The newspaper's first editor, Tom Duncan, was made a freeman of Newham in recognition of his work in the community. The second, from 1997, was Colin Grainger who joined as a trainee reporter upon leaving a local school in 1972. Grainger left in November 2012 after Archant merged the
Recorders news team with that of the
Docklands & East London Advertiser. Both weeklies were then controlled by one single editor, Archant's East London Group Editor Malcolm Starbrook. The two papers were "un-merged" in 2014 and the
Newham Recorder acquired a new editor, Michael Adkins. In 2017 Lorraine King became the paper's new editor after Adkins was promoted to Archant's Group Editor for London. King left in 2019, initially to work on a freelance basis. After Lindsay Jones left in March 2021, Franki Berry was appointed that month, being promoted from chief reporter for the group's North London publications. In November 2022, Berry left her role as editor of Newsquest's East London weeklies, intending to travel.. She was succeeded by Simon Murfitt. ==Ownership==