BBC reporter Lewis Goodall is to join Emily Maitlis and Jon Sopel at media group Global in September as a number of big names leave the corporation.
The 32-year-old policy editor of BBC’s Newsnight announced he will be leaving the current affairs show for his new role.
He will be a co-host on Maitlis and Sopel’s new daily news podcast and will become Global’s new analysis and investigations editor.
Maitlis and Sopel announced in February they would be leaving the BBC for their new venture at Global.
Goodall, who joined Newsnight as policy editor in January 2020, said it has been a “privilege” to work on the programme but it is “so important to keep yourself challenged”.
In a tweet, Goodall said: “My brief will be to supercharge the organisation’s video output.
“What does that look like? Much more to come but we have big plans. I’ll be reporting on and breaking stories in the UK and beyond.
“Global has reinvented radio – its ambitions for podcasting and quality video journalism (+ how all three work together) are just as big.
“This of course sadly means I’ll be leaving wonderful Newsnight. This programme is in my bloodstream. I’m so passionate about it. It is utterly indispensable. I love the team.
“It’s been a privilege to work there under two great editors and it runs through me like a stick of rock. I was a young producer there.
“I came back as policy editor and I couldn’t have been happier. To the sad, politics-obsessed Brummie teenager inside me who used to watch the show in his bedroom as a kid night after night, to hear ‘and here’s our policy editor, Lewis Goodall’ … is thrilling to me – every single time.
“But it’s so important to keep yourself challenged and that’s what I’m doing here. The chance to create entirely new things was tantalising – especially with such a fantastic team.”
Goodall added that his new role is “going to be an adventure”.
Tom Cheal, managing editor of LBC, said: “I’m delighted that Lewis will be joining Emily and Jon for our new Global podcast.
“Lewis combines expansive knowledge of the inner workings of Westminster with brilliant storytelling, and impactful, agenda-setting reporting which will be a core focus as we continue to enhance our video output.”
Maitlis joined the BBC in 2001 and has presented Newsnight since 2006, winning a Royal Television Society award for her interview with the Duke of York in 2019, while Sopel joined the broadcaster in 1983 and was formerly its North America editor.
The deal will also see Dino Sofos, founder of audio production company Persephonica, join Global as its new podcast’s executive producer.
Sofos is the former head of BBC News Podcasts and created the Brexitcast, Newscast and Americast formats.
