Minder promoted

Stewart MacLean has been anointed Editor of Newsnight, having been in loco parentis since the departure of Esme Wren for rival Channel 4 News at the end of 2021. Over his tenure so far, the show has lost the services of Emily Maitlis and Emma Barnett. 

He was hungry for exposure all through studying English Language and Literature at Manchester University, sharing lifestyle details with Manchester Evening News: "Student Stewart Maclean pays £58-a-week rent for a room in a shared house in Withington". In 2004, Stewart was runner-up for both Reporter of the Year and Journalist of the Year at the Guardian Awards for his work at Student Direct.  He got a Telegraph feature out of a gap year in Africa. 

He joined the Daily Mirror as a graduate trainee; in 2006, he produced an exclusive: The Pyjamas That Could Stop MRSA. In 2007, he was one of seven nominees for  the British Press Awards Young Journalist of the Year. 

In 2008, he moved to Johannesburg as a freelance, contributing to most UK nationals, and even a piece about Zulu medicine for the BBC's From Our Own Correspondent. He returned to the UK in 2012 to join Newsnight as a producer. A year later, he moved to ITN as a UK News Editor, and then Head of Specialists, before his current run at Newsnight which started in 2017. 

Credit for his appointment is taken by soon-to-depart Jamie Angus, Senior News Controller, BBC News:  “As ever, when there’s big news, audiences show they need what Newsnight can offer, and its contribution to our original journalism is rolling out more widely across our broadcast and digital output. Stewart will do a great job leading the team, when its job is as important as it’s ever been.”