‘It has been a great honour’: Editor of Irish News to stand down after 25 years and 7,000 editions

Noel Doran is the longest-serving daily newspaper editor in the Ireland and UK

The longest-serving daily newspaper editor in the Ireland and UK is preparing to step down.

Noel Doran has been at the helm of the Northern Irish daily newspaper the Irish News for 25 years. He will leave the role early next year having overseen the production of more than 7,000 editions of the paper.

Doran first joined the Irish News in 1993 and was appointed editor in 1999. He is set to continue a close association with the paper after leaving the editorship.

During his tenure the paper has won scores of awards in recognition of its “consistent top-level content”, while Doran was himself voted regional editor of the century in 2020 by readers of the Hold the Front Page website.

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Dominic Fitzpatrick, chief executive of IntoMedia Group, the paper’s parent company, said Doran has “left an indelible mark on the paper’s legacy”.

“It has been a privilege to work alongside him and I am certain he will look back on his extensive track record here with a sense of enormous pride,” he said.

Doran commented: “It has been a great honour to edit the Irish News for the last quarter of a century and help to chronicle the changes which have swept across our society since the Good Friday [Belfast] Agreement.

“I have been very fortunate to work with many outstanding journalists who have rightly earned the trust of our loyal readers, and I am particularly grateful for the unstinting support of our chief executive Dominic Fitzpatrick, and his late father, our chairman Jim Fitzpatrick, throughout my time with the paper.” – PA