The Times has made a series of changes to its senior editorial team and scrapped the position of editor-in-chief of Times Online.
Anne Spackman, who was made the site’s editor-in-chief in 2006 after being moved from her role as The Times’ managing editor, now becomes comment editor.
Times Online communities editor Tom Whitwell has been appointed assistant editor, online, suggesting a streamlining of print and online editorial management structures.
Hector Arthur has been appointed head of digital development, online, and will report to the editors of The Times and The Sunday Times.
Arthur, who has worked for four national papers and as a digital consultant for various blue-chip companies, has worked as content development for The Times for seven years.
Times editor James Harding said: ‘Anne Spackman has done an extraordinary job at Times Online bringing our journalism to more people than at any time in our history.
‘She has expanded the nature of what we do as a news organisation, introducing a 24/7 newsroom, launching The Times Archive and developing our podcasts, video and reader comments online. Since the relaunch of Times Online in February 2007 we have increased traffic from 9 million to 20 million unique monthly users.
‘She has generated real change in her previous role and I am excited about her editorship of the opinion and comment pages of The Times. She will ensure that we continue to have the best team of columnists in the country, as well as bringing in new powerful voices, challenging thinking and hilarious writers to the pages. She will also develop one of the most exciting areas of modern journalism, reader comment.”
Spackman began her career on Thomson Regional Newspapers in the North East and was one of the founding journalists on The Independent. She joined The Times in 2002 and launched its Bricks and Mortar property supplement before being promoted to managing editor in 2004.
Harding said that digital journalist Whitwell ‘shares traditional Times values of tough, thorough reporting, forthright analysis and a sense of humour’and praised his understanding of ‘the dynamics of journalism online and the technology needed to build a modern news organisation”.
‘He has been one of the driving forces behind the phenomenal growth of Times journalism online and our audiences worldwide,’he said.
Whitwell joined The Times in 2006 and began his career in music journalism. He was appointed editor of Mixmag in 1999, before becoming deputy editor of The Face, and after stints consulting for IPC Media, Cedar and John Brown launched magazines funded by the NHS and Ministry of Defence.
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