ITN chairman Mark Wood has been named as the man to replace chief executive and editor-in-chief Stewart Purvis when he retires at the end of the year.
The appointment comes a week after Purvis announced his impending departure from the broadcaster in order to focus on part-time positions outside television news, including non-executive directorships in the public sector.
A new chairman and details of the changeover will be announced “in due course”.
Wood was a career journalist at ITN shareholder Reuters. He began as a trainee in 1976 and went on to become chief correspondent for Reuters’ German operations and European editor for two years before his appointment as editor-in-chief from 1989 to 2000.
He was in charge of the company’s media business and acquired the group’s television interests, which included news agency Visnews and Reuters’ 20 per cent stake in ITN.
Wood became ITN non-executive chairman in 1998 and was appointed full-time chairman in 2002.
By Wale Azeez
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