NEWSNIGHT ANNOUNCES TWO NEW PRESENTERS JOINING VICTORIA DERBYSHIRE

Newsnight has announced two new permanent presenters - Paddy O’Connell and Matt Chorley, who will be joining lead presenter Victoria Derbyshire. Victoria will present the programme on Mondays, Tuesday and Wednesdays, with Paddy presenting on Thursdays, and Matt on Fridays.

Jonathan Aspinwall, Executive Editor of Newsnight, says: "I'm thrilled to welcome Paddy and Matt to the Newsnight presenter team alongside Victoria Derbyshire. With their sharp insights, expertise, and unique personalities, they'll add depth and flair to the biggest stories of the day...

"They join the programme at an exciting time, with our TV audience growing by over thirty percent. Newsnight's smart analysis and forensic interviews continue to reach more people across all our platforms. I'm excited to see Paddy and Matt join Victoria as we celebrate 45 years of Newsnight."

Paddy O’Connell says: “Newsnight is the programme I've watched since I was eighteen and I'm awed to be joining the team growing the audience with the cracking work of Victoria Derbyshire.  Ten thirty pm is now the breaking news hour for the new world order, and I’ll be there every Thursday in a frenzied news cycle turning to the best guests as we're all looking for answers."

Matt Chorley says: "I'm so excited to be joining Newsnight, a programme with such an incredible history which has been reinvented by Victoria and the brilliant team in the last year. If you've ever shouted at the news 'well what does that mean?' the moment you hear that electric guitar of the Newsnight theme, you know you're going to get answers. After spending the week skulking about in Westminster, what better way to spend Friday night than passing on all the gossip and intrigue I've picked up, joined by smart, funny and surprising guests?"

Both presenters have been presenting on the show on an ad hoc basis since the departure of Kirsty Wark in July. Paddy and Matt will start officially this month. Victoria will continue to present Monday to Wednesday with insights from Newsnight’s Political Editor, Nick Watt. Faisal Islam and Katie Razzall will continue to present regularly.

The appointments come as Newsnight records rising ratings and increased audience numbers across terrestrial TV, iPlayer and its social media channels. This follows a format change in May last year, which saw Newsnight focus more on live insights and interviews.