By Jean Morgan
Martin Lindsay, 12 years editor of Belfast’s Sunday Life, is to edit
Independent News & Media’s sister daily paper, The Belfast
Telegraph. He was chosen from a strong list of candidates, both
internal and external.
Those on the shortlist, including Lindsay, were interviewed on the
same day by a panel of three, comprising Ivan Fallon, chief executive
of Independent News & Media (UK); Derek Carvell, managing director
of the Telegraph; and former Telegraph editor Edmund Curran, who has
been appointed editor-in-chief of INM’s newspaper titles in Northern
Ireland.
Lindsay was told the same evening that he had got the
job, and it was announced publicly the next day. He is a popular choice
– his screen rapidly filled with messages of congratulation from people
inside and outside the paper after his promotion was made public.
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Lindsay,
59, will return to a paper where he was deputy editor from 1991 until
1993, and where he held several other senior posts. The date for the
switchover has yet to be decided.
He sees his new post as a big
and exciting challenge now that the Telegraph has a compact early-bird
edition, as well as the highly successful broadsheet.
“The Telegraph is selling very well and has a strong base of home-delivered copies, which has to be protected. And then we have to go for growth,” Lindsay said.
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His
experience should stand him in good stead. During his time with Sunday
Life, which he joined in 1993, Lindsay grew circulation and readership
to theirhighest levels and was responsible for a major expansion of the
paper, which is now chasing the News of the World to be the top-selling
title in Northern Ireland.
Sunday Life has won many awards for
its content and design under Lindsay’s guidance. He was UK regional
editor of the year in 1994.
Lindsay was also general manager of
Sunday Life. He began his career in 1962 with Morton Newspapers. After
a short spell with the East Antrim Times, he joined the Telegraph where
he held the posts of chief reporter, deputy news editor and assistant
to the editor, before becoming deputy editor.
Fallon said:
“Martin Lindsay is one of the most respected and experienced
journalists in the British Isles today. He has been a brilliant editor
of Sunday Life, where he has shed new light on many aspects of Northern
Ireland’s society.”
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