Newsquest, the UK’s leading local media group, announced today a major new £1.5m per annum investment in local journalism with the recruitment of 50 new digital journalist roles across the UK.

Of the 50 new roles, 32 will be local digital journalists assigned to specific brands at newsrooms in Glasgow, North Wales, Essex, Hampshire, Dorset, Bolton, Lancashire, Darlington, Durham, Yorkshire, Hereford, Wales, Somerset, South London, Sussex, Worcester, Oxford, Wiltshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire and Cumbria. Three more roles will be for local Digital Sport Journalists in Bolton, Glasgow and Southampton.

The company is also launching a Regional SEO Content team consisting of 14 Regional SEO Content Journalists and an SEO Content Editor who will be managing the team and creating local content.

These will be based in the company’s newsrooms in Scotland, Wales, Essex, South Coast, North West, North East, London, Midlands, Oxfordshire, Wiltshire and Cumbria.

The company is also increasing its investment in its digital product team with new roles available for data analysts and web developers for its local news platform. Last week Newsquest announced the appointment of a new Head of Digital Subscriptions, Gerard O Brien, who was previously Consumer Marketing Director at Future plc.

Henry Faure Walker, CEO of Newsquest Media Group said: “The focus that we have placed on growing engaged local digital audiences over the last few years is paying off, with most of our sites now reaching almost 80% of their local population. This coupled with the success we are having with digital subscriptions, gives us the confidence to launch a major expansion in local journalism.

"This investment underlines our commitment to those towns and cities where our local brands have been the number one news provider for decades. We look forward to welcoming new talented digital journalists to join our teams in local newsrooms embedded in communities up and down the country.”

If you are interested in applying for any of these journalist roles please go to www.newsquest.co.uk/careers. These roles are in addition to existing roles and vacancies.

Newsquest publishes over 150 local news brands in communities throughout the UK, now reaching over 40 million visitors per month. In addition to its news publishing business, Newsquest also operates LOCALiQ, a cutting edge digital marketing platform, that helps thousands of SMEs across the UK grow their own digital presence and business.