Roberts named Cheddar’s editor in chief

Jim Roberts

Former Mashable editor in chief Jim Roberts, who also worked at The New York Times and Reuters, has been named editor in chief of business news channel Cheddar, reports Sara Fischer of Axios.

Fischer writes, “Cheddar continues to expand amid a tumultuous landscape for VC-backed digital media. These hires are part of a push to strengthen the company’s editorial product to keep up with its aggressive business deals.

The company hopes to add five to 10 people to the Cheddar Scoops team next year, many of whom will be experts in hot topic areas within business, deals, tech and media — Cheddar’s specialties. Cryptocurrency, for example, is a “no brainer,” says Cheddar Chief Content Officer Peter Gorenstein.
Roberts and Heath will begin December 19 and 18, respectively, and will be the first of several newsroom hires that will work to expand Cheddar’s original reporting footprint. ‘We will use all of the weapons of distribution to get our scoops out there,’ says Roberts. ‘That means breaking things on our air, and pushing scoops out on social media.’

“Sound smart: Roughly a year old, Cheddar now has 100 employees — 46 of which work in content. But most of that editorial staff works on creating the product, not breaking its own news. Now, Cheddar is investing in original reporting, which it hopes will distinguish itself from other over-the-top livestreamers, like The Young Turks and Barstool Sports.”

Read more here.

Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.