WSJ names new leaders for its video team

Chris Moran, chief video and audio editor at The Wall Street Journal, sent out the following announcement on Monday:

Over the last few months, the WSJ video team has been focusing on high-quality video journalism with smart publishing across three tiers of content: embedded, series and films.

I’m excited to announce key leadership roles in our new structure who will take us to the next level and deliver on our new strategy. All roles report into me.

Jarrard Cole – Director of Video Content
Jarrard has returned to The Journal to lead all day-to-day video news coverage and oversee our video series. He leads a team of executive producers across all areas of WSJ coverage and will be responsible for embedding our video team members across all parts of the newsroom. For daily news coverage, Jarrard is the main point person.

Jarrard loves Taylor Swift, the UNC Tar Heels and grits.

Beckey Bright – Production Managing Editor
Beckey leads all aspects of planning, publishing and content operations for video. This is a key role in ensuring we have a smart, coordinated plan and get maximum value out of our video journalism. She will work closely with Elena Cherney, the audience engagement team, the product team and marketing.

Beckey loves trekking in the mountains far from civilization and seeking out foodie hotspots when she’s home.

Robert Libetti – Executive Producer of Films
Robert is building out our documentary films unit, focusing on content outside the daily news flow, with a view to developing long-form pieces for new distribution channels. He will focus on a handful of strategic pieces a year and will build out our representation at film festivals. He’s starting with short documentaries focusing on the human stories behind the biggest issues of the day.

Robert loves pizza, cardigans and a flat, diet fountain soda.

I’m very pleased to announce that Joanna Stern will continue as my deputy on a permanent basis with an expanded role:

Joanna Stern – Deputy Chief Video Editor / Personal Tech Columnist
In addition to helping me build and guide the team as my deputy, Joanna will be responsible for leading our new video storytelling group. Her team will test new shooting, editing and presentation techniques, collaborating closely with the wider newsroom to develop formats work with reporters who are just starting to venture into video, whether in front of or behind the camera. Working directly with the new editorial lab, her team will also experiment with new technologies.

She will also continue to create her technology videos and columns every other week. Joanna loves overpriced iced coffees from Simon Sips and old gadgets.

Please join me in congratulating each of them in their new roles.