Australian journalist Melissa Stevens has been appointed editor of The Sun Herald, it has been announced.
Currently living in Hong Kong in her role as digital editor for the South China Morning Post, Stevens will lead The Sun Herald in a new era for the 72-year-old masthead. She will begin in mid-February.
“I’m absolutely thrilled someone with Mel’s skills and experience is coming home from Hong Kong and joining our newsroom to lead The Sun Herald,” said Tory Maguire, executive editor. “She has such a broad work history across newspapers and digital publishing, from federal politics to local news to lifestyle, and will bring a fresh perspective to our Sunday masthead, as well as being an asset to our overall team.”
Stevens is a highly experienced journalist and editor. Working in Hong Kong since 2016 in various roles for the South China Morning Post, including features editor and most recently as digital editor, she began her career as a reporter at The West Australian. Moving to Sydney in 2004, Stevens held various senior editorial roles at News Corp including assistant editor of The Daily Telegraph, editor of mX, deputy managing editor of The Daily and Sunday Telegraphs, editor of The Manly Daily and deputy editor of news.com.au.
“The Sun Herald has a long history of telling stories that matter,” said Stevens. “I am thrilled to be joining the team to build on this heritage and ensure its unique editorial voice continues to inform, advocate and entertain.”
Cosima Marriner, the previous editor of The Sun Herald, stepped into the role of acting editor of The Sydney Morning Herald after Lisa Davies announced she would be stepping down from the role.
In a note to staff in October, Davies said “After almost five years in the best job in journalism, I have decided it’s time to move on. It has been an immense privilege to lead this newsroom, which is full of talented and passionate individuals wholly committed to delivering news our readers can trust – day in, day out.”