Blackhurst becomes editorial director of Independent and Standard

Chris Blackhurst, editor of the Independent, has been promoted today to the newly-created position of group editorial director for both the Independent and Evening Standard newspapers. The move was confirmed by chairman of the Evening Standard Ltd and Independent Print Ltd Evgeny Lebedev, who this morning tweeted: "Pleased to announce @c_blackhurst [Chris Blackhurst] is made group editorial director in charge of future integration. He is a brilliant journalist." Blackhurst, who took over editorship of the Independent from Simon Kelner in July 2011, will continue in his existing role with the paper. The move comes just days after deputy editor of the Evening Standard Sarah Sands was promoted to editor following Geordie Greig's departure for the Mail on Sunday. The Lebedev consortium added the Evening Standard to its portfolio in February 2009 after it secured 75.1 per cent of the shares from Associated Newspapers. Last year, the Lebedevs oversaw the merger of the Independent and Evening Standard's sports and business departments. It is believed Blackhurst will oversee a merger of the two title's newsdesks.