BBC's Mark Thompson named new president of the New York Times

[alp227]

Source: The Guardian

Mark Thompson, outgoing director general of the BBC, has been named the new president and chief executive of the New York Times.

The 55-year-old replaces Janet Robinson, 62, who unexpectedly announced her retirement last December.

In a statement Arthur Sulzberger Jr, chairman of the Times Company and the newspaper's publisher, called Thompson as "a gifted and experienced executive with strong credentials whose leadership at the BBC helped it to extend its trusted brand identity into new digital products and services."

Thompson, who has been director general of the BBC since 2004 said in March that he intended to depart the public broadcaster after the London Olympics. The Guardian revealed in June that he was in talks to join the New York Times.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/aug/14/bbc-mark-thompson-new-york-times

[goclark]

1. Does he have any ties to Murdoch?

[muriel_volestrangler]

2. No; nearly all his career was at the BBC

apart from a couple of years as the head of Channel 4 which, while it shows commercials, does not have shareholders - any profit it makes is, by law, put back into developing TV and film.