Andrus Raudsalu, management board chair at Postimees Grupp, the paper's parent company, said Raudsaar has a strong background in journalism and will be a worthy addition to the Postimees team.

"As a long-time media lecturer, Raudsaar knows many of the current best journalists personally and I am certain that under his leadership, Postimees will continue to stand for the values of high-quality and free journalism," Raudsalu said, according to BNS.

"Additionally, thanks to longstanding experience as manager of the Association of Media Enterprises (EALL), Raudsaar has a good overview of the business models of media companies both here and elsewhere. Finding and implementing a modern and, in the longer perspective, sustainable business model for Postimees will be one of the big challenges that we will be committing to together with Raudsaar," Raudsalu added.

Mart Raudsaar is to take over the role in February, and says his main objective will be to continue covering relevant topics important to Estonia and its society.

"Throughout the history of Estonia, Postimees has been one of the most important publications and I am certain that this will be the case in the future as well," he added.

Postimees had been without an editor-in-chief since Peeter Helme stepped down in November. The paper saw several journalists quit their posts at the end of 2019, preceded by long-serving publisher Merili Nikkolo, who stepped down a few days earlier, and other senior journalists and staff over the course of 2019.

Raudsaar will also join the Postimees Grupp management board, BNS reports, and will step down as EALL manager, a role he held for nearly 10 years, as well as from his role as chief editor of Riigikogu Toimetised, the Riigikogu's newsletter, which he has held since 2014.

Raudsaar's CV includes editorial work on magazines and newsletters as diverse as for the police and the church. He has also been a lecturer at the University of Tartu, the Narva College of the University of Tartu from fall 2010 to fall 2011, and most recently, Tallinn University.

He has also been involved in local politics, sitting on the municipality government in Nõo, southwest of Tartu.

Postimees Grupp (formerly Eesti Meedia) publishes both the national version of the paper, as well as several regional editions, and the Baltic News Service newswire. It also runs TV2 television channel, radio channels and other concerns. It is owned by businessman Margus Linnamäe.

NGO Reporters Without Borders (RSF) recently noted its concern over press freedoms in Estonia in the light of upheaval at the paper.

Download the ERR News app for Android and iOS now and never miss an update!