NEW YORK -- Ryan McCarthy, an assistant editor on The New York Times national desk, has been named editor-in-chief of Vice News, according to a memo obtained by The Huffington Post.
The move comes as Editor-in-Chief Jason Mojica shifts over to the television side of Vice as head of international coverage for its forthcoming nightly HBO news show.
Vice, which already has a weekly newsmagazine on HBO, has not yet announced a start date for the program it first announced plans for a year ago. Former Bloomberg executive Josh Tyrangiel, who joined Vice in October to oversee the program, said in a memo that the new hires are part of the company's plan to "ramp up toward launch of the Vice nightly show on HBO."
McCarthy, who previously worked at The Huffington Post, Reuters and The Washington Post, joined the Times’ audience development team last year.
He’s the second Times staffer to join Vice this past week. Times media reporter Ravi Somaiya joined Vice as a tech correspondent for the HBO programs, according to the memo.
Tyrangiel also announced that Fusion's Javier Guzman is joining as senior producer for U.S. news, Christina Vallice of "NBC Nightly News" is joining as supervising producer focused on breaking news, and Jessica Weisberg, who most recently worked on the second season of "Serial," comes aboard as supervising producer focused on the nightly show’s long-lead stories.
Dan Fletcher, a veteran of Time, Bloomberg and Facebook, will be head of social for Vice News and the nightly and weekly programs, according to the memo.
Read Tyrangiel's full memo below.
As promised, we’ve got a number of people joining as we ramp up toward launch of the Vice nightly show on HBO, and I’m thrilled to be able to introduce the first crop. (In alphabetical order, because no one’s more important than anyone else, yeah team, etc…)
Dan Fletcher is joining us as head of social for Vice News/Nightly/Weekly. Dan started his career at TIME, where he was (and remains) the youngest person to have written a cover story for the magazine. He then moved to Bloomberg where he was named the first-ever director of social media—a job he did so successfully that Facebook poached him to be the company’s first-ever managing editor. Dan left Facebook in 2013 to launch a startup and is returning to journalism to help insure that our work fits the different needs of every social platform. Dan starts April 25.
Javier Guzman is coming aboard as senior producer for US News. Most recently Javier was at Fusion in Miami where he created and EP-ed The Morning Show, Fusion Live, and Cannabusiness Report. Previously, he was a producer at NPR’s “Morning Edition” and “All Things Considered, as well as the national show The Takeaway, where he filled a ridiculous four hours of airtime with interesting things everyday. He’s covered events ranging from the presidential election and the war in Iraq to Hurricane Katrina. Javier starts April 25.
Ryan McCarthy is the new Editor-in-Chief of Vice News. Ryan’s been the face of change at some of the biggest and most respected outlets in journalism. He comes to Vice from the New York Times, where he served as lead growth editor and as an editor on the national desk, transforming some of the paper’s most important stories into lovely digital experiences. Prior to that, Ryan was at the Washington Post where he oversaw Wonkblog and edited Storyline, which used narrative and data journalism to explore public policy. Ryan understands the eccentricities and potential of the web, as well as the unique blend of excitement and dread that accompanies each day of battling it out online. Ryan starts May 2.
Jason Mojica, founding Editor-in-Chief of Vice News, is moving onto the nightly show full time as the head of our international coverage. Jason's Vice resume is legendary—he's been responsible for some of our most important pieces, from Dennis Rodman's visit to North Korea to "The Islamic State"—and we're thrilled he's going to put his instincts for ferreting out great stories to work on the show. He'll be managing our global presence and be getting out in the field upon occasion as well.
Ravi Somaiya is coming on as a tech correspondent. Ravi has spent the last three years on the media desk at the NYT where he broke a lot of news—the liaison between Sean Penn and El Chapo and Playboy’s decision to drop nudity are just two recent examples. Ravi started at the NYT on the London desk (be warned: He’s English) where he worked with John Burns on subjects ranging from Islamic terrorism to phone hacking at News Corp. He’s also worked at Newsweek, the Guardian, and once pulled the unholy 4am to 8am shift at Gawker. Ravi starts May 9.
Christina Vallice is our new supervising producer focused on breaking news. Christina graduated from Syracuse University and landed a job right away at NBC News. She’s been a producer on the Nightly News for the past six years and has Emmy awards and all that stuff, but her real skill is being exceedingly chill while dealing with the tightest of deadlines. She’s also pushed the boundaries of creativity within a very rigid format, and we’re excited to see how much further she can push them here. Christina starts April 25.
Jessica Weisberg is joining us as a supervising producer focused on the nightly show’s long-lead stories. Jessica started her career as a fact-checker at the New Yorker and rose up the ranks before moving to Page One, Mark Boal’s production unit. At Page One she’s specialized in the adaptation of news events into films, stories, podcasts, whatever. (She just completed work on Season 2 of Serial.) Jessica’s written for The New Yorker, The NYT, Guardian and other places, and did some time at the famed graduate writer’s workshop in Iowa before dropping because Iowa. She would have written this announcement much better than I did. Jessica starts today.
What Dan, Javier, Ryan, Ravi, Christina, and Jessica have in common is an admiration for Vice, a love of great stories, and an awareness that viewers demand we be inventive in the way we tell them and visualize them. They’re also really nice people. Please join me in welcoming them and congratulating Jason, too.