USA Today Deputy Managing Editor/News Phil Pruitt has left the newspaper to join Yahoo! News as its new Politics editor.
Pruitt, who will work in Yahoo! News' Washington, DC bureau, will manage Yahoo! News' political and elections coverage in 2010 and in the run-up to the 2012 elections. The move is part of Yahoo! News' push to develop original content among its politics and opinion channels.
Pruitt is also tasked with building up a stable of freelancers and contributors to write opinion and analysis pieces for Yahoo! News.
"I'm excited about joining the #1 online news destination, reaching more than 90 million people, as we begin to build out our political and opinion content," Pruitt told the Huffington Post.
"As Yahoo! News continues to develop its own distinct voice, we look to hire world-class editorial talent, like Phil, providing them with our unmatched audience insights and access to a strong network of contributors and content partners in order to create compelling and relevant original News content for our users," added Mark Walker, VP & Head of Yahoo! News and Information.
Before joining USA Today, Pruitt was the Senior Washington Editor for Gannett News Service, where he oversaw national and Congressional coverage for the chain's 100 newspapers.
USA Today also recently lost political reporter Kathy Kiely to the National Journal.