Martin Tideswell is Editor-in-Chief of The Sentinel, StokeonTrentLive, the Staffordshire Newsletter and Post & Times series.
Martin has over 30 years’ experience as a journalist, with more than 20 of those at The Sentinel, the daily newspaper circulating in North Staffordshire and South Cheshire. Having grown up in Sneyd Green, Stoke-on-Trent, Martin is the newspaper’s first local Editor in more than 40 years.
Since his appointment in 2014, Martin has led numerous successful campaigns aimed at showing Stoke-on-Trent to be a wonderful place in which to live, work, study and invest. Under Martin’s direction, The Sentinel and StokeonTrentLive helped to lead Stoke-on-Trent’s 2017/18 bid to become UK City of Culture 2021. Other campaigns instigated by Martin have touched on the NHS, promoted independent businesses, covered the issue of homelessness, helping to find loving homes for unwanted animals and raise awareness of the dangers of swimming outdoors. They have also supported beloved local charities, including the Douglas MacMillan Hospice, Donna Louise Children’s Hospice and Operation Spitfire. Martin hosts the annual Our Heroes community awards, which he launched in 2006, and oversees the Sentinel Business Awards and the Stoke-on-Trent Sports Awards, staged in partnership with Stoke-on-Trent City Council and Staffordshire University.
Under Martin’s leadership, The Sentinel and StokeonTrentLive also work with Staffordshire University across a number of aspirational projects. Over the last four years, the Our Big Read initiative has seen tens of thousands of free books given away to schoolchildren in Stoke-on-Trent, aimed at boosting literacy levels across the city. Meanwhile, the Too Write creative writing competition inspires hundreds of children, teenagers and adults to put pen to paper.
Martin’s tireless efforts to champion his home city and the wider North Staffordshire conurbation also extend to the content his teams publish online and in print. Focusing almost exclusively on local news, sport and information, StokeonTrentLive website page views have grown dramatically during Martin’s tenure as Editor to between 12 and 15 million per month, as have the social media presence of his titles and journalists. Newspaper sales stand at 20,000 a day for The Sentinel – around twice that of some of its sister titles under publisher Reach PLC.
Martin’s editorial team now stages six annual public events and boasts an award-winning film-maker. His newsroom has also employed six Staffordshire University graduates and provides many work experience opportunities.
The Award of Honorary Doctor of Staffordshire University is bestowed upon Martin in recognition of his strong links with community, schools and raising literacy standards. It also recognises his pivotal role as a friend and partner of the University, as a provider of work placements to journalism students and as a community champion and thought leader on the media industry.