Huffpost UK has named Cate Sevilla as its new editor-in-chief.
The appointment comes seven months after Jess Brammar quit as UK editor-in-chief ahead of the closure of the newsdesk.
Huffpost UK now focuses on lifestyle, entertainment and politics as well as a new shopping team.
Sevilla was previously editor-in-chief at women’s lifestyle website The Pool, which shut down suddenly in 2019 when it became insolvent and was forced into administration. She has since written a book called How To Work Without Losing Your Mind about how to shift your relationship with your career.
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She has also worked as head of editorial for the Google Cultural Institute, and managing editor and homepage editor at Buzzfeed UK. Buzzfeed now owns Huffpost.
Sevilla, who will start in the new year, said: “As we navigate the world in 2022, I want Huffpost UK to serve as a beacon of hope and delight for our varied audience in addition to continuing to be the source of accessible and accurate information that they know and trust, with our political and social news coverage.
“I have a deep respect for the brand and the legacy the editors and team before me have built. Lifestyle and entertainment content has been a huge part of my career, and as a new parent, I’m very much looking forward to defining what our coverage looks like across these areas in the future.”
Earlier this year at least a dozen journalists left Huffpost UK amid a cull of its news team. Brammar, who now edits the BBC’s news channels, said she had been offered a reduced editor role but decided not to take it as “news is at the heart of what Huffpost was for me”.
However the website said it was “here to stay” with a smaller team that would continue covering politics, lifestyle and entertainment and publishing “powerful journalism”. It now has around 20 journalists.
Huffpost editor-in-chief Danielle Belton described Sevilla as an “inspiring newsroom leader and brilliant editor”.
“With experience at some of the world’s biggest digital brands, Cate intrinsically understands the online news landscape and the opportunity that exists for Huffpost UK to thrive within it. We’re going into 2022 from a position of real strength.”
Kevin Schofield has just been appointed as political editor to replace Paul Waugh, who joined the i as chief political commentator. Schofield was enticed back into journalism after leaving his role as Politics Home editor in 2020 to join the Betting and Gaming Council as director of communications and digital. He will also start in the new year.
Schofield will join deputy political editor Sophia Sleigh, formerly of the Standard, who replaced Arj Singh after he also moved to the i. Political correspondent Alexandra Rogers and politics news editor Ned Simons complete the team.
James Martin, senior director of UK content & HuffPost global, spoke last month of the “huge ambition” for the politics team, which he said has always been “defined by its scoops, unrivalled insights into the inner workings of Westminster and making politics accessible to everyone”.
Picture: Huffpost UK
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