Johnston Press has today announced the appointment of a new editor of its flagship daily The Scotsman.
Ian Stewart, 51, moves to the role from the editorship of sister title Scotland on Sunday.
A former editor of the Edinburgh Evening News, Ian succeeds John McLellan who was axed as Scotsman boss in a shake-up earlier this year.
Ian first joined The Scotsman 1991 as night news editor and has spent the majority of his career with the three Scotsman Publications titles, except for a period with the Scottish Daily Mail based in Glasgow.
Said Ian: “It is a great honour to be appointed editor of Scotland’s national newspaper, one of the country’s leading institutions with a long and proud history stretching back almost 200 years.
“These are momentous times for Scotland and The Scotsman will continue to play a central part in the debate as Scotland decides its future.
“These are also exciting times for news organisations as the digital world gives us great opportunities to deliver more to readers and advertisers and to have greater engagement across the many platforms that technology affords us.
“I look forward to continuing and developing that growth and maintaining The Scotsman as Scotland’s leading quality newspaper.”
A former pupil of Edinburgh’s Royal High School, Ian is married with two children and lives in Corstorphine.
Andrew Richardson, managing director of Johnston Press Scotland, said: “I am delighted that Ian has taken on the role of editor of The Scotsman and am confident that under his leadership the title will thrive.”
Ian now becomes The Scotsman’s 11th editor in the past 17 years.
Previous holders of the post in that period were: Andrew Jaspan (1994-1995), James Seaton (1995-1997), Martin Clarke (1997-1998), Alan Ruddock (1998-2000), Tim Luckhurst (2000), Rebecca Hardy (2000-2001), Iain Martin (2001-2004), John McGurk (2004-2006), Mike Gilson (2006-2009) and John McLellan (2009-2012).
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Eleven editors in 17 years. That’s approaching football club managerial casualty proportions. What’s become of them all?
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Editing The Scotsman has seemed akin to skippering the Titanic in recent years. Hopefully, Mr Stewart will keep a keen eye out for those big white thingies in the shipping lane during his editorship.
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Let me have a stab at that Curious but please feel free to fill in the gaps!
Andrew Jaspan (1994-1995) Editor-in-chief of The Age, Melbourne
James Seaton (1995-1997) Unknown
Martin Clarke (1997-1998) Editor of Mail Online
Alan Ruddock (1998-2000) Died in 2010
Tim Luckhurst (2000) Head of Journalism at the University of Kent
Rebecca Hardy (2000-2001) Celebrity interviewer
Iain Martin (2001-2004) Political writer
John McGurk (2004-2006) Unknown
Mike Gilson (2006-2009) Editor of the Belfast Telegraph
John McLellan (2009-2012) Awaiting next move
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A poisoned chalice indeed – rather like the football manager who gets the chairman’s vote of confidence.
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The Scotsman is hardly Scotland’s national newspaper. It doesn’t even feature in the top ten circulation figures, and is seen as a shadow of its former self. It comes across as a parochial Edinburgh tabloid with pretensions of grandeur.
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Pfft, ‘Scotland’s national newspaper’ my butt. It isn’t even the biggest selling regional in Scotland. Not sure about the Herald, but The Courier and the Press and Journal both wipe the floor with its sales figures.
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