ABC News Poaches News Digital Editor from Reuters

ABC News President Ben Sherwood continues to aggressively revamp and expand the network’s digital operations, luring one of the top video editors at Reuters to run ABCNews.com.

BuzzFeed reports that Erle Norton has been named as the new executive producer of ABC News Digital, overseeing editorial and video operations across all of ABCNews.com. Norton, who arrives at ABC News from Thomson Reuters, will be charged with expanding digital coverage in lifestyle, tech, and enterprise, among other responsibilities. His implied mandate will be to grow ABC News Digital on its own to be as large as — or overtake — its top three rivals: CNN, NBC, and CBS. As it currently stands, ABC News Digital is only bigger than the web operations of those three competitors by virtue of its partnership with Yahoo. On a standalone basis, it is smaller.

“My biggest push will be in the newsroom,” Norton said in a statement provided to BuzzFeed. “We’re going to leave the standard stories and packages in favor of experimentation. We want to zero in on the most fascinating parts of the news. That’s the way ABC News will continue to stand out.”

“Erle is the best kept secret in journalism, a force as a leader and a journalist,” said a former colleague who requested anonymity because he will be competing with Norton in his new role.