Fairfax Media has announced the appointment of James Chessell as group executive editor – Australian Metro Publishing, effective immediately.
Chessell will lead editorial teams at Fairfax’s capital city mastheads The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, The Canberra Times, Brisbane Times, WAtoday and Life Media.
Managing director of Australian Metro Publishing Chris Janz said: “James is a journalist and editor of remarkable talent. He’s one of Australia’s best business journalists with extensive international experience and an insider’s knowledge of the local and global political landscape.
“James brings a new energy to our newsroom leadership. He will be unrelenting in pursuing our strategic mission to deliver agenda-setting journalism that sets us apart and is valued by our readers. I’m confident this will allow us to continue growing our subscriber and engaged reader base, while always safeguarding the editorial independence of our titles.”
Prior to this appointment, Chessell was national editor of The SMH and The Age with responsibility for federal politics, business and world coverage.
Chessell began his career as a cadet at The Age before moving to The Sydney Morning Herald. At The Australian and The Australian Financial Review his roles have included financial services editor, companies editor, business editor and Europe correspondent.
Chessell has won the Citi Journalism Award for Excellence and was part of the Financial Review team that won a Walkley Award for its coverage of corporate governance failures at retailer David Jones.
A process has commenced to recruit for the vacated national editor role.