Political editor

The political editor of a newspaper or broadcaster is the senior political reporter who covers politics and related matters for the newspaper or station. They may have a large team of political correspondents working under them.

In publishing, because of their seniority, a political editor's byline is often added to stories which actually are the work of more junior colleagues to give the story more credibility and to indicate their seniority within the publication. The political editor usually carries out the major interviews with a country's prime minister and senior government figures and covers major events like party conferences.

United Kingdom

BBC News

BBC News introduced the role of political editor in 1970.[1] In addition to the nation-wide political editors, Brian Taylor has been political editor for BBC Scotland since 1985, while Nick Servini has been political editor for BBC Wales since 2009.

Political editor Tenure Notes
Hardiman Scott1970–1975Then Chief Assistant to the Director-General of the BBC
David Holmes1975–1980Retired
John Simpson1980–1981Now BBC World Affairs Editor
John Cole1981–1992Retired
Robin Oakley1992–2000Now at CNN
Andrew Marr2000–2005Now a BBC TV presenter
Nick Robinson2005–2015Political editor of ITV News 2002–2005, now a Today Programme presenter
Laura Kuenssberg2015–present

ITV News

ITN produces news programmes for ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5. The ITN brand was used on ITV until 1999, when it was rebranded as ITV News.

Political editor Tenure Notes
Julian Haviland1975–1981Subsequently political editor of The Times newspaper
Glyn Mathias1981–1986Subsequently political editor of BBC Wales and Electoral Commissioner
Michael Brunson1986–2000Retired
John Sergeant2000–2002Retired, previously Political Correspondent of BBC News 1981–1992 and Chief Political Correspondent 1992–2000
Nick Robinson2002–2005Political editor of BBC News 2005–2015, now a Today Programme presenter
Tom Bradby2005–2015Now an ITV News at Ten presenter
Robert Peston2015–present

Additionally, Bernard Ponsonby has been the political editor for STV News in Scotland since 2000, when he replaced Fiona Ross.

Channel 4 News

Political editors for Channel 4 News include:

5 News

ITN produced the 5 News programme for Channel 5 from the channel's launch in 1997 until 2005 and again from 2012, with Sky News providing news coverage in the intervening years. Andy Bell has been the programme's political editor since 1999.

Sky News

Sky News launched in 1989 with Adam Boulton as political editor. Faisal Islam took over the role in 2014 before moving to the BBC as Economics Editor in 2019. Islam was replaced as Sky's political editor by his former deputy, Beth Rigby.

The Guardian
Political editor Tenure Notes
Ian Aitken1975–1990
Michael White1990–2006
Patrick Wintour2006–2015
Anushka Asthana2016–2018Asthana was political editor in a job share arrangement with Heather Stewart beginning in early 2016
Heather Stewart2016–present

The Sun
Political editor Tenure Notes
Trevor Kavanagh1983–2005
George Pascoe-Watson2006–2009
Tom Newton Dunn2009–2020
Harry Cole2020–present

The Sunday Times
Political editor Tenure Notes
Isabel Oakeshott2010–2014
Tim Shipman2014–present

Rest of the world

New Zealand

United States

References
  1. Witts, Preston (21 March 2014). "Obituary: Former BBC political editor David Holmes". BBC News. Retrieved 25 January 2020.
  2. Singh, Anita (22 July 2015). "Laura Kuenssberg confirmed as new BBC Political Editor after Corporation's Twitter gaffe". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 25 January 2020.
  3. "Gary Gibbon". Channel 4 Television Corporation. 25 January 2020. Retrieved 25 January 2020.


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