ABC News has given longtime communications executive Heather Riley the new role of Executive Editorial Producer, Political Programming and Affairs.
Riley is moving away from full-time communications work for ABC News, and will now oversee the development of new political series on Hulu and ABC News Live plus special political projects across TV, audio and digital as ABC gears up for the midterms and beyond. In addition, she’ll work with ABC News Special Events, Political Unit, and ABC News Live teams and local stations to help produce political events, debates and town halls.
Riley will report directly to ABC News global newsgathering chief Wendy Fisher.
“Her years of experience at ABC News combined with her considerable political acumen makes her the perfect fit to lead some of our most important political programming projects in this new role,” Fisher said in a memo to staff.
Riley has spent more than a decade at ABC News as a PR executive, working across ABC News programming, and with George Stephanopoulos in particular. Prior to joining ABC, she spent five years at CNN in editorial roles on the assignment desk, in the political unit and on Capitol Hill, and she started her career as a press aide at the White House.