E.W. Scripps consolidates all digital operations into single organization, names Adam Symson, previous VP of interactive for television division, as new chief digital officer

Kendall Sinclair

CINCINNATI , September 19, 2011 (press release) – The E.W. Scripps Company today launched a reorganization of its digital operations, pulling all resources under one umbrella in a move to accelerate the launch of new products and services for quickly evolving digital platforms.

“We’re reorganizing and focusing our resources to ensure that our digital-platform consumers and advertisers in Scripps markets across the country are offered the very best products and services," said Rich Boehne, Scripps president and chief executive officer. “This new structure will result in better products, faster development, more efficiencies and improved financial performance while staying true to the Scripps mission of building value through enterprise journalism and public service.”

Leading the new organization as vice president, chief digital officer will be Adam Symson, 36. Reporting directly to Boehne, he will continue to be based in Cincinnati while working with corporate resources as well as digital leaders of the company’s 13 daily newspapers and 10 television stations.

Symson began his career as a journalist. He was an investigative producer at CBS stations in Chicago and Los Angeles as well as the Scripps ABC affiliate in Phoenix before joining the Scripps corporate office in 2003 to be the director of investigative reports and special projects in the television division. He later became the division’s director of news strategy and operations before being named director of content and marketing in the Scripps interactive media division (which was spun off as part of Scripps Networks Interactive in 2008)

He was then named vice president of interactive for the Scripps television division, where he has helped the company’s stations develop the design, content and financial performance of their Web sites. He has led numerous other digital initiatives for the stations, including devising strategies for the stations’ mobile apps. Less than two weeks ago, Symson announced that Scripps would be the first operator in the country to offer group-wide live streaming through mobile apps.

“We have very talented people running the interactive activities at our newspapers and TV stations, and I’m eager to spur the kind of collaboration that gets real results,” said Symson. “We’ll continually improve our current news sites and apps while also pursuing a few initiatives that aren’t tied to our core businesses. We have the drive and the people to tackle big ideas, and I think this combined organization will help Scripps make a lot of noise in the digital arena.”


About Scripps

The E.W. Scripps Company is a diverse media enterprise with interests in television stations and newspapers. For a full listing of Scripps media companies and their associated Web sites, visit http://www.scripps.com/.

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