David Dinsmore

David Dinsmore (2 September 1968)^[2] is a Scottish newspaper executive and a former editor of The Sun newspaper. Dinsmore grew up in Glasgow,^[3] and began working for News International at the age of 22.^[4]

Early career

Dinsmore was employed by the Clydebank Post and then later he worked as a reporter for the Eastwood Mercury, Milngavie Herald and Kirkintilloch Herald newspapers.^[5]

In 1991 Dinsmore became a casual reporter for the Scottish Sun newspaper. At the same time he began a degree in business management at Paisley University.^[5] His first full-time role as a reporter came with the Daily Star in their Edinburgh office.^[5]

Career with News Corp

Dinsmore returned to the Scottish Sun as a reporter in 1994, he then rose through the ranks of that paper to become sub-editor, then chief sub-editor. and made the move to London after becoming picture editor of the News of the World under Phil Hall.^[5]

In 2004, Dinsmore became night editor of The Sun, and in 2006, he was appointed editor of the Scottish edition of the paper, serving until 2010.^[4] During that time he took a general management course at Columbia Business School.^[6] He then became general manager of the paper in Scotland, then in quick succession managing editor in London, and director of operations for News International.^[7]

Dinsmore was appointed editor of The Sun in June 2013, replacing Dominic Mohan.^[8]

Following his appointment to the job, he faced criticism as a result of the growing support for the No More Page 3 campaign, which challenged the appropriateness of bare breasts in the family newspaper. In November 2013, he stated that he had no intention of dropping the Page 3 feature, despite the pressure from campaign supporters including politicians, celebrities and student bodies.^[9] In December 2014, Dinsmore was named sexist of the year by End Violence Against Women.^[10][11][12] The Page 3 feature of a topless women came to end in January 2015.^[13]

Under his editorship The Sun's online presence went behind a paywall, however Dinsmore is credited with growing the online subscriber base, doubling the number of paying customers from an initial 117,000 to 225,000.^[14][15] Dinsmore has won also plaudits from the media industry, ranking at 27 in the 2014 Media Guardian 100,^[16] and at 67 in GQ magazine's 2015 'Most Connected Men in Britain' list.^[17]

On 2 September 2015 Dinsmorre was promoted to Chief Operating Officer of News UK, and Tony Gallagher succeeded him as editor of The Sun.^[1] Dinsmore will take up his new post "in the coming weeks".^[18]

See also

• The Sun newspaper

References