A regional daily editor is to move to a new role after ten and a half years in the hot seat.

Brian Aitken, editor of The Journal, Newcastle since 2003, is to take on a newly-created role of business director for Trinity Mirror North East.

In his new role, Brian, pictured left, will work across the publisher’s Newcastle and Teesside-based titles and will report directly to regional managing director Russell Borthwick.

Brian, who is also a previous editor of the Lincolnshire Echo, will continue as editor of The Journal until a successor is appointed and will continue to have oversight of newspaper campaigns.

Said Brian: “It has been an absolute pleasure to have edited The Journal for the past ten years, however I am really looking forward to the exciting challenges posed by my new role.

“The Journal is a proud, campaigning champion of the North East and for the North East – part of my remit is to make sure that this continues to happen.

“I have been privileged to work with a great many talented journalists in my time here and the present team is as strong a team as we have assembled.

“I’m pleased that I will continue to work alongside such a great group of people. And pleased that this new role give me a wider regional brief across the portfolio of our titles.”

Trinity said Brian will be responsible for driving new enterprise revenue streams, establishing mutually-beneficial partnerships and identifying campaigns that fit with the company’s news brands.

He will also investigate commercial publishing opportunities, across all platforms.

Said Russell:  “This new role is key to us achieving our ambitions in the North East, so I’m delighted to have someone of Brian’s experience and calibre at the helm.”

Brian took over from Ged Henderson as Journal editor having previously been editorial development manager for Trinity Mirror.