Former Southern Daily Echo editor Ian Murray has been confirmed as the new executive director of the Society of Editors, taking over from Bob Satchwell who has stood down due to ill health.

Murray, who has been deputy executive director since April, said: “This is a great honour to take over the executive arm of the Society, but terribly big shoes to step into.”

Murray praised Satchwell, who has been the group’s director since its foundation in 1999, as a “towering force for good in our industry fighting tenaciously for a free press and broadcast media, freedom of expression and the public’s right to know”.