Stephen Rae Mark Stedman Mark Stedman

STEPHEN RAE IS to step down as group editor-in-chief at INM after five years in the role.

In a statement today, Rae said:

I have had the privilege and honour to lead the editorial department since 2013. On completion of my five year term I will be stepping down from this role.

He said that following a transformation of the group into a digital-focused newsroom and content hub he is “now happy to leave the publishing business in a strong position and hand it over to a team of strong and dynamic editors”.

He has spent 25 years in INM and says he feels “greatly privileged to have worked with many extremely bright and exceptional people”.

I am now looking forward to taking on new digital projects which will focus on my core interests of developing new revenue models for journalism along with the hugely important editorial fight against fake news.

Michael Doorly from INM said:

“I would like to thank Stephen for his efforts and contribution to the company over many years. Stephen has provided great editorial direction to all of our titles and built a team of outstanding editors. I would like to thank him for his support during my tenure as CEO and wish him every success for the future.”

Rae is the former editor of the Irish Independent newspaper and was promoted to group chief editor in 2013. Under the role, he was responsible for the Irish Independent, the Sunday Independent and the Herald, ensuring that the titles are “platform agnostic”.

Each paper retained its own editor. Rae was promoted just nine months after being made editor of the Irish Independent.

Rae’s tenure at the Irish Independent saw the paper cease its broadsheet edition, and be distributed only in a tabloid-sized ‘compact’ form.