Lucy Pearce has handed in her resignation as editor of The Argus in Brighton just weeks after being appointed as Mike Gilson’s sucessor.
Gilson himself had been editor of the Newsquest daily for just under two years and departed abruptly at the beginning of December shortly after the title moved to new city centre offices.
Pearce, 28, was heralded as the youngest ever editor of Argus and also its first female editor.
A Newsquest spokesperson said: “During the time of the recent changes at The Argus when Lucy Pearce was promoted to editor/head of content, she was also offered a senior role at another company.
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“After much consideration Lucy has decided to accept the other role and we wish her all the best for the future.”
Pearce joined the Argust in 2012 as assistant news editor before becoming news editor and then head of content.
She was previously a news editor at South West News Service and began her career as a journalist at the Dorset Echo in 2009.
She is understood to be moving into a job in corporate communications.
On taking up the Argus job she said: “I am hugely passionate about The Argus and the community it serves.
“When Mike joined he said that we would be at the centre of debate and at the core of everything. He also said our journalism would be vital and trustworthy.
“I believe that under his leadership our team of talented and hardworking journalists delivered on that promise.
“I will endeavour to continue in his footsteps while putting my own stamp on both our print and online products.”
When Gilson departed, Andy Parkes was made group managing editor for Sussex, in addition to his role of group managing editor for South London.
Print sales of the Argus fell 10.3 per cent to an average of 11,424 copies per day in the first half of 2016.
Daily website traffic grew 6.4 per cent to 54,365 unique browsers per day in the same period.
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