THE Belgian media group which last year bought the Belfast Telegraph and Sunday Life among other Irish titles has confirmed a number of changes to its senior editorial management team in Northern Ireland.

It will include seeking a new editor-in-chief at the Belfast Telegraph to replace Gail Walker, who has occupied the editor's chair for the last five years.

When her successor is in place, she will take up a newly-created role as editor-at-large, where she will bring an insight into a range of subjects relevant to life in a post-Brexit Northern Ireland.

The changes are the first since Mediahuis, a private European group founded in 2013, paid £125 million last May to buy the Tele's parent group Independent News & Media (INM), which also owns the Irish Independent, Sunday Independent, the Herald and the Sunday World.

Publisher Peter Vandermeersch said: “Gail and her team can be proud of the quality of the journalism which kept Northern Ireland informed and engaged during the turbulence of Brexit and the absence of a power-sharing government, which was recognised in being awarded UK Regional Newspaper of the Year in 2019.”

Gail said: “It's been a privilege to have served as editor of the Belfast Telegraph, where I have been fortunate to work with a great team of colleagues and friends who every day produce some of the finest journalism in Northern Ireland.

“My new role as editor-at-large, coming at a time when the newspaper approaches its 150th birthday, offers a terrific opportunity to spend more time on the subjects that really matter in Northern Ireland.”