Culture minister praises HTFP blogger

We've been pretty pleased so far with the reaction to our new HoldtheFrontPage blogger - former Birmingham Mail editor Steve Dyson.

Although not everyone has necessarily agreed with his weekly critiques of local and regional newspapers, that wasn't the point. He has generated plenty of discussion and debate and the page views so far are more than justifying our decison to take him on.

That said, we never expected Steve's blog to win ministerial praise. After all it's not often that politicians start dishing out compliments to journalists!

That's however exactly what happened today after Creative Industries Minister Sion Simon dropped by to reveal he was an "avid reader" of the blog.

He wrote: "Having followed Steve here from the Birmingham Mail (a succesful local paper which makes a lot of money), I'm really enjoying this column.

"I'm a huge advocate of hyperlocal bloggers and of taking 'citizen journalism' seriously, but that doesn't mean that local newspapers are dead. They're not.

"I think Steve's column is a great read, done with verve and chutzpah.

"For me - an outsider except as consumer - it brings to life an under-pressure sector which deserves to walk a bit taller, with a little more swagger than it does."

Don't miss Steve Dyson's new blog

Former Birmingham Mail editor Steve Dyson's new blog "Dyson at Large" launches on HoldtheFrontPage today.

Each Wednesday, Steve will be looking at a different regional title and giving his assessment of its strengths and weaknesses and today he kicks off the series with a look at the Nottingham Evening Post.

We're really pleased to have someone of Steve's experience and high profile in the industry blogging for HTFP and we're confident it will give people even more reasons to visit the site.

Bookmark this URL to see all of Steve's blog posts on the site.