Commentary

Vice Media Shakes Up Digital Staff Amid Expansion

  • by June 6, 2019
Vice Media this week let go of Jonathan Smith as editor in chief of its Vice.com website, along with Rachel Schallom, the site’s managing editor. Smith had been the top editor of the site for the past three years.

The digital media company named Erika Allen as the site’s executive managing editor. She rejoins the company after a stint as senior editor at New York’s The Cut. Other editors have expanded roles, The New York Times reported.

The changes come about a month after Vice Media streamlined its website to eliminate multiple web channels, and several months since cutting 10% of staff, or 250 employees.

The company also is expanding staff, as indicated by job listings for about a dozen editorial jobs, such as a features editorial director, an opinion editor for news and issues and an “authoritarianism reporter.”

The company doesn’t plan to name a new editor in chief of the site because the restructuring meant its editors are in charge of teams of reporters. Katie Drummond, who was named Vice’s senior vice president for digital in March, relayed that information to The New York Times.

Following the appointment of Nancy Dubuc to CEO Vice Media last year, taking the place of its cofounder Shane Smith, Vice took on $250 million of debt to push itself into a sustainable future.

Next story loading loading..