The Sunday Times has appointed Emma Tucker as its first female editor in more than a century.
Tucker, currently deputy editor of the Times, replaces Martin Ivens, who is stepping down after seven years. Ivens, who will join the board of Times Newspapers, will continue to contribute coverage as a commentator and broadcaster.
“Emma becomes the first female editor of the Sunday Times in more than a century and she brings with her invaluable experience and great energy,” said Rebekah Brooks, the chief executive of its parent company, News UK. “On the Times, she has played a key role in the digital delivery of our content and in overseeing the evolution of our products and our newsrooms.”
The first female editor of the Sunday Times was Rachel Beer, the aunt of the war poet Siegfried Sassoon, who held the post between 1893 and 1901.
Tucker joined News UK as associate features editor of the Times in 2007 before taking over the editorship of the supplement Times2 a year later. She later became editorial director before being appointed deputy editor of the Times in 2013. She began her career in journalism as a graduate trainee at the Financial Times, eventually becoming editor of FT Weekend.
“The Sunday Times is one of the most famous newspaper brands and it’s an honour to take on the editorship,” said Tucker.
Ivens, 61, joined News UK from the Telegraph in 1989, working on the foreign news desk at the Times. He became deputy editor of the Sunday Times in 1996 and was appointed editor in 2013.
Rupert Murdoch, the executive chairman of News Corp, owner of News UK, said: “Under Martin’s editorship, the Sunday Times has broken investigative stories of global impact, such as the reporting on Fifa, and the paper has built on its strong record for political reporting and campaigning.”
The Sunday Times reported a circulation of 648,812 in December, including 50,808 bulk copies, a 9% year-on-year fall. The Times reported a daily circulation of 370,005, including 53,284 bulk copies, an 11% year-on-year decline. News UK says the two titles have about 550,000 paying subscribers, of which more than half are digital.
