The Managing Director role is the latest appointment to the new Guardian Australia digital edition, which was announced earlier this year under the editorship of Katharine Viner.
With a global digital audience of 40 million unique users per month, the Guardian is the fourth largest newspaper website in the world. Guardian Australia will build on the lively commentary, on-the-ground reporting and ground-breaking open journalism that, with 1.2 million unique users already, has made Australia the Guardian's fourth largest market, says the Guardian.
Tony Danker, International Director of the Guardian says: “After a rigorous selection process Ian emerged as the outstanding candidate to be the Managing Director for our exciting new venture in Australia. He brings a great depth of knowledge and experience in launching digital products and I’m delighted to welcome him on behalf of our Australian team. It’s an incredibly exciting time editorially to be launching the Australian edition and we look forward to working with a broad range of advertisers and commercial partners in the year ahead.”
Ian McClelland (pictured), formerly Senior Vice President, New Media at RTL Group, says: “I’m honoured to be joining Guardian Australia. The Guardian is an outstanding global brand with a reputation as a quality news provider which is second to none. As a lifelong reader and advocate of the Guardian it's particularly thrilling to be a part of their new Australian enterprise. I’m looking forward to the opportunities and challenges ahead.”
McClelland will take up his new post in June.
Last month the Guardian confirmed that Lenore Taylor would join Guardian Australia as political editor and Katharine Murphy as deputy political editor. It also confirmed Paul Chadwick, the outgoing director of editorial policies at the ABC, will become a non-executive director of the Guardian’s Australian entity. Graeme Wood, the entrepreneur founder of travel website ‘wotif’ and chair of the news and feature website the Global Mail, will be a founding investor.
Ian McClelland, who lives in Sydney, has recently been working with FremantleMedia Australia on a variety of business areas including Spring. He was previously Senior Vice President of New Media for RTL Group, Europe’s largest entertainment network whose assets include the RTL channels and FremantleMedia. Prior to his position at RTL Group, Ian worked for eight years at Turner Broadcasting, a company whose assets include CNN, TCM and Cartoon Network. He oversaw strategy, product development and management on all non-linear platforms within the Entertainment division as well as being a consultant to the News division during his time at Turner. Ian also led the team that developed the BAFTA award-winning Cartoon Network website. His responsibilities allowed him to develop extensive experience in Online, IPTV, VOD, mobile and emerging technology across 15 European countries.
