News24 gets a new editor

Johannesburg - Adriaan Basson was on Thursday appointed as the new editor of News24.

Basson, currently editor-in-chief of the Afrikaans news platform Netwerk24, will join News24 on April 1 where he will oversee News24’s national team of journalists and multimedia content producers, the syndication service News24Wire and the country’s biggest digital financial and sports platforms, Fin24 and Sport24.

Johanna van Eeden will take over as editor-in-chief of Netwerk24.

According to Esmaré Weideman, Media24 CEO, Basson is the right man for the job.

“Adriaan is a widely respected journalist and editor and exactly the right person to take News24 to even greater heights,” Weideman said.

Basson, an award-winning investigative journalist with 13 years experience at Beeld, City Press and the Mail & Guardian, said he was excited about leading the winning team at News24.

“It is an enormous honour and privilege. I have always been a huge fan of this market leader of online news and entertainment in South Africa,” he said.

“News24 has revolutionised our digital media landscape – six million people don’t lie.”

Basson was appointed editor-in-chief of Netwerk24 in September 2015.

Some of his accolades include: CNN African Journalist of the Year award for news, the Standard Bank Sikuvile Journalist of the Year award, and the Taco Kuiper award for investigative journalism.

He is also the author of two books: Zuma Exposed (Jonathan Ball) and Finish & Klaar: Selebi’s Fall from Interpol to the Underworld (Tafelberg).

Van Eeden, editor-in-chief of Media24’s Afrikaans dailies Beeld, Die Burger and Volksblad, said she was excited about taking on the challenge of building Netwerk24’s service to Afrikaans audiences online.

“Since its launch in September 2014 Netwerk24 has already achieved major milestones. It is the home of quality journalism in Afrikaans and already the fifth largest news platform in the country. I am looking forward to being part of the excellent team that has pioneered our Afrikaans digital news platform.”

This article first appeared on News24 – see here.