Fox Parent Creates News-Sharing Division

NEW YORK: News Corp. is creating a new “portal” where the company’s worldwide journalism franchises will be able to share content. John Moody, veteran Fox News executive, will oversee the new unit and report directly to News Corp. chief Rupert Murdoch.

Moody will work with all the various news chiefs across the News Corp. broadcast, cable and print properties “to improve newsgathering efficiencies and identify areas of cost savings” the News Corp. announcement said. He’ll also be charged with analyzing the company’s reliance and contracts with outside news services. News Corp. owns the broadcast and cable Fox networks, “The Weekly Standard,” “The New York Post,” “The Wall Street Journal,” multiple U.K. and Australian print and electronic outlets, and the Dow Jones news wire service, among others. (Story continues after Sponsored Link.)

Michael Clemente will take over Moody’s job at Fox News, which overtook CNN in the ratings while Moody was head of editorial. Clemente will work closely with Bill Shine, senior vice president of programming on television production. Before he joined Fox in February, Clemente spent 27 years at ABC News, most recently as senior executive producer of ABC Digital Media Group where he executive produced ABCNews.com and ABC News Now, the network’s broadband diginet feed. Prior to working at ABC, Clemente was with CNN for two years in the mid-1990s.