The West Briton, Northcliffe’s Trurobased flagship weekly, has a new editor, following the early retirement of John Pearn, who has been with the group for almost 15 years.
His successor is Richard Vanhinsbergh, who has been editor at sister weekly The Cornishman for 18 years.
During Pearn’s seven years at the helm of The West Briton, the paper picked up several awards, including the Newspaper Society’s Weekly Newspaper of the Year in 2001.
Pearn was previously editor of sister paper the Cornish Guardian in Bodmin, where he began his career in 1967.
Pearn said: “I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my time at the Briton, working with a marvellous group of colleagues, but I felt that the time had come for me to do something different. I’ll be working for the company on other projects until next June, then I’ll decide what direction to take.”
Vanhinsbergh said that his time on The Cornishman had been a hugely enjoyable privilege.
“I am looking forward to the challenge of The West Briton and building on the great success already achieved by John and his team at a time which sees the company moving to magnificent new offices on the riverside at Truro.”
The current deputy editor at The West Briton, Jeremy Ridge, takes over the top job at The Cornishman. “In Jeremy, The Cornishman will have an extremely able and lively new editor.
He trained on the paper as a young journalist and I am certain he will keep it going onward and upward,” said Vanhinsbergh.
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