The editor of the world's oldest surviving English language newspaper, the News Letter, resigned yesterday after just two years in the post.
Austin Hunter, a former BBC reporter and head of communications at the PSNI, made the surprise announcement citing the need for an easier life. "It is with sadness that I leave the company but feel the time is now right to take life easier," he said. "When I am asked in my retirement what I did during my career I will always proudly say I was editor of the News Letter."
The unionist-supporting Belfast newspaper which is now a tabloid, first went on sale in 1737 and was published three times per week. It went daily in 1855 and recently posted an eight-year high in circulation following a succession of data reflecting plummeting sales. However the paper is a shadow of what it once was. Just under 30,000 copies are sold on average but circulation peaks at some 40,000 copies when the Farming Life supplement is included on Wednesdays.
It is now part of the Johnston Press group having had a succession of owners in recent years. The resignation of Pat McArt as editor of the Derry Journal was also announced by the group. He had held the post at the twice-weekly local paper in Derry for 25 years.