Regional newspaper editor Ed Curran has been appointed to the Press Complaints Commission.

As editor of the Belfast Telegraph he is the first editor from Northern Ireland to serve on the Commission. He takes over from retiring member Malcolm Starbrook, who leaves after three years in the job.

Joining him is a new lay member Matti Alderson, the former long-serving Director General of the Advertising Standards Authority, currently a member of the Better Regulation Task Force.

Acting Commission chairman Professor Robert Pinker said: “I am delighted to welcome these two new members to the Commission.

“As someone with roots in Northern Ireland myself, it will be a great honour to have as distinguished an editor from Northern Ireland as Ed Curran – the first from the Province – to serve with us.

“It will also be a pleasure to work with Matti Alderson, who brings a strong and important consumer background to our work.”

There are sixteen members of the Commission.