WSJ completes restructuring of its video team

Anthony Galloway, global head of video and audio at The Wall Street Journal, sent out the following announcement on Monday:

Colleagues,

I’m pleased to share that we have completed the restructuring of the video team that started a few months ago. Christina Vallice joins us today as senior executive producer for news and specials. Christina was most recently a supervising producer at VICE News Tonight and, prior to that, spent more than a decade at NBC Nightly News. I’m excited to have her with us and grateful for the patience you’ve shown as we’ve worked to build a team that produces strong video reporting that is better aligned with our audience’s interests and the Journal’s coverage priorities.

Many of you have asked about our new structure and who to reach out to with ideas for specific projects. I’ve attached a cheat sheet and examples for easy reference with a bit more detail described below.

WSJ Video is now organized into four teams focused on content types rather than coverage areas.

News & Analysis covers the day’s news and developments with a focus on providing context and analysis. We are looking to add an enterprise layer to these timely news dispatches by incorporating reporters and editors into the videos to provide insights and takeaways that the Journal is uniquely suited to offer.

In-Depth Explanations, led by Carmel Lobello, is referred to internally as our Explainers team and helps convey many of the newsy and complex issues the Journal covers in video formats that are accessible by broad audiences. We’ve had positive audience feedback covering everything from the inverted yield curve to Boeing to the Super Bowl and look forward to experimenting and growing these formats.

Originals produces longer-lead videos across all coverage areas, works closely with the P1/Enterprise team, and is developing recurring monthly franchises inspired by the Journal’s most-popular columns and beats. This team was named Originals because, even when partnering on print stories, our goal is to have distinct video angles or approaches rather than directly mirroring text pieces. Adam Banicki is the executive producer and Ben Weltman is the supervising producer.

Films, led by Rob Libetti, is our team focused on feature-length documentaries and episodic series developed primarily for off-platform distribution. The Frontline documentary in partnership with the investigative team was produced with the Films team and we have a handful of new projects in various stages of production and development.

International video coverage is now overseen by Paolo Bosonin, who has relocated from Hong Kong to London, and we’ll soon have a new supervising producer in Asia, Hannah Yi, who joined recently from Quartz. Both Paolo and Hannah will be in place in their respective bureaus next month.

For any questions, please come see me, Jarrard or Beckey — the Hub is always staffed. You can also reach out to the contacts on the attached page with stories or to bounce ideas. We monitor the WIPs for video opportunities but there’s no replacement for direct communication with reporters and editors, especially early in the reporting process.

In the coming days we plan to share additional news about new partnerships which will continue to extend the reach of WSJ Video across platforms.

Looking forward,