Variety has hired veteran entertainment journalist Kate Aurthur as editor-at-large.
Aurthur, who has worked as a top reporter and editor at BuzzFeed News, the Los Angeles Times and the New York Times, will be writing high-impact cover and feature stories about the industry for Variety‘s weekly magazine, as well as breaking news on Variety.com and contributing to video content. She’ll be covering major issues and business trends in TV, film and streaming as the consumption of content across all distribution platforms, including Netflix, Amazon and Apple, continues to reshape the media landscape. Aurthur will also write about diversity and inclusion in Hollywood both in front of and behind the camera, as well as profile prominent writers, directors, producers and actors and cover key festivals and events.
In addition, Aurthur will contribute to Variety franchises such as Actors on Actors, and will moderate keynote and panel conversations at the company’s summits and conferences.
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She will report to Variety editor-in-chief Claudia Eller.
“I have been wanting to bring Kate to Variety for years, having previously worked with her at the L.A. Times,” says Eller. “The time was finally right for her to join us and I couldn’t be more excited about collaborating with her. Kate is a brilliant, bold and fearless journalist who knows the business of entertainment and media from every angle. I’m certain that her contributions to our organization will be invaluable.”
Aurthur, who lives in Los Angeles, will start at Variety on Aug. 19. “I am so thrilled to join Variety to work with Claudia Eller and the best entertainment news team in the business,” Aurthur said.
For the last six and a half years, Aurthur has worked at BuzzFeed News as chief Los Angeles correspondent. Prior to that, she served as Newsweek/The Daily Beast’s west coast editor and television editor for the Los Angeles Times. She has interviewed everyone from Shonda Rhimes to J.J. Abrams.
Aurthur has long ties to the entertainment industry. Her father, Robert Alan Aurthur, received two Oscar nominations for writing and producing 1979’s “All That Jazz.” In 1980, at the age of 10, Aurthur attended the Oscars for the first time, which she wrote about later for BuzzFeed.
Aurthur’s hiring comes at a time of sustained growth at Variety. Variety.com was the most popular website among all entertainment news publications in May with more than 22 million unique visitors, according to Comscore. In June, Variety received nine awards from the Los Angeles Press Club, including best website for a traditional news organization for the third consecutive year.