Social Spider Community News comprises a diverse and talented team of local journalists and other staff involved in producing our five local news publications.
Below is a full list of our staff team and an introduction to their roles.
David Floyd
Publisher – Social Spider Community News, Co-director – Social Spider CIC
David has been co-director of Social Spider CIC since it was founded in 2003 and was the first editor of Waltham Forest Echo when it launched in 2014. He continues as publisher for all Social Spider Community News titles and is currently editor of Barnet Post.
David has been working in engaged journalism for over two decades having become editor of the award-winning youth magazine, Exposure, in 1999. David was also publisher of Social Spider’s own mental health magazine One in Four between 2007 and 2014. Drawing on this experience, David has written about social enterprise and social innovation for publications including The Guardian.
Mark Brown
Co-director – Social Spider CIC
Mark Brown has been development director of Social Spider CIC since 2006. He conceived and edited Social Spider’s national mental health magazine One in Four, written by people with mental health difficulties for people with mental health difficulties between 2007-2014 when the publication closed. In 2018 Mark was founding writer in residence with The Centre for Mental Health. When not working on development of Social Spider’s titles he provides strategic support to mental health charities and projects and regularly writes and speaks on mental health and digital health technology.
James Cracknell
Editor-in-chief – Social Spider Community News, Editor – Enfield Dispatch
James joined Social Spider in 2015, initially as part-time editor of Waltham Forest Echo. He became a full-time member of staff as editor-in-chief in 2018 upon the launch of Enfield Dispatch, a publication he continues to edit. James is an experienced journalist and previously worked as a reporter for newspapers including South London Press and Uxbridge Gazette. As editor-in-chief, James ensures all Social Spider publications maintain high editorial standards and helps to forge new journalism partnerships with outside organisations.
Klaudia Kiss
Head of Advertising and Membership – Social Spider Community News
Klaudia joined Social Spider in June 2019 to co-ordinate advertising strategy across all publications. Her role is critical to ensuring the financial sustainability of our newspapers. She has over ten years of experience in private sector sales and marketing and has overseen a doubling of trading income since joining the organisation.
Jonathan Duncan
Head of Design – Social Spider Community News
Jonathan joined Social Spider in 2015, initially as designer of Waltham Forest Echo. He has since led on the design of all five of our news publications and continues to design each edition of every publication, as well as working on other Social Spider projects.
Marco Marcelline
Editor – Waltham Forest Echo
Marco became the editor of Waltham Forest Echo in July 2023 after previously writing for Vice, PCMag and Reader’s Digest. He has a master’s degree in investigative journalism from City University London and grew up in Newham, often spending time in Leytonstone in his youth.
Sebastian Mann
BBC Local Democracy Reporter
Sebastian covers the London boroughs of Waltham Forest, Redbridge and Havering as part of the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS). He started working for Social Spider in March 2024. He previously worked at the Lincolnshire Echo in a community reporter role from 2021 to 2024.
Nick Clark
BBC Local Democracy Reporter
Nick covers the London boroughs of Barking and Dagenham, Newham and Tower Hamlets as part of the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS). He started working for Social Spider in July 2025. At the BBC LDRS Awards in November 2025 Nick won the ‘FOI of The Year Award’ for his reporting in a previous role in Slough.
Joe Ives
BBC Local Democracy Reporter
Joe covers the London boroughs of Barnet, Enfield and Haringey as part of the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS). He started working for Social Spider in February 2026. During a previous reporting role in Devon, in 2021 Joe was the inaugural winner of the BBC’s George Makin Award, open to journalists in the first year of an LDRS job.
Penny Dampier
EC1 Echo manager
Penny joined Social Spider in 2018 and has held a number of different responsibilities in that time. She previously managed our various membership schemes, plus much of our distribution and social media. She is now the manager for EC1 Echo, helping to grow the publication and build new community partnerships in Clerkenwell.