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 that 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 Broadcast journalism BBC News BBC News introduced the role of political editor in 1970. In addition to the nationwide political editors, Glenn Campbell has been political editor for BBC Scotland since 2021, Felicity Evans has been political editor for BBC Cymru Wales since 2018 and Nicholas Watt has been political editor for Newsnight since 2016.
Political editorTenureNotes Hardiman Scott 1970–1975 Then Chief Assistant to the Director-General of the BBC David Holmes 1975–1980 John Simpson 1980–1981 BBC World Affairs Editor from 1988 to present John Cole 1981–1992 Retired from political journalism Robin Oakley 1992–2000 European political editor of CNN 2000–2008 Andrew Marr 2000–2005 Presented The Andrew Marr Show from 2005 to 2021, now at LBC Nick Robinson 2005–2015 Political editor of ITV News 2002–2005, now a Today programme presenter Laura Kuenssberg 2015–2022 Presenting Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg since 2022 Chris Mason 2022–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 editorTenureNotes Julian Haviland 1975–1981 Subsequently political editor of The Times newspaper Glyn Mathias 1981–1986 Subsequently political editor of BBC Wales and Electoral Commissioner Michael Brunson 1986–2000 Retired John Sergeant 2000–2002 Retired, previously Political Correspondent of BBC News 1981–1992 and Chief Political Correspondent 1992–2000 Nick Robinson 2002–2005 Political editor of BBC News 2005–2015, now a Today programme presenter Tom Bradby 2005–2015 Now an ITV News at Ten presenter Robert Peston 2015–present
Additionally, Colin Mackay has been the political editor for STV News in Scotland since 2019, when he replaced Bernard Ponsonby.
Channel 4 News Political editors for Channel 4 News include: Elinor Goodman, 1988–2005 Gary Gibbon, 2005–present (also political correspondent 1994–2005)
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. Political editorTenureNotesAdam Boulton 1989–2014Faisal Islam 2014–2019 Beth Rigby 2019–present UTV Northern Ireland UTV Live
Political EditorTenureNotesKen Reid 1993–2021Tracey Magee 2021–present BBC Northern Ireland BBC Newsline Political EditorTenureNotesMark Devenport 2005–2020Enda McClafferty 2020–present
Print journalism The Guardian Political editorTenureNotes Ian Aitken 1975–1990 Michael White 1990–2006 Patrick Wintour 2006–2015 Heather Stewart 2016–2022 Anushka Asthana 2016–2018 Asthana was political editor in a job-share arrangement with Heather Stewart beginning in early 2016 Pippa Crerar 2022–present
The Sun Political editorTenureNotes Trevor Kavanagh 1983–2005 George Pascoe-Watson 2006–2009 Tom Newton Dunn 2009–2020 Harry Cole 2020–present
The Sunday Times Political editorTenureNotes Isabel Oakeshott 2010–2014 Tim Shipman 2014–2021 Caroline Wheeler 2021–2026
Rest of the world
Australia ABC News Political editorTenureNotes Chris Uhlmann 2015–2017 Position created; Political Editor for Nine News 2017–2022 Andrew Probyn 2017–present Previously 7.30 Political Editor
7NEWS Political editorTenureNotes Mark Riley 2004–present
Nine News Political editorTenureNotes Laurie Oakes 1984–2017 Chris Uhlmann 2017–2022 Charles Croucher 2022–present
The Australian Political editorTenureNotes Dennis Shanahan 1989–2021 Simon Benson 2021–present
New Zealand Patrick Gower (Newshub) - 2012–2018
United States Brooke Brower (CNN) - 2017–present Patrick Healy (The New York Times) - 2018–present Chris Stirewalt (Fox News) - 2010–present Peter Wallsten (Washington Post) - 2013–present
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