A weekly newspaper editor has been appointed as the new head of news at a regional daily.

Rebecca Whittington has left her role as editor of the Pontefract and Castleford Express and Hemsworth and South Elmsall Express to become head of news at Yorkshire Post Newspapers, which are also owned by Johnston Press.

In the role, she will have day-to-day responsibility for the Yorkshire Evening Post, while Paul Jeeves has taken on a similar role as head of news for the Yorkshire Post, after being promoted from being its chief reporter for North Yorkshire.

Both Rebecca and Paul will report to Mark Casci, who is multimedia content manager for both titles.

Rebecca started out in journalism at the Telegraph and Argus in Bradford in 2004 then moved to work on newsdesk and editing roles for a number of other newspapers in Yorkshire, including the Wakefield Express, Halifax Courier and Brighouse Echo.

She was editor of the Pontefract title for three years, adding the Hemsworth and South Elmsall Express to her responsibilities in January last year, before beginning her new role as head of news in December.

Said Rebecca: “Many journalists hope to one day work for the Yorkshire Post and Yorkshire Evening Post – I certainly harboured such ambition when I was a trainee reporter – so when I had the opportunity to interview for a role in Leeds I jumped at the chance.

“I started out at the daily Telegraph & Argus in Bradford, but since then the majority of my career has been in management at weekly titles.

“Moving back into the daily pace has been an exciting change, made all the better by some of the experienced, creative and talented people I am working alongside.

“Yorkshire Post Newspapers are the go-to titles, both online and in print, for all the latest breaking news, debate and in-depth coverage of issues that matter in Leeds and Yorkshire, and I am very pleased and proud to be a part of that.”

The changes at the Leeds-based dailies come after a host of departures among senior editorial staff last year which triggered a wide-ranging restructure of the papers’ newsdesks.

Departures at the daily titles last year included the news editor of the YEP, Paul Whitehouse, and his YP counterpart Paul Booth, both of whom are understood to have taken voluntary redundancy from Johnston Press.