Reuters hires Pulitzer winner, deputy social media editor

Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter Steve Stecklow will join Reuters in London as a member of its investigations team, the news organization announced Monday.

Stecklow, who early in his career was a Reuters stringer in Philadelphia, comes from The Wall Street Journal. This past year, he spearheaded a series that documented the use of Western and Chinese technology by repressive regimes to crack down on dissidents. In April 2007, Steve shared the Pulitzer Prize for public service with three Wall Street Journal colleagues for a series on backdated stock options.

The stories sparked numerous federal investigations and indictments. In 2003, Steve and Alix Freedman, now Reuters global editor for ethics and standards, were finalists for a Pulitzer Prize for international reporting for their series on corruption in the United Nations’ oil-for-food program. Steve also has won or shared the George Polk Award three times, including in 1996, for exposing a massive Ponzi scheme in a story edited by Steve Adler, editor of Reuters News.

Steve previously worked at The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Washington Star, The Philadelphia Bulletin and The Atlantic City Press. He has taught investigative journalism at Boston University and Emerson College. He will start later this month.

Also, Matthew Keys will join Reuters as deputy social media editor. He will produce online content for Reuters.com, expand Reuters’ presence on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Tumblr and new platforms, and play a key role in helping to train Reuters journalists on best practices in social media.

Keys was recently nominated for an Online News Association award in the category of “Breaking News excellence” for his coverage of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake, tsunami and Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan.

Keys is a recognized leader in helping journalists turn social media into valuable reporting tools. His online tools – a journalist’s guide for Tumblr, a guide for finding breaking news video on YouTube, and a guide for finding breaking news images on Twitter – have helped many journalists take their first steps into social media.

Before joining Reuters, Matthew was an online content producer and manager for KTXL FOX40, a Tribune Broadcasting television station in Sacramento, and an online news producer for KGO-TV, the ABC affiliate in San Francisco.

Matthew will be based in New York and report to Anthony De Rosa, social media editor.