John Webster retires from News Limited
John Webster national director of The Australian newspaper has announced his retirement.
The announcement:
News Limited today announced that John Webster, national director, The Australian is to retire from the company.
Mr Webster, who celebrated his 65th birthday earlier this month, said, “I have had wonderful opportunities at News, with what feels like at least six different careers over 35 years.
“For many years I enjoyed the cut and thrust of the deadline intensity of daily journalism, producing big stories against the clock.
“But I also had the chance to: drive progress in implementing new production systems; innovate ways to cover the Sydney Olympics across the whole country; reach readers with new ways of telling stories in community newspapers; and ultimately share the exciting growth of digital subscribers to The Australian.
“I have seen our craft evolve from the exciting noise and heat of the hot-metal era, through the dramatic changes to computer production, to the power of the Internet and now the eye-opening wonders of the new digital age. What a journey, and what an experience.
“My path from down-table sub on the Melbourne Herald to national director of The Australian has given me the pleasure of working with scores of outstanding people in the News family, and providing opportunities for many has been a privilege.
“I will miss my exceptional colleagues, but am looking forward to exciting experiences in the next stage of my life,” Mr Webster said.
Jerry Harris, executive group director – Commercial and Operations said, “John has had a long and distinguished career at News Limited.
“He has made a significant contribution to News Limited both editorially and commercially. He has worked across all key metropolitan mastheads, our community newspapers and most recently The Australian.
“John did an exemplary job running the community newspapers in NSW. He listened to customers, rejuvenated the papers, built audiences and generated good revenue for the company that we have reinvested in the business.
“John has made a big contribution to our company. On behalf of everyone at News, I thank him for it. We will miss John’s calm and clear focus, his deep knowledge of the business and journalism and his insights into what consumers want.
“We wish John all the very best for the future,” said Mr Harris.
Over his career John was: chief sub-editor of the Melbourne Herald, sports editor of the Melbourne Sun News Pictorial, night editor of The Sun, deputy editor of the Herald Sun, Herald and Weekly Times (HWT) editorial operations manager, group editorial technology manager, a key member of News Limited Olympic planning team, general manager of HWT, general manager of Cumberland Newspapers (now NewsLocal) and national director of The Australian.
Key achievements include:
· Leading the team that implemented the Cybergraphic production system at the HWT
· Leading development of technologies for the Sydney Olympics, to enable News Limited to distribute up to seven editions of a 36-page section to all its metropolitan and regional papers every day of the Games
· Leading successful integration of the Courier Newspaper group with Cumberland post News Limited acquisition in 2007
· Leading an intensely customer-focussed renewal of the NSW community papers and their re-branding to NewsLocal.
· Building on strong foundations to shape the next stage of digital subscriber growth for The Australian.
News Limited will announce John’s successor in due course.
Source: News Limited press release
