News Vet Finlayson On Board at SmithGeiger

Former WFLD Chicago News Director Andrew Finlayson has been named senior VP of digital media strategies at the consulting firm SmithGeiger. Finlayson was the news director there for three years, then moved to director of online content and business development for the parent Fox Television Stations early in 2009.

In his new role, Finlayson “provides clients with expertise in a number of strategic areas, including television news, mobile, website content and partnerships, social media, the semantic web and video streaming,” SmithGeiger said in a statement.

Prior to joining SmithGeiger, Finlayson was a Knight Fellow at Stanford University, where he researched news consumption and social media.

Finlayson represents SmithGeiger’s third hiring of someone with significant news director experience in recent weeks. KCTV Kansas City’s Tracy Brogden Miller came on board in April, as did former KGMB Honolulu newsroom chief Chris Archer.

Michael Malone

Michael Malone, senior content producer at B+C/Multichannel News, covers network programming, including entertainment, news and sports on broadcast, cable and streaming; and local broadcast television. He hosts the podcasts Busted Pilot, about what’s new in television, and Series Business, a chat with the creator of a new program, and writes the column “The Watchman.” He joined B+C in 2005. His journalism has also appeared in The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Playboy and New York magazine.