Rural body gets new media adviser

The Country Land and Business Association (CLA) has hired the former media manager for the Museums Libraries and Archives Council to head up its PR in the Midlands.

Tim Barnes-Clay has joined the rural economy body as Press and Communications Adviser to its East and West Midlands teams.

He was a consultant at the government agency for museums, libraries and archives (MLA), where he managed media relations alongside the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).

The CLA is the membership society for owners of land, property and

businesses in rural England and Wales.

Barnes-Clay will work with former CNN journalist, Oliver Wilson, who joins the CLA as Communications Director in March. Their brief is to protect the interests of the rural economy in England and Wales.

Before working in government communications Barnes-Clay was a producer at ITV in Birmingham and worked as a journalist in regional radio. He was also a reporter and presenter for Live TV - the Mirror Group's cult cable channel, formerly run by ex-Sun editor Kelvin MacKenzie.