Mike Gilson has resigned after two-and-a-half years as editor of The Scotsman – ahead of what is expected to be a major restructure of Johnston Press‘s Edinburgh operation.
Gilson joined The Scotsman in September 2006 from The News, in Portsmouth, which he edited for six years.
Press Gazette understands that plans are underway to more closely integrate The Scotsman with sister titles the Edinburgh Evening News and Scotland on Sunday.
The merger plans are understood to involve the sub-editing operations and picture desks – and are not expected to lead to widespread redundancies.
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Gilson is currently on holiday and will not be returning to the office.
According to one source close to the paper, he had been in disagreement about aspects of the restructuring.
The Scotsman was selling 60,097 copies a day in September 2006. Its latest ABC, for January, was 50,558.
News of Gilson’s departure comes just weeks after the announcement that Scotland on Sunday editor Les Snowdon is leaving to join the Daily Mail as sports editor.
No-one from Scotsman Publications was available for comment this morning. But is expected that Edinburgh Evening News editor John McLellan will take over the editorship of The Scotsman.
Further restructuring is expected north of the border at the Trinity Mirror-owned Daily Record and Sunday Mail – where an announcement is expected next week about a possible move to a merged seven-day operation between the two titles.
In further Scottish cutbacks, News International is making a handful of reporters redundant at the Scottish edition of the Sunday Times.
The latest exits are part of a round of redundancies across News International. Those leaving include Scottish business editor John Penman and reporter Kathleen Nutt.
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