INM titles’ content ‘will not be compromised’ by Buckley

Independent News and& Media’s chief executive Vincent Crowley has said that the election of Leslie Buckley as group chairman will not compromise editorial control and content at its titles which include the Irish Independent, the Sunday Independent and the Evening Herald.

Mr Buckley — a close associate of INM’s largest shareholder, Denis O’Brien — returned to the top table at INM yesterday, 14 months after being sensationally voted off the board at the group’s 2011 AGM.

His appointment as chairman followed a meeting of the group’s new board yesterday afternoon. Earlier in the day, Mr Buckley was formally re-elected to the board at an EGM. That shareholders’ meeting also saw former KPMG managing partner, Jerome Kennedy; Belfast Harbour Commissioners chairman, Len O’Hagan and Triona Mullane, former chief technology officer with international digital content services provider, NewBay, added to INM’s board; boosting its membership to ten.