BuzzFeed News Names Mark Schoofs as Editor in Chief--Update
May 05 2020 - 1:29PM
Dow Jones News
By Benjamin Mullin
BuzzFeed Inc. named Mark Schoofs, an alumnus with deep
experience in investigative journalism, editor in chief of its news
unit.
Mark Schoofs, who heads the investigative reporting program at
the University of Southern California, will lead a global news
division of about 150 people at a challenging time for
digital-media companies.
"I'm thrilled to come back to BuzzFeed News," he said. "Its
journalists -- tough, rigorous, and fearless -- are the best in the
world, hands down."
Mr. Schoofs -- a former Wall Street Journal journalist who won
the Pulitzer Prize in 2000 for international reporting for his work
at the Village Voice -- established the investigative reporting
team at BuzzFeed. There, he oversaw stories about wrongfully
imprisoned people, abuse at psychiatric facilities and
mismanagement at for-profit foster care companies.
At BuzzFeed, Mr. Schoofs will have to grapple with a
digital-media sector that has been strained by competition from
Alphabet Inc.'s Google and Facebook Inc. for digital ad dollars.
The coronavirus pandemic has brought additional pressure, forcing
BuzzFeed to cut pay across the company.
In recent months, BuzzFeed Chief Executive Jonah Peretti has
taken steps to put BuzzFeed News on more solid financial footing,
hiring New York Times alumna Samantha Henig as executive editor of
strategy to explore additional business opportunities. BuzzFeed
News has long weighed on BuzzFeed's bottom line, but Mr. Peretti
has publicly championed the news division, once calling it "an
increasingly good business."
Write to Benjamin Mullin at Benjamin.Mullin@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 05, 2020 13:14 ET (17:14 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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