Newsnight editor moves to Google

Barron's films on the arms to Iraq affair won a Royal Television Society award

The editor of Newsnight, Peter Barron, has resigned from the BBC Two programme to join internet search giant Google.

He has spent 12 years at the late-evening show, having worked behind the scenes for most of the 1990s before taking up his current job in 2004.

Mr Barron also had roles at Channel 4 News and Tonight with Trevor McDonald.

He will become Google's head of PR for the UK, Ireland and Benelux. "We are very sorry to lose Peter," said the BBC's director of news, Helen Boaden.

"His creativity and brilliant journalism have made Newsnight so impressive over the last few years," she added.

"However this is a unique opportunity for him and we wish him well as he moves to Google."

As well as his work at the BBC, Mr Barron was also the advisory chair at last year's Edinburgh TV Festival, an annual conference for the media industry.

The BBC said it hoped to appoint an editor for Newsnight "in the autumn".

Google could not confirm when Mr Barron would take up his job, but a spokeswoman hailed the "wealth of experience" which she said would make him "a great addition" to the company.