The Doncaster Free Press is a weekly newspaper in Doncaster

Doncaster

Doncaster is a town in South Yorkshire, England, and the principal settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster. The town is about from Sheffield and is popularly referred to as "Donny"...

, South Yorkshire

South Yorkshire

South Yorkshire is a metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It has a population of 1.29 million. It consists of four metropolitan boroughs: Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham, and City of Sheffield...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. It is owned by South Yorkshire Newspapers (SYN), a subsidiary of the Johnston Press

Johnston Press

Johnston Press plc is a newspaper publishing company headquartered in Edinburgh, Scotland. Its flagship titles are The Scotsman and the Yorkshire Post; it also operates many other newspapers around the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and the Isle of Man. It is the second-largest publisher...

 publishing empire.

Content of the newspaper

The Free Press, or DFP as it is sometimes known, is published each Thursday and is currently priced at 75p.
Its sections include news

News

News is the communication of selected information on current events which is presented by print, broadcast, Internet, or word of mouth to a third party or mass audience.- Etymology :...

, sport

Sport

A Sport is all forms of physical activity which, through casual or organised participation, aim to use, maintain or improve physical fitness and provide entertainment to participants. Sport may be competitive, where a winner or winners can be identified by objective means, and may require a degree...

, Women, Donny Diary, Your Free Press, The Free Press Entertainer, (entertainment), Freeviews (letters), Down Your Way (community news), The Free Press Loves... (village focus), Class Act (education), Trends (fashion), Pride In Doncaster, Court Round-Up, Opinion and Analysis, jobs, promotions and competitions, nostalgia, TV, puzzles, business, property

Property

Property is any physical or intangible entity that is owned by a person or jointly by a group of people or a legal entity like a corporation...

 and motors as well as an extensive classified and display advertising section featuring family announcements.

Industrial Action of 2011

On 15th July 2011, NUJ-represented staff employed within the Doncaster Free Press walked out on indefinite strike, along with those from the South Yorkshire Times, the Goole Courier and the Selby Times. . Staff returned on September 8 to allow talks to commence after 55 consecutive days away from work.

Current and previous editors of the Free Press

The editor since May 2005 is Graeme Huston, 48, who arrived from the Edinburgh Evening News

Edinburgh Evening News

The Edinburgh Evening News is a local newspaper based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is published daily . It has a circulation of 68,000 and is owned by Johnston Press, which also owns The Scotsman and many regional titles throughout the UK.Much of the copy contained in the Evening News concerns local...

 where he was deputy editor.
Previous editors are Merrill Diplock, Martin Edmunds, Richard Tear, Leonard Peet, Maurice Coupe and the paper's founder and first editor, Richard "Dickie" Crowther. These are the only editors in the entire history of the newspaper.

The managing director of South Yorkshire Newspapers is John Bills. It is part of the Johnston Press

Johnston Press

Johnston Press plc is a newspaper publishing company headquartered in Edinburgh, Scotland. Its flagship titles are The Scotsman and the Yorkshire Post; it also operates many other newspapers around the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and the Isle of Man. It is the second-largest publisher...

publishing empire which has its headquarters in Edinburgh.

Key employees at the Free Press

The newspaper employs people in a variety of departments. These include editorial, advertising (classified and display), photographic, property, motors and sales and marketing.

The deputy editor of the Doncaster Free Press is Kath Finlay. The news editor is Andrew Hewitt.
The features editor is Darren Burke. Malcolm Billingham is chief photographer. The paper no longer has a Sports Editor as a result of the Editor In Chief's controversial 'editorial restructuring' that took place in August 2011, leading to a period of lengthy industrial action.

Other publications

The SYN stable also includes paid-for weekly titles the South Yorkshire Times, Epworth Bells, Gainsborough Standard, Worksop Guardian and Selby Times, as well as free titles the Doncaster Advertiser, Goole and Howden Courier and Thorne and District Gazette.

Advertising

Helen Bowen-Green is the advertising director, Lorraine Lumb is advertising manager, Marianne King is the magazines manager and Eve Hanson is display advertising manager.

Additional publications

Other titles produced by the company include Profile magazine, Northern Farming Gazette and Wedding Diary.

Website

The newspaper's website carries video reports and picture galleries in addition to its coverage of local events in the newspaper.

External links

• Doncaster Free Press website
• Contact details at the Free Press