Ex-UK tabloid chief named NY Daily News top editor

NEW YORK (AP) - The New York Daily News has a new editor-in-chief: the last editor of Rupert Murdoch's News of the World in London before it folded amid a phone hacking scandal.

Colin Myler also was executive editor of Murdoch's New York Post tabloid newspaper.

The 59-year-old native of Liverpool, England, replaces Kevin Convey as editor-in-chief of New York City's largest circulation daily.

The staff was informed about the appointment in an email sent Wednesday afternoon, said spokeswoman Jennifer Mauer.

"I am immensely proud and honored to be leading one of America's great newspapers into a new era," Myler was quoted as saying in the memo.

His appointment is effective Jan. 10.

Owned by real estate magnate Mortimer Zuckerman, the Daily News vies with the Post for readers of the city's tabloids.

In the internal memo, the publisher called his newspaper "a great institution of American journalism which will only get better under the leadership of Colin."

Bill Holiber, the newspaper's president and CEO, said the new editor "will lead our print and digital platforms into the next generation of newspaper publishing."

The change in leadership comes as the Daily News transforms into a more digital operation. Myler also will head NYDailyNews.com, which has 10 million monthly visitors nationally.

The Daily News is the nation's fourth-largest daily, with an average total circulation of more than 605,000, according to ABC FAS-FAX, reporting for the six-month period ending in September.

"There have been a great many top-level changes in publishers and editors in the industry - in search of a new, fresh view, and expertise in digital matters," said Rick Edmonds, a media business analyst for the Florida-based Poynter Institute nonprofit journalism school.

The New York media market "is about as intense as it gets, and both Zuckerman and Murdoch have lost a lot of money over the years," Edmonds added. "Times are very difficult and there's pressure to ramp up digital while keeping print as strong as you can, as long as you can."

Zuckerman praised Convey, the outgoing editor-in-chief: "Along with everyone else at the Daily News, I want to thank Kevin for his editorial input over the past year and a half."

Myler has edited four national newspapers in Britain.

His journalism career started with a Roman Catholic-affiliated news agency in Southport, England. He went on to work for The Sun, the Daily Mail, the Sunday Mirror and the Daily Mirror.

In the 1990s, he ran the Super League of Europe, the rugby league marketing body.

Myler was managing editor and executive editor of the New York Post from 2001 to 2007, when he became editor of the News of the World.

Last year, he testified before Britain's parliament about a hacking scandal linked to that tabloid owned by Murdoch's News Corp. One reporter and a private investigator were jailed for accessing voicemails.

The newspaper folded in July as the hacking accusations mounted.

Myler appeared before a parliament committee, testifying with former News of the World lawyer Tom Crone. The two said they had informed Murdoch's son, James Murdoch, that hacking was widespread at the newspaper.

Murdoch has denied the accusation.