Is it an indication that Johnston Press is committing itself to charging for online content? Yesterday, the publisher of more than 300 newspapers, including the Scotsman and the Yorkshire Evening Post, announced that Geoff Iddison will become a non-executive director in the New Year.

Iddison’s background reads like a Who’s Who of successful commercial online operations: Former chief executive of online games developer and publisher Jagex, time spent at eBay, then a move to European chief executive of online payment platform, PayPal.

His current role is global head of e-commerce and m-commerce for Mastercard.