Messenger app Snapchat has doubled down on its news efforts by hiring a dedicated Head of News.
Snapchat has dabbled with news in the past, but this new hire suggests an in-house news division is now being built.
Taking up the position is CNN’s national political reporter Peter Hamby, a popular US journalist, as reported by Politico.
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Hamby plans to stay on with CNN as an on-air and online contributor through 2016, but the reporter’s official role will be as Snapchat’s news boss.
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The company launched its Discover feature at the start of this year, marking its first foray into the news business.
Discover allowed third-party news vendors such as CNN, Sky, and Vice to share temporal news stories on the video-sharing platform.
“They have a big and growing audience, and we’ve seen Discover is a huge success,” Hamby explained.
“Their live stories around big events, around places both here and abroad, the potential to take users to new places – we can see some application of that with news.”
Hamby is a political reporter, so it’s likely his skills will be utilised ahead of the upcoming 2016 US election.
The journalist has yet to provide specific details about his new role however, only saying: “We’re still a ways away, so stay tuned.”
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.