Former Court of Appeal judge Raynor Asher to head New Zealand Media Council

Judge Raynor Asher in 2010. Photo / File

The current chairman of the New Zealand Media Council, Sir John Hansen, is set to be replaced by the Honourable Raynor Asher.

Asher was previously a judge of the Court of Appeal, a position he retired from earlier this month and will take up his new role on July 1.

Sir Hansen will retire in June after chairing the Council since 2014.

The New Zealand Media Associations Incorporated, the Council's governance arm, announced Asher would be taking over.

The former judge began practice as a barrister in 1986 before being appointed a Queen's Counsel in 1992.

He is also a former president of the New Zealand Bar Association, president of the Auckland District Law Society and vice-president of the New Zealand Law Society.

In 2005, Asher was appointed to the High Court bench before being appointed a Judge of the Court of Appeal in 2016.

For many years, he chaired the Media and Courts Committee, which was set up by the Chief Justice and comprising judges and media executives from the country's main media organisations.