HOLLYWOOD, CA - April 21, 2010 - BUZZMEDIA, the largest publisher of pop culture sites on the Internet, today announced two senior-level additions to the editorial team: Mike Porath joins the company as Senior Vice President of Programming and Alex Blagg joins as Executive Editor of Celebuzz, both positions based in Los Angeles.
In the newly created position of SVP of Programming, Mike Porath will be responsible for overseeing all editorial for BUZZMEDIA’s 40+ sites and will help implement editorial best practices and cross-site coordination, reporting to Alan Citron, President of BUZZMEDIA. This includes SEO, quality control and managing cross promotion of content acrossBUZZMEDIA’s portfolio of pop culture sites. Mike joins BUZZMEDIA from AOL News, where he was Editor-in-Chief, managing content across all AOL News sites, totaling 30M monthly unique visitors, as well as building and overseeing an editorial team of 30 journalists. Prior to joining AOL four years ago, Mike worked in print, online and television for news organizations including ABC News, NBC News and the New York Times.
In his new role as Executive Editor, Alex Blagg will over see the Celebuzz editorial team, spearheading an expansion of entertainment and celebrity editorial offerings that combine the best original news, commentary, photos and contributions from staff writers, celebrities and experts. Alex joins BUZZMEDIA from MSN’s Wonderwall, where he was founding Editor-in-Chief and played an instrumental role in successfully making it one of the fastest growing and most acclaimed celebrity sites in recent history. Prior to Wonderwall, Blagg was Managing Editor at MTV Networks’ BestWeekEver.tv, which he launched in 2006.
“BUZZMEDIA is on a steadfast path to creating the best pop culture content experience on the Web and Mike’s expertise in managing multiple sites will be instrumental in helping to raise the editorial quality of each of the BUZZMEDIA brands and realizing their full potential,” said Alan Citron, “Alex has a very distinctive voice and style around entertainment topics, personalities and trends that is a perfect fit for Celebuzz as it continues on its path of rapid growth. We’re very happy to welcome both of them to the company.”
“Pop culture is a content space that has a lot of competitors, but few true innovators. Given BUZZMEDIA’s great editorial talent, creative use of social media and big network of growing sites, the company is perfectly positioned to become one of the Web’s leading publishing companies,” said Mike Porath. “Leveraging all that the web has to offer as a publishing platform is not easy, but BUZZ has developed what I believe is a winning formula, and has the momentum to show for it.”
“I’ve been following Celebuzz since its launch and saw a great opportunity to join a company that is taking a unique and effective approach to programming the deepest and most engaging pop culture experience on the web,” said Alex Blagg. “I am excited to dive in and bring my passion for entertainment and celebrity news to the site.”
About BUZZMEDIA, Inc.
BUZZMEDIA is a leading social media publisher operating over thirty of the top pop-culture sites on the Web. The company powers communities in entertainment and music that bring together professional editorial, expert opinion, user-generated content and highly customized sponsorships to create the most timely, deep and engaging entertainment experience on the web. The company’s portfolio includes some of the biggest online music and celebrity brands such as Buzznet, Celebuzz, OKmagazine.com, AbsolutePunk, GoFugYourself, JustJared,Stereogum, TheSuperficial, WWTDD, Socialite Life, Idolator and the official sites for celebrities like Britney Spears, Kim Kardashian, Nicole Richie and others. For more information, please visit buzz-media.com.