MUMBAI: UK pubcaster The BBC has announced that Steve Herrmann has been appointed the new editor of BBC News Interactive. The role includes editorial responsibility for the output of the BBC News website which the BBC claims attracts 12 million unique users a month.

He has been with the BBC for most of his career, which he began at BBC Monitoring in 1985. Herrmann has been part of the BBC News Interactive team since its launch in 1997 and has been the editor of World News for the past five years.

He takes over from Pete Clifton who was made permanent as BBC News Interactive head in October 2005. Clifton says, "Steve has an excellent journalistic pedigree and has been an inspiring World Editor. He will bring great energy, commitment and vision to his new job as Editor of News Interactive."

Herrmann says, "It is obviously a huge privilege to land the job of running such a successful operation. I will be working with the rest of the editorial team to deliver the best of the BBC's journalism across all our platforms, from web to interactive TV, keeping the focus on editorial excellence and creativity. At the heart of this will be our ability to continue to make the most of our skill and experience in technical innovation to bring what we do to our audiences in new and effective ways."

Herrmann takes up his new post on 3 January 2006.