Kent, UK based celebrity photo agency Flynet Pictures are expanding their image delivery business with the launch of a news operation – Flynet News. Heading up this new division is former Sun newspaper managing editor Graham Dudman. At Flynet, Dudman is working with former Sun picture editor John Edwards who also left News International – now News UK – last September.
Dudman, 52, started at The Sun in 1990 and held a variety of jobs including news reporter, Moscow correspondent, news editor, head of news, head of features and managing editor. He also spent several years on the editing rota. Dudman said: ‘I’m looking forward to growing a business alongside a team of top quality professionals in a well-established agency. ‘We shall be offering compelling exclusive words and picture packages and have already had some great shows with our material.’
Flynet Pictures co-founder John Churchill said: ‘We’re delighted Graham has agreed to join Flynet. The arrival of someone with such experience signals a big step forward for the agency as we expand and grow with the establishment of Flynet News.’ Dudman has been working as a consultant for Flynet since February and started his role as Managing Editor on May 31.
• Flynet News has hired its first reporter Ross Kempsell, currently studying at News Associates journalism school and has already produced a number of splashes and spreads in several national papers.
• Among the first offerings from Flynet News was a two-part interview with a survivor of the Dunblane massacre carried by the Sun on Sunday and followed up on Good Morning Britain, a Daily Mail splash about premium rate phone lines at GP surgeries and a spread in the Sunday Mirror featuring a victim of the so-called Angel of Death Beverly Allitt.