Adam Smyth has been confirmed as the new Director of BBC Northern Ireland.

Smyth has been the Interim Director of the BBC in Northern Ireland since December 2021 and will take up this role with immediate effect.

He will have lead editorial responsibility for BBC services and output in Northern Ireland. This includes news and current affairs, BBC Radio Ulster/Foyle, online and digital services and television programmes for local and UK-wide audiences.

Rhodri-Talfan Davies, BBC Director of Nations, says: “Adam brings an impressive range of editorial and strategic experience to the role and has already demonstrated he is an accomplished and incisive leader during his time as Interim Director in Belfast over the past 15 months. I know Adam is determined to build on Northern Ireland’s real editorial success and ensure we continue to harness and nurture the creative talents of the region – both inside and outside the BBC.”

Smyth takes over the role from Peter Johnston, who was recently appointed the Director of Editorial Complaints and Reviews.

Before taking on the role of Interim Director in 2021, he had been Head of BBC News NI from 2018, where he was responsible for BBC Northern Ireland’s news and current affairs output across television, radio and digital platforms, including BBC Newsline, BBC Radio Ulster news programmes and bulletins, Spotlight and BBC News NI Online.

Smyth had previously been Editor of Radio Current Affairs and Digital News for BBC Northern Ireland since 2011, where he was the lead editor for BBC Radio Ulster’s award-winning news output, including Good Morning Ulster, Talkback and Evening Extra as well as radio news bulletins, traffic and travel, radio news documentaries and BBC Northern Ireland’s digital news output.

He has been with the BBC for 28 years, having first been appointed as a regional news trainee for BBC Northern Ireland in 1995. A former network reporter for BBC Newsround and BBC Radio Five Live, he also reported for BBC Newsline from New York in the aftermath of the attacks on the World Trade Centre.

Pippa Considine

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