MEDIA RELEASE
Senior Appointments
April 8, 2009
The chairman and chief executive of News Limited, John Hartigan today announced three new senior appointments.
Shane Rodgers, currently general manager of Queensland Newspapers has been appointed to a new senior management role as group project director, reporting to chief operating officer Peter Macourt;
Dennis Watt, currently general manager of Quest Community Newspapers in Queensland replaces Mr Rodgers as general manager of Queensland Newspapers and will report to QN managing director Jerry Harris
Mark Elgood, currently managing director of News Limited Community Newspapers replaces Mr Watt as general manager of Quest and will report to Peter Macourt.
As a result of Mr Elgood’s new role, John Webster, managing director, Cumberland Newspapers; Sylvia Bradshaw, managing director, Leader Newspapers and John Turner, managing director, Messenger Newspapers, will report to Peter Macourt.
Hartigan said the appointments represented a further “significant investment in journalism with the aim of improving the quality and reach of our mastheads”.
“Shane, Dennis and Mark have achieved some great results in long careers with News and have a terrific combination of experience spanning editorial, advertising and general management roles,” Hartigan said.
Shane Rodgers
In his new role, Rodgers will be responsible for a number of new national projects involving the company’s publishing operations.
“Newspapers are vibrant and resilient and have enormous capacity to adapt in the digital age as a contemporary and compelling mass market medium,” Rodgers said.
Rodgers began his career as a general news reporter before becoming a national economics and industrial relations correspondent in the 1980s. Later, he was chief-of-staff of News Limited’s Canberra press gallery.
…/2
NEWS LIMITED •ABN 47 007 871 178 •2 HOLT STREET • SURRY HILLS • 2010 • NSW • AUSTRALIA 2
At The Courier-Mail, Rodgers held a variety of senior editorial roles including deputy editor, news editor, night editor, associate editor and chief-of-staff. He became editor-in-chief of Quest Community Newspapers in 2003 and deputy general manager of Quest in 2006. He was appointed general manager of Queensland Newspapers in 2008.
“Shane gets our business, he understands journalism and he has outstanding project management skills,” said John Hartigan.
Dennis Watt
Watt began his career in 1987 as a reporter with the Brisbane Telegraph and later became chief-of-staff on the Brisbane Sun.
He was appointed chief-of-staff and assistant editor of The Courier-Mail in 1992, roles he held until 2000 when he was appointed general manager of Quest Community Newspapers, the position he has held since.
Under Watt’s leadership, Quest has grown to a stable of 20 community mastheads with a weekly readership of more than 1 million, including the recent expansions west into Ipswich and north to the Sunshine Coast.
“The great thing about community newspapers is working with people who live and breathe local journalism, support local advertisers and want to make a difference to the communities they serve,” Watt said.
“At heart I am a journalist and I believe passionately that great journalism enhances our quality of life. In Queensland, News has both obligations and opportunities to ensure that great journalism thrives in a time of unprecedented challenges, both in our industry and the wider economy,” said Watt.
John Hartigan said: “Dennis brings editorial skills and commercial acumen to his new role with as much experience of Queensland media as anyone in the company”.
Mark Elgood
Elgood joined News in 1982 as an advertising sales executive on Brisbane’s Sunday Sun.
From there, he earned successive promotions to a string of major roles as advertising manager of the Herald Sun and Sunday Herald Sun, advertising director of The Australian and The Australian Magazine and advertising director of Queensland Newspapers.
He was appointed general manager of Cumberland Newspapers in Sydney in 2004 and managing director of News Limited Community Newspapers in 2006.
Elgood said: “Community newspapers have growing relevance within their communities, and nowhere is this is truer than in south-east Queensland.
…/3
NEWS LIMITED •ABN 47 007 871 178 • 2 HOLT STREET • SURRY HILLS • 2010 • NSW • AUSTRALIA
3
“Quest has become a great business that has continued to expand at a time when other media organisations have been rationalising operations. The advent of local online directories and news sites to expand the reach and influence of local newspapers has enormous potential for Quest.
“Having worked across national, metro, Sunday and community businesses the one thing that resonates with me has been the growing engagement that readers have with their local communities and the role and responsibilities that community mastheads have in the heartlands they serve,” Elgood said.
ENDS
Released by News Limited, Corporate Affairs For further details contact: Greg Baxter, Director Corporate Affairs News Limited, Tel: 02 9288 3242 or 0419 461 368
NEWS LIMITED •ABN 47 007 871 178 • 2 HOLT STREET • SURRY HILLS • 2010 • NSW • AUSTRALIA