Krissi Murison becomes NME’s first woman editor

Music bible NME – New Musical Express - has appointed its first female editor in 57-years by picking Krissi Murison (pictured) to replace outgoing editor Conor McNicholas.
 
Murison, 27, first joined the famous chronicle of teenage angst in 2003 as a junior staff and spent six years there, rising to become deputy editor. She left just five months ago to take over as editor of New York-based magazine Nylon. Now she has been tempted back across the Atlantic and will take command on September 1.
 
She described editing the longest-running music weekly in the world as "one of the all-time dream jobs" and the only one that could have tempted her back to the UK.
 
NME has launched the careers of several high profile female journalists including Julie Burchill and Barbara Ellen but has never had a woman in charge, and Murison admits that it has a masculine ethos: "There is this perception of NME as a Boys' Own club and yes, there are more guys than girls, but it's not exclusive in any way," she says.
 
Once seen as the champion of alternative music with a strong anti-establishment stance, NME has adopted a less radical image of late - reflected in the destination of outgoing editor McNicholas. He is leaving rock'n'roll journalism to take over as editor of BBC Worldwide's Top Gear magazine - the magazine version of the TV car show fronted by dad-rock icon Jeremy Clarkson.
 
Murison will be charged with continuing McNicholas's attempts to stem the decline in sales. NME's circulation fell 24.3 per cent year on year to 48,549 in the last six months of 2008 according to ABC figures. It now lags behind the likes of Metal Hammer and Classic Rock in the market. However, McNicholas was credited with developing the NME brand through radio and live music and expanding its digital output. ·