About red squirrel media
Red Squirrel Media is an editorial and communications consultancy built by people who spent their careers in national newsrooms. We know what makes a story run, because deciding that was our job.
We work with businesses, charities, public sector organisations and agencies across the UK and Europe, assembling the right team of journalists, editors, photographers and communications specialists for each brief.
Who is behind it
Red Squirrel Media was founded by John James, a journalist and editor who spent has spent his career in national and regional newsrooms, most recently at the Daily Mail.
His career has covered breaking news, features, investigations and campaigns including the Daily Star’s now infamous Liz Truss v Lettuce stunt. As Night News Editor, he ran overnight news operations and made the calls on what led the paper the following morning.
At the Mail, he commissioned freelancers across the UK and abroad and shaped how stories were told. He has also reported on camera for the paper, including an investigation into the cut-price cosmetic surgery industry in Turkey, and worked across regional titles including MyLondon and KentLive.
He founded Red Squirrel Media on a simple observation: most organisations are talking to journalists without knowing what journalists actually want. Having spent his career on the receiving end of those approaches, and deciding which ones became stories, he built a network of people who understand the difference.
A network, not an agency.
Red Squirrel Media works with a network of trusted contributors rather than a fixed in-house team. Every brief is matched to people who have done that specific job before, whether that is a crime reporter, a features writer, a press officer, a photographer or a video journalist.
It means the people who do the work are the people you meet It also means you are not paying for an office, an account management layer, or capacity you do not need.
News and feature writing
Editorial consultancy and interim editing
Media relations and press office support
Executive ghostwriting and thought leadership
Crisis and reputation communications
Photography and video journalism
How it works.
Step 1: Tell us the brief
A conversation, not a form. We work out what you actually need, which is sometimes not what you first asked for.
Step 2 : We assemble the team
We match the work to contributors who have done that specific job before, and tell you who is doing what before anything starts.
Step 3: We deliver
Agreed scope, agreed timeline, agreed cost. One point of contact throughout.
The contacts book
Daily Mail. Mirror. Daily Star. express. the telegraph. the times. BBC. Sky. ITV. GB News. LBC.
Our contributors are former national reporters and editors. Between them they have written for the UK's national newspapers and built working relationships across both tabloid and broadsheet print and multiple broadcast channels, including the BBC, Sky, ITV, GB News and LBC.
Those relationships are the difference between sending a press release and knowing who to send it to.