News International moves Rhodes to front consumer magazine arm

News International (NI) is to take on the consumer magazines market with the creation of a new magazine publishing division.

Camilla Rhodes, managing director of The Sun and the News of the World, will become the chief executive of the new division, where she will report to the News International executive chairman Les Hinton.

A spokeswoman for NI confirms that the division will launch a portfolio of standalone consumer magazines in the UK market and the appointment of such a senior executive suggests that a major expansion is imminent.

But one insider says/ “Camilla is being distanced from the centre of things.”

However, another source says: “I would be surprised if Camilla is being sidelined. She’s been around for years and is a good operator. NI has put one of its top people in charge of the magazines division because it believes that it will be big.”

The Evening Standard’s Mike Anderson will fill Rhodes’ position, although the date of the handover is yet to be announced.

NI already publishes nine different versions of the London Property News, depending on the area each edition covers, four of them weekly and five of them monthly. It also publishes the bi-monthly glossy Sunday Times Travel magazine, which will be part of the new stable.

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