Belfast Telegraph news editor Paul Connolly has been appointed deputy editor of the paper.
After a stint at the County Down Spectator, Connolly moved to the Sunday News and then the News Letter. He joined the Belfast Telegraph in 1996 as security correspondent and political correspondent before joining the newsdesk in 1998.
In the same year, he was nominated for Press Gazette's specialist correspondent of the year award and he also freelanced for Time magazine and the News of the World.
Telegraph editor Martin Lindsay said: "Paul Connolly is a first-rate and experienced journalist — just the person I need to help drive the Telegraph forward.
"We have quite a number of new initiatives in the pipeline, which will require considerable input from Paul, and I have no doubt that he will rise to the occasion.
"His primary aim will be to ensure that the Telegraph continues to be the leading media brand in Northern Ireland."
As a reporter at the Telegraph, Connolly covered everything from the Drumcree crisis, the signing of the Good Friday Agreement and the war in Bosnia. He was also present in Westminster Abbey for the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales.
He said: "Since becoming news editor in 1998, it has been a real privilege leading the Belfast Telegraph newsdesk into the post-Troubles age.
"However, newspaper companies are on the verge of a revolution in how they interact with their readers and wider audiences, and I am looking forward to the challenge of playing my part in shaping our response to this.
"The entire media landscape is being transformed — locally, nationally and internationally — and, in an ultra competitive world, we must ensure our products are creative and compelling. They must also reflect the very best that Northern Ireland has to offer."
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