Gill sutherland

Content editor Gill has scored an incredible number of exclusives over the year and is always hungry to get the story first. That nose for a story and excitement for a scoop still drives her forward. Gill’s enthusiasm for news inspires others. Having started at Time Out magazine 35 years ago, Gill brings vast experience and also tireless vigour and wit to the newsroom. After years working in music journalism, including production editor on NME, she also comes with a pub quiz-worthy knowledge of popular culture which helps make her a genuine all-rounder able to turn her hand to hard and soft news, and authoritative arts coverage. These three examples give an insight into three important qualities of a regional reporter that she personifies: tenacity, clear-sightedness and tremendous empathy.

Exclusive Nadhim Zahawi interview, 22 June 2023. Since the scandal broke over then chancellor Zahawi’s tax avoidance in summer 2022, Gill had tirelessly fought to get the Stratford MP to give some honest answers via a series of campaigning and investigative articles in the Herald which have been picked up by nationals, including Private Eye. Her tenacity paid off in June 2023 with an exclusive no-holds-barred interview with Zahawi in which he offered the closest thing yet to an apology. The in-depth interview saw extracts repeated in the nationals and provoked a flurry of reaction from readers.

A hospital without beds, 24 November 2022. Ever since the local NHS Trust – South Warwickshire (SWFT) – reneged on a promise to rebuild Shipston hospital with community beds in 2019, Gill has been on the forefront of a campaign to demand answers as to why the existing bedded hospital is being replaced with a ‘wellbeing hub’ without beds. She’s broken exclusives, submitted FOIs, unearthed damning evidence, and held SWFT and its CEO Glen Burley to account in numerous articles. In November 22 she reported from a protest march organised by local campaigners. The news feature that followed reflected local anger, shared personal heartfelt stories, and included a highly informative backgrounder. The reaction locally to the article further galvanised campaigners looking to future action.

Three teenagers die in Chipping Campden car crash tragedy, 27 April 2023. The local community was plunged into mourning by the loss of three sixth-form students from Chipping Campden School. Harry Purcell, 17, Frank Wormald, 16, and Tilly Seccombe, 16, died in a two-car collision that also saw a stepmother and two children badly injured. Gill’s reporting on the tragedy was heartfelt and sensitive. Her poignant account of the return to school on Monday morning (dropping her own daughter, 17, off) following the accident on Friday was beautifully handled. It was an especially harrowing time for the community, including Gill and her family who had known two of the teenagers most of their lives. There were many emotions in the office that week, but the feedback from readers was that our sensitive coverage had brought some solace.