CINCINNATI—The E.W. Scripps Co. has promoted Marcus Riley to senior director of content strategy and inclusive journalism for the Local Media division, a new role that will help all Scripps television stations better connect with their audiences.

Since 2019, Riley has served as senior director of content strategy for the Scripps Local Media’s northern region. He will continue to work with stations in that region on content strategy.

“As we continue to place more emphasis on inclusive journalism and representing all sectors of our audience in our newsrooms, having someone who is devoted to working closely with that effort is increasingly important,” said Sean McLaughlin, vice president of news for Local Media.

Scripps has been conducting field research to learn how to be more inclusive in its news coverage and connect better with the people who live in its communities.

McLaughlin said Riley will work with all Scripps local news teams to implement the company’s research findings, developing best practices and expertise.

“Content strategy is about more than how to cover news,” Riley said. “It’s about how to engage with a community and connect on new and important levels so we’re reflecting our audiences—how they look and how they feel.” He said both he and Scripps are committed to getting better at that.

CINCINNATI—Marcus Riley has been promoted to serve as senior director of content strategy for E.W. Scripps Company’s East Coast television stations, the company announced last week.

Riley will work with newsrooms at WKBW in Buffalo, N.Y.; WMAR in Baltimore; WXYZ in Detroit; WFTS in Tampa, Fla.; WLEX in Lexington, Ky.; WRTV in Indianapolis; WTVR in Richmond, Va.; WTKR in Norfolk, Va.; and KATC in Lafayette, La., to implement, evaluate, measure and refine the station group’s content strategy, Scripps said.

He is one of four directors of content strategy working with a group of Scripps stations on maintaining high-quality local coverage.

Before taking on the new post, Riley worked for four years as a digital director and editorial director at WTMJ, the station group’s NBC affiliate in Milwaukee.

“Marcus has been a stand-out newsroom leader in Milwaukee—bringing new ideas to the table and helping push our reporting to a high level of service for that community,” said Sean McLaughlin, vice president of news for Scripps’ Local Media division. “Now he brings his journalism expertise to a larger group of stations.”

Prior to working in Milwaukee, he spent 10 years at NBC 5 Chicago. There, he worked as a digital director and was promoted to various management and editorial positions. He worked as a correspondent for “24/7 Chicago,” a local entertainment show.

More information is available on the E.W. Scripps website.