My Media Week: Stephen Hull, Huffington Post

The Chilcot report is breaking, Shingy's in town, and mum's in the editor's chair... we join Stephen Hull, the editor-in-chief of Huffington Post UK, as the online title celebrates its fifth birthday.

My Media Week: Stephen Hull, Huffington Post

Monday

Weekday mornings are very structured for me. I wake at 6.15am as the radio clicks into life with the BBC Radio 4's Today programme. The last few weeks have been relentless in terms of news and it ain't letting up this week as the Chilcot report is due to be released. 

I check the readership reports from the previous day which are emailed to me every morning and login to the Chartbeat app on my phone so I can see which stories are doing well across all our editorial departments. We've had record days, weeks and months on The Huffington Post UK. Always a nice way to start the week.

This morning is jam packed. I've a job interview booked in at 9.30am, which I conduct with Poorna Bell, executive editor of HuffPost UK. Every Monday morning I address the entire editorial team of over 40 writers and video producers so we're all focused and energised from the get go. At 11am I sit on the AOL leadership meeting, which is led by AOL UK’s MD, Stuart Flint. 

At lunch, my mum and dad visit the office for the first time ever. My mum wants a picture in the editor's chair and the team decide I look like my dad. Over lunch they told me how exciting it was to see a room full of young people looking like they loved work. Bless ‘em. 

That evening I cycle home. My boss, Arianna Huffington, has taught me a lot of things, but one of the most important is that you make better business decisions when you're relaxed and recharged, so I find cycling a really therapeutic way to end the day.

Tuesday

Digiday are coming to the office to interview me about video and the progression of the HuffPost UK since we launched in 2011. After showing them around the offices I spend about 40mins with their reporter talking about some of the things we've achieved. Video is a huge area we're focusing on as a business so this is a topic I am passionate to talk about. We've recently hired a team of seven video producers led by Dawn Kelly. They are already creating some incredibly engaging and innovative work.

It is also a big day for HuffPost UK as we make two announcements. The first is that Jamie Oliver will be guest editing the site on July 15 to support a month-long project called Thriving Families. We also announce that a new HuffPost video series called #PowerShift with Game of Thrones actress Sophie Turner, will premiere on HuffPost on 13 July.

In the afternoon I take a short walk to the BBC Radio 2 studios where I'm being interviewed by Steve Wright for his afternoon show, which will air tomorrow. The last time I was on, Steve described me as 'the nicest editor he's ever met'. I try to live up to that reputation as I chat about the HuffPost and some of the projects we're working on. He reminds me there's eight million people listening in, so no pressure there! I am really thrilled to talk about HuffPost UK though as I think we have really come a long way since launching five years ago. 

There's an AOL company all hands later in the afternoon and HuffPost gets special recognition for all the records we've broken in recent weeks. 

Wednesday

It's the big day – the HuffPost 5th birthday. We organised a desk drop so everyone in the company received a plant. Arianna loved the idea of giving everyone in the office a plant to nurture and help it thrive. 

I have a monthly video strategy review with other leaders in the business including director for video Mark Melling and Stuart Flint.

In the news team the Chilcot Report is breaking. Paul Waugh, our political editor, has been locked in a room all morning with other journalists reading the report and now he's out and doing what he does best - bringing heavy political stories to millions of readers.

Later in the day, political reporter Owen Bennett, is in the press conference with Tony Blair and gets the chance to give the former PM a grilling. It has been a really full on few weeks for my political team with and really proud of what the team has created and achieved. 

I take Nicholas Sabloff, international executive editor of The Huffington Post, out to lunch. He's a New Yorker, but is pretty impressed with the standard of burger London can offer! He is over for the HuffPost Birthday as we are having celebrations later on today.

To celebrate the birthday, we are hosting a panel event for the office. I chair the panel with Mark Melling, Jack Riley who leads after audience development and Poorna Bell. The audience is HuffPosters and AOLers. 

It ends with cake and champagne. I take the team out for drinks in the evening, we watch the Wales game and head home feeling great about the day, although a few of the team are gutted that the UK are now out of the Euros.

Thursday

A little dusty today after the celebrations for the HuffPost UK 5th Birthday, which ended slightly later than planned. 

I have a meeting with our social media editor and audience development team to run through analytics and plans for next week. Social is a big focus for us on HuffPost, so this meeting is key for me.

In the afternoon I make my way to House Festival with colleagues from AOL who are a partner of the festival and are hosting agencies and clients at the event. 

Friday

The Australian editor in chief of the HuffPost is in town so we meet for lunch and I introduce her to the team. It's remarkable to be connected to so many great editors around the world.

I watch AOL’s Digital Prophet, David Shing or otherwise known as "Shingy" give a talk in the AOL office around the key trends from Cannes.

It’s been a busy week with lots of celebrations, so I end the day by cycling home and going for dinner near where I live with my girlfriend and then go to the cinema. 

Lowdown 

Age: 41
Favourite media: Any leading newspaper or its digital equivalent, Rouleur Magazine, Twitter, currently enjoying Snapchat and Sky Boxsets
My biggest inspiration: People who can do things I can't
Dream job: Lead rider for TeamSky in the Tour de France
Not a lot of people know this about me: I once rode a motorbike (very slowly) through the jungle of Vietnam from Saigon to Hanoi

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