Snapchat, the popular ephemeral-messaging service, has hired CNN national political reporter Peter Hamby as head of news.
A Snapchat rep confirmed Hamby’s hire, but declined to provide details on what he will exactly be doing at the company. “We are excited to have him join the team,” she said.
Hamby joined CNN in 2005 as part of the team that launched “The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer” and has been the news cabler’s lead reporter for the 2016 election cycle. He also hosted “Hambycast,” a CNN Digital series about American politics.
“Snapchat is one of the most exciting young companies in the world,” Hamby said in an interview with Politico, which first reported his move. “Their live stories around big events, around places both here and abroad, the potential to take users to new places — we can see some application of that with news.”
CNN is one of the anchor partners for Snapchat Discover, launched in January, which lets media companies distribute video, photo and text collections that live for 24 hours on the service. Normally, Snapchat messages sent among users vanish within 10 seconds.
Hamby celebrated his switch to Snapchat in a selfie he tweeted Monday with Blitzer, who is CNN’s lead political anchor:
Thanks y'all! Couldn't be more excited. pic.twitter.com/XuWX7mhSII
— Peter Hamby (@PeterHamby) April 27, 2015
