All change at the Daily Express and Daily Star

The editors of the Daily Express and Daily Star have resigned, following Trinity Mirror’s acquisition of the titles. Dawn Neesom, the longest-serving female national newspaper editor, has left her role as editor of the Daily Star and Hugh Whittow has left his role as editor of the Daily Express.

The Press Gazette reports that Hugh Whittow is retiring and Dawn Neesom will pursue a freelance writing and broadcast career.

While Simon Fox, chief executive of Trinity Mirror, promised the papers would remain independent in terms of their political leanings – ‘The Daily Express is not going to become left-wing and the Mirror is not going to become right-wing’ – the departures have caused a string of changes across the publisher’s portfolio:

• Gary Jones, editor of the Sunday Mirror and Sunday People has been appointed editor-in-chief of the Daily Express
• Alison Phillips, former editor of the New Day newspaper, has been appointed editor of the Daily Mirror
• Jon Clark, associate editor of the Daily Mirror, has been appointed editor-in-chief of the Daily Star
• Caroline Waterston, deputy editor of the Sunday Mirror and Sunday People, has been appointed deputy editor-in-chief of the Express and Star titles

How these changes affect the editorial output of the papers remains to be seen, but Fox is still promising editorial independence and has said both acquisitions ‘have the freedom to operate accordingly’.

All editorial changes are verified and kept up-to-date in the Vuelio Media Database.