ABC News has announced its digital journalists for the 2016 Presidential campaign. Matthew Claiborne, Ines de la Cuetara, Adam Desiderio, Katherine Faulders, Ben Gittleson, Josh Haskell, Jessica Hopper, Liz Kreutz, Brad Mielke, MaryAlice Parks, Jordyn Phelps, John Santucci, and Candace Smith will be the network’s “first line of reporting on the candidates.”
ABC plans to embed with the candidates as well as in the he early caucus and primary states. The program was open to candidates both inside and outside of ABC. The newest additions to the ABC News team come from various backgrounds and will work closely with partners such as Fusion and FiveThirtyEight.
TVNewser has obtained the following memo that ABC News president James Goldston sent to his staff:
Team—
I’m thrilled to announce our newest class of campaign Digital Journalists covering the 2016 Presidential Election, as we kick off what’s going to be a suspenseful year and a half of political reporting on the road to November 8th, 2016.
Congratulations to Matthew Claiborne, Ines de la Cuetara, Adam Desiderio, Katherine Faulders, Ben Gittleson, Josh Haskell, Jessica Hopper, Liz Kreutz, Brad Mielke, MaryAlice Parks, Jordyn Phelps, John Santucci, and Candace Smith.
This group is a key part of our election team, our first line of reporting on the candidates, the early primary/caucus states, the issues and the voters. As this election cycle shifts into full swing, we are ramping up our campaign coverage to be stronger than ever, with our 2016 campaign DJs playing a new and more public role.
Along with the entire ABC News politics team, our campaign DJs will take us inside the campaign like never before, transforming our storytelling with more immediate reactions and live coverage. They will bring the drama, excitement and key moments of the campaign to our audiences—putting them on the front lines of the campaign trail 24/7, with live GoStreams on the ground capturing moments anywhere and everywhere news breaks. And more than ever, they will be responsible for creating distinctive, immersive, visual content for all our platforms, working closely with our partners including Fusion and FiveThirtyEight.
Our campaign Digital Journalists come from all parts of ABC News, including “Good Morning America,” “Nightline,” “This Week,” digital, radio, the desk, DC Bureau, the ABC News Fellows program and from outside media outlets. They will complement our all-star line-up of seasoned political journalists, our outstanding political director Rick Klein and our new political desk, run by Greg Croft, which will focus on turning our coverage into immediate, compelling journalism for all our shows and platforms.
Please join me in wishing the Class of ’16 well on their exciting journey over the next 17 months.
James