After months of careful search for its news chief seat, Twitter finally appoints NBC’s chief digital officer Vivian Schiller. Schiller accepted the challenge by a tweet she sent the day before “Excited to join @Twitter as Head of News in January. Leaving @NBCNews at year’s end. Grateful to my beloved colleagues for 2+ great years.
According to the job description that Twitter has posted in May 2013, Schiller will be bridging as a liaison between the social network and news organizations, as the site wants to contribute to the media companies’ distribution of news.
Schiller as a past-master of American media, brings many years of experince with prior work history at CNN, the New York Times and National Public Radio. To sum up, Schiller spent 15 years at CNN and served at Discovery Times Channel’s senior VP and general manager from 2002 to 2006. Schiller then took over the same position at NYTimes.com between the years 2006-2009.
Schiller’s next job, as CEO and president of National Public Radio, lasted just two years and ended in controversy where she was ousted by the board in March 2011 due NPR’s fundraising chief was caught slamming Tea Party members and questioning whether NPR needs the federal funding it receives. She landed at NBC just three months later as NBC’s chief digital officer.
Many believe that her hiring also comes as Twitter has long faced criticism for having a board of directors made up solely of white men. The Initial Public Offering filing kicked off a renewed debate about the lack of diversity at tech companies particularly in high-level roles.
