Communiqué
News Veteran Ellen Weiss Helps Lead Scripps Co. Deeper Into Digital Age
< < Back to news-veteran-ellen-weiss-helps-lead-scripps-co-deeper-into-digital-ageEllen Weiss, an award-winning journalist and news executive, has taken on a new media challenge — to lead the E. W. Scripps Co. and its Washington New Service deeper into the digital age.
Weiss, as vice president and bureau chief at the Scripps Howard News Service in Washington, D.C, is driving the bureau into a multiplatform news entity serving Scripps’ television and radio properties.
One of the most notable changes is an emphasis on podcasting and creating new audio content about Washington, D. C., politics and culture.
For example, in 2013, the Scripps Company purchased a podcast called DeCodeDC and made it its own. According to Weiss, it brought new and different audiences to Scripps’ news products.
Podcasts also provide new revenue sources for the company. Podcasting provides advertisers new and different markets than traditional broadcasting, Weiss says.
But, instead of selling ads through the Bureau, Weiss has outsourced the ad sales to another Scripps’ new acquisition – Midroll. This is a company that specifically manages big-named podcasts from a distribution and sales standpoint.
Weiss has a long and successful association with radio and audio storytelling. She previously spent 29 years at National Public Radio rising through the ranks to become the senior vice president of news in 2008. There she managed over 400 domestic and international reporters and handled a budget of $75 million.
Weiss also spent about 17 months as executive editor of the Center for Public Integrity before joining the Scripps’ company.