BuzzFeed is opening an L.A. bureau to cover the entertainment industry. Richard Rushfield will be the bureau chief and Kate Aurthur will be BuzzFeed (BZFD)’s chief L.A. correspondent, reports The Hollywood Reporter.
Both are veterans of the L.A. Times–Mr. Rushfield ran the entertainment section of the paper’s website until 2009, did a stint as the West Coast editor of Gawker and is currently a Vanity Fair contributing editor. Ms. Aurthur was the television editor for the paper before becoming the West Coast editor of Newsweek/ Daily Beast.
BuzzFeed reporter Michael Hastings will contribute to the west coast bureau’s entertainment coverage as a correspondent-at-large. Mr. Hastings, who is currently covering the presidential election, wrote the famous Rolling Stone profile of Stanley McChrystal that led to the general’s dismissal.
“We’ll bring a combination of fun, viral ready takes of the moments and trends in entertainment, coupled with serious boots-on-the-ground reporting that goes beyond the day’s headlines. From pop culture foibles to looks behind the studio gates, covering Hollywood with BuzzFeed’s sensibility will be a challenge for which I couldn’t be more thrilled,” Mr. Rushfield said in a statement.
The L.A. bureau will also house BuzzFeed Video, the video team that Ze Frank was tapped to run last month.
