View all newsletters
Sign up for our free email newsletters

Fighting for quality news media in the digital age.

  1. Archive content
June 25, 2007

First editor search is on as Jane Johnson joins NoW

By Press Gazette

Emap has said it remains committed to First magazine, following news of the departure of editor Jane Johnson to become deputy editor of the News of the World.

First was launched in May 2006 with former Heat deputy Julian Linley at the helm. When he returned to the celebrity gossip weekly to work on its online proposition, Heatworld.com, Johnson was brought in. She took up an editorial director role across Closer and First with day-to-day editorial responsibility on the latter. Lisa Burrow is currently acting editor of Closer.

The magazine – originally billed as a newsy title for 30-something mothers – has reverted to a more traditional real life and celebrity agenda. A similarly targeted weekly launched by Bauer in August last year, In The Know, closed in May.

Emap’s ‘broader’celebrity weekly hit its revised circulation target of 100,000 in the last set of ABC figures.

Johnson’s move to the News of the World is a return to her tabloid roots. She was women’s editor at the Daily Mirror in the late Nineties and returned to an executive editor role at the Sunday Mirror before moving to Emap.

She leaves after five years, during which she launched one of Emap’s most successful titles, the real life/ celebrity hybrid, Closer. She is credited with bringing tabloid news sense to the weekly magazines market, whose reader the NoW may be keen to woo.

Johnson will take on the role of deputy editor and editorial director at the News of the World. Neil Wallis, the current NoW deputy editor will become executive

Content from our partners
MHP Group's 30 To Watch awards for young journalists open for entries
How PA Media is helping newspapers make the digital transition
Publishing on the open web is broken, how generative AI could help fix it

editor.

Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog

Select and enter your email address Weekly insight into the big strategic issues affecting the future of the news industry. Essential reading for media leaders every Thursday. Your morning brew of news about the world of news from Press Gazette and elsewhere in the media. Sent at around 10am UK time. Our weekly does of strategic insight about the future of news media aimed at US readers. A fortnightly update from the front-line of news and advertising. Aimed at marketers and those involved in the advertising industry.
  • Business owner/co-owner
  • CEO
  • COO
  • CFO
  • CTO
  • Chairperson
  • Non-Exec Director
  • Other C-Suite
  • Managing Director
  • President/Partner
  • Senior Executive/SVP or Corporate VP or equivalent
  • Director or equivalent
  • Group or Senior Manager
  • Head of Department/Function
  • Manager
  • Non-manager
  • Retired
  • Other
Visit our privacy Policy for more information about our services, how New Statesman Media Group may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications.
Thank you

Thanks for subscribing.

Websites in our network