date news and a polished look
- Trained and supported new reporters
- Demanded improved images
- Introduced mouse-moving of stories on CMS and researched software alternatives to enable easier homepage variations and story switching
- Podcast writing, editing and reading
- Brought experience of acting auditions and added extra text articulation
- Podcast won Periodical Publishers Association Podcast of the Year Award 2023
- Energised relentless drive to investigate for our own content and suggested use of 'exclusive' labels which doubled traffic
- Brought knowledge of media law to AI Editorial Steering Group before its launch in October 2024
Digital Editor
Jewish News
London
04.2022 - 06.2022
- Accelerated news story rate, introduced new, wider story sources, introduced investigation of new channels
- Reported to owner, oversaw team of four reporters
- Designed new newsletter layouts and features using Salamandra software
- This improved audience engagement and traffic by 16%
Head of Content
South London Press Media Group
Catford
08.2019 - 04.2022
- Ensured weekly exclusives through wide contacts at all levels, in all areas and all industry strands through attendance at events and talking to residents plus recruitment of trainees to scour communities for stories
- Recruited six reporters but also trained more than 50 reporters from PA, City University and News Associates, with nearly half ending up working on national outlets
- Whilst developing the roles and skills of eight staff members, also trained more than 50 reporters from PA, City University and News Associates, with nearly half ending up working on national outlets
- Increased range of stories to wider boroughs and boosted online views by more than 43%, past the 200,000 vpw mark
- Regular exclusives
- One forced resignation of housing cabinet member; one resignation of 'bullying' headteacher; one which forced Lambeth council to backtrack on its historic child abuse compensation claims
- Retrained a designer as production editor to free up reporter and editor time
- Covered for sports editor when he was on leave
- Helped Advertising Manager to lobby council for Public Notices Contract, worth £200,000 a year
- Covered for sports editor when he was on holiday
News Editor
South London Press
Catford
01.2019 - 08.2019
- Introduced social media posts and trained designer to post
- Boosted online traffic by 20% past 130,000vpm mark
- Led team of five reporters and introduced new methods to increase copy flow and widen depth of coverage
Chief Reporter
South London Press
Streatham
06.2016 - 01.2019
- Introduced trainee placements to widen coverage and increase story count
- Devised, launched and implemented Lambeth Walk anti-knife crime campaign
- String of crime and community exclusives which boosted visibility and traffic
Freelance News Reporter and News Editor
London
10.1993 - 12.1998
- The Times, The Mail, Today, The Standard - Freelance reporter and news editor
Education
MA (Hons) - Philosophy
Edinburgh
A levels - Physics, Maths, Further Maths, Art
Ampleforth College
Skills
- NCTJ Proficiency Test
- Full driving licence
- French
- German
- Fire warden
Custom
- Cycling
- Dancing
- Drawing
- Music
- Painting
- Gardening
Timeline
Online Editor, Planning
Haymarket Media
06.2022 - 02.2025
Digital Editor
Jewish News
04.2022 - 06.2022
Head of Content
South London Press Media Group
08.2019 - 04.2022
News Editor
South London Press
01.2019 - 08.2019
Chief Reporter
South London Press
06.2016 - 01.2019
Freelance News Reporter and News Editor
10.1993 - 12.1998
A levels - Physics, Maths, Further Maths, Art
Ampleforth College
MA (Hons) - Philosophy
Edinburgh
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