BuzzFeed News has tapped a new editor-in-chief, veteran journalist Mark Schoofs who formerly worked at the digital-media company. But he will continue his work as a professor at USC.
Schoofs takes over the role after former BuzzFeed EIC Ben Smith exited to join the New York Times earlier this year. BuzzFeed founder/CEO Jonah Peretti announced the appointment of Schoofs, who will start on May 18 and will be based in Los Angeles.
While serving as BuzzFeed News’ editor-in-chief, Schoofs will continue serving on the faculty at USC Annenberg. That will let BuzzFeed and the school “build a unique collaboration,” according to the media company.
Schoofs, who is currently a visiting professor at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, will oversee a global news organization that reaches tens of millions of people each month and features award-winning reporting across tech, politics, culture, investigations, science, and international. Over the course of his 30-year career, Schoofs has earned a Pulitzer Prize for reporting on AIDS in Africa at The Village Voice; shared in another Pulitzer Prize at The Wall Street Journal for reporting on the 9/11 terrorist attacks; led a team of investigative journalists at ProPublica; and, in 2014, created BuzzFeed News’s investigations team, which is now a two-time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, and winner of the Polk and National Magazine Awards. Schoofs began his career editing Chicago’s weekly LGBTQ newspaper, The Windy City Times.
“I’m so excited to welcome Mark back to BuzzFeed, because I know how deeply committed he is to ensuring that BuzzFeed News remains the best place on the internet for free, high quality news, and reaches even greater heights,” Peretti said in a statement. “I’m also confident, even during these tough times, that BuzzFeed News will be in the best possible hands under Mark’s leadership.”
Added Schoofs, “I’m thrilled to come back to BuzzFeed News. Its journalists — tough, rigorous, and fearless — are the best in the world, hands down.”
Beginning this fall, USC will offer one course taught by Schoofs on journalism, and another taught by Peretti on internet culture, networks, and digital media. BuzzFeed News will also create an internship program for USC students. While at USC, Schoofs also ran the school’s investigative reporting program and helped launch the Beacon Project, an innovative summer investigative internship that was profiled by the New York Times.