David Ho to guide transformation of Hearst newsrooms

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David Ho has been named vice president and executive editor, digital audience and news innovation, for Hearst Newspapers. The announcement was made by Hearst Newspapers President Mark Aldam and Hearst Newspapers Digital Media President Robertson Barrett, to whom Ho will report.

Most recently, Ho served as executive mobile editor and mobile product director for The Wall Street Journal, where he led the Journal's news operations on smartphones and tablets and oversaw the mobile evolution of its newsroom. In his new role, Ho will guide the transformation of Hearst newsrooms – including the Houston Chronicle and the San Francisco Chronicle – to reach new audiences and produce content for mobile, social and online platforms.

"Our outstanding digital teams at Hearst Newspapers have led the industry in reaching a majority of their local audiences, with free and paid models," Aldam said. "David's unparalleled experience across digital and print newsrooms will ensure we are able to continue exceeding the needs and expectations of our readers."

"Hearst Newspapers is moving rapidly to pioneer a sustainable digital business model for quality local news and information," Barrett said. "With his proven inventiveness, David will help our core and digital newsrooms create unique news, sports and entertainment content, at the right time, on the right platforms, to engage people in ways that only a truly local media company can and must."

As the Journal's mobile leader, Ho built its mobile team, founded the WSJ iPad app and led innovation in areas including push notifications, news algorithms, virtual reality and wearable gadgets. Ho has trained more than 3,500 journalists in the U.S. and around the world to use the latest digital tools in news reporting.

"I'm very excited to join Hearst Newspapers," Ho said. "Hearst's newsrooms – its editors, producers and reporters – have a deep tradition of quality journalism and storytelling. Combine that with Hearst's strong and solid commitment to innovating in smart ways across digital platforms and I know we'll be doing great things."

Prior to joining the Journal, Ho spent more than a decade as a national reporter at The Associated Press and Cox Newspapers. He was one of the original web programmers behind WSJ.com. Ho, a Poynter Institute Ethics Fellow, also created and taught a graduate course on mobile and emerging platform journalism at the City University of New York.

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