Sunnyvale, California — Hold onto grasp some exciting personnel news from the purple mother-ship: In a most conspicuous move since announcing the expansion of its political coverage, Yahoo News has appointed a veteran of the New York Times columnist Virginia Heffernan as its National Correspondent.
Surprisingly, Heffernan, who covered The Medium column for the New York Times Magazine prior to joining with the paper’s Opinion section, she was covering digital culture, received a buyout from the Times last week, and will now commence writing for Yahoo News later this month. Before that, she was a TV writer for Slate.
“I have been advocating change and flexibility for so long, so I presumed I would take a taste of my own medicine,” Heffernan, said in a statement. “Yahoo is embracing the idea that they are becoming a media company. It has wonderful leadership and is making interesting hires, so it is the right balance of risk and experience.”
At Yahoo, Heffernan will pen a weekly column chronicling what she dubbed as the “digital election,” which will consist of “culture and politics from a digital perspective,” or in other words–the way in which the Internet shapes the 2012 campaign, the company said in a release.
Heffernan (Yahoo News)
She also said that she looks forward to host a series of video interviews with new media and tech personalities for Yahoo, which will appear on the website.
“I want to extensively discuss with tech people, and new media directors for several campaigns, in an ‘Inside The Actors Studio’ format,” Heffernan said. “Really, all I want to do is be James Lipton.”
“Yahoo! is transforming into a newsroom and increasing our focus on premium, original content,” Yahoo News managing editor Hillary Frey said in a statement. “Virginia’s unique perspective on the intersection of the digital world and the election is a big part of that.”
And there are signs that Yahoo is on hiring spree is only just beginning.
Apparently, “They are basically picking up jewels,” one source who has been watching Yahoo’s expansion closely quoted as saying. “They are bringing people in who are stars, because one of the next big phases of the company is to become a really big media powerhouse.”
“I would be surprised if this were the end of their hiring announcements,” the source said. “There is a steady stream of talent on the way.”
The appointment is also a big deal for Heffernan, who joined the Times from Slate in 2003, but had concerns that she might lose her edge if she stayed at the paper too long. Still, relinquishing the clout that came with a Times byline was a source of intimidation for her.
“I’m a bit of a stability junkie,” she told me last year, when I wrote a profile of her for Adweek magazine. “I’d rather be buried in Times infrastructure than I would be naked and scared … I just want to be very cautiously within the Times rules.”
These latest moves are yet another indication of Yahoo’s push to expand its original content. Earlier this week, the company announced it has engaged Olivier Knox, a Congressional reporter for Agence France-Press, as its first-ever White House correspondent. Heffernan, is Yahoo’s second big catch this week. Both hires are part of the company’s ongoing effort to increase its influence as a major media company. Both Knox and Heffernan will start on Feb. 13.
Heffernan will be stationed in Yahoo’s New York offices, reporting directly to managing editor Hillary Frey. The news of Heffernan’s hire was first reported by Politico.