STV has promoted Linda Grimes Douglas to the role of head of News and Current Affairs.
In this new role, Linda assumes responsibility for output and news broadcast operations across all sites in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Dundee and Inverness, as well as current affairs programme, Scotland Tonight.
Linda will lead a newly-restructured STV news room, as STV concludes an extraordinary year which has seen incredible commitment from the team and soaring audience figures of more than half a million to the STV News at Six each evening.
Linda joined STV as a journalist over 20 years ago and holds an extensive range of editorial and production experience, having been Output editor for the station and, more recently, deputy head of News.
Linda sits on STV’s Diversity and Inclusion Group and is committed to ensuring STV News represents Scotland’s many voices and cultures.
Coinciding with this appointment is a restructure of STV’s News Management team. This important move recognises the breadth of talent across news and current affairs, sees two internal promotions and outlines newly-defined roles across the group:
* Nikki McCourt remains in her key role as head of Newsgathering and Planning;
* David Milne will lead the growth of STV’s digital output as head of Digital and Cross Platform;
* Donald John MacDonald is editor of STV North and in addition to this current role, he will have specific responsibility to support talent development within STV News;
* Nichola Kane is editor of STV Central and based in Edinburgh. Nichola joins the News Management team and in addition to her current role, Nichola assumes responsibility for political coverage;
* Andrew Browne joins the News Management team in a newly-created role as editor for STV Central in Glasgow. He will also be the editorial lead for Sport across STV News;
* John Mason becomes head of Programme Output, a newly-created role where he is responsible for the development and delivery of the creative vision for news and current affairs output, bridging the technical and editorial teams; and
* Sam Dornan continues to hold responsibility for technical operations and delivery of STV News, alongside the technical support he provides to the wider STV channel.
Bobby Hain, managing director, Broadcast at STV, said: “Linda is a hugely-talented news professional who has had a significant impact on STV’s news operations during her time with the channel.
“I’m thrilled that she will now lead the team in continuing to deliver the strong and trusted output viewers expect from STV News, and drive a culture around our core values of respect, inclusivity, open communication and diversity within our newsrooms.
“We have taken this opportunity to restructure the News management team, recognising the breadth of talent we have at STV and ensuring that we have the strongest team possible to build on our leading position.”
Linda Grimes Douglas said: “2020 has been an exceptional year and I’m incredibly proud of the team, the resilience they have shown and the trusted, valued and relevant content they have delivered to hundreds of thousands of Scots each day. I’m even prouder to now be leading this stellar team and I look forward to building on the success we have achieved this year.”
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Contact: Kirstin Stevenson
Email: kirstin.stevenson@stv.tv
