WaPo names Jordan and Vongkiatkajorn editors, Next Generation team

The following excerpt was sent out from The Washington Post’s director of Next Generation audiences Phoebe Connelly and managing editor Justin Bank:

Jamal Jordan and Yu Vongkiatkajorn have been named editors on the Next Generation team.

Jamal will lead our efforts with experimentation and new formats. In this role, he will work across desks to diversify the formats we employ to tell stories and help reporters build skills needed for reaching next generation audiences.

Jamal began his career managing social media accounts for such Broadway shows as “Phantom of the Opera” and “Les Misérables.” In search of a career as a documentary filmmaker, he worked as a production assistant on MTV’s “Catfish,” HBO’s “High Maintenance” and other shows. From there, he headed to Vice, working first as an associate producer for Motherboard and later as a producer for Vice News.

He joined the digital transition team at the New York Times in 2018.

He most recently completed a civic media fellowship with the University of Southern California’s Annenberg Innovation Lab and a journalist/creator fellowship with YouTube.

Yu becomes the editor of strategy and growth for Next Gen. In this role, in which she has already started, Yu will work across desks to help drive adoption of key insights from successful experiments, helping new audiences connect more deeply with The Post.

She joined The Post in June 2019 as a community editor, overseeing comments, live chats and reader callouts.

As a founding member of the Next Gen team, Yu piloted the analytic reporting processes that became the template for the Desk Deep Dives that are the linchpin of the Audience Accelerator project.

Yu has a strong track record of systemic, transformative work. She founded the Expert Talks series, which tapped reporters and editors to share their expertise around the topics and formats that attract younger audiences.