Ben Webster appointed media editor at the Times

Ben Webster has been appointed as the Times' new media editor.

Webster was previously environment editor at the title, a role he took up in 2009.

He told Journalism.co.uk that taking on the role at the Times in the wake of the phone-hacking scandal at publisher News International was "a daunting prospect", but said that he would "report the entire media industry without fear or favour".

"I think the big story for me initially and for the next year will be the future governance, regulation, and standards of the media industry," he added.

Prior to Webster's appointment the Times had no media editor, and he will fill a gap left by media correspondent Patrick Foster, who left earlier this year.

Foster made the headlines himself in 2009, when he unmasked Richard Horton as the anonymous author of the Orwell Prize-winning blog NightJack.

Former media editors at the Times include Dan Sabbagh, who left to found media and entertainment news site Beehive City with two Times colleagues, before joining the Guardian as head of media and technology in November last year.

Before being made environment editor, Webster was the Times' transport correspondent for nine years, twice winning transport correspondent of the year award in 2004 and 2009.

He also writes a monthly "Greenwash" column for Eureka magazine.

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