Ankler Media is pleased to announce that Ethan Smith has joined as News & Features Editor, overseeing several of our core business newsletters and leading the development of our long-form features — the deeply reported, agenda-setting work that keeps Hollywood’s most influential decision-makers informed.
Ethan brings more than two decades of experience at The Wall Street Journal, where he most recently served as a features editor for the paper’s weekend business and finance section, Exchange. Since joining the Journal in 2003, Ethan held a range of reporting and editing roles, including Los Angeles bureau chief. Previously, he worked at The Industry Standard and New York magazine.
In his new role, Ethan will help shape the editorial pipeline: conceiving and editing enterprise stories and shaping news coverage across the industry’s personalities, deals, studios and streamers, and the new power and money transforming Hollywood and the business of entertainment. He’ll also contribute to Ankler Media’s broader editorial work, including live events, video and podcasts. He will report to our CEO and editor in chief, Janice Min.
“Ethan is exactly the kind of editor we want helping shape Ankler Media’s next chapter: deeply experienced, journalistically rigorous and fluent in the power that drives Hollywood and media,” says Min. “As we continue building beyond our newsletter roots into a broader independent platform, Ethan will deliver the urgent, ambitious business journalism our subscribers rely on.”
Ethan’s appointment comes at a defining moment for The Ankler, which recently moved off Substack and on to our own independent platform. In just four years, Ankler Media has grown from a single standout newsletter into a fully integrated media company spanning 15 newsletters, podcasts, video and a sophisticated, fast-growing slate of live events. Most recently, The Ankler partnered with Brand Innovators at the Cannes Film Festival for our Croisette Conversations and with NAB Show for the Future of Media and Entertainment program.
You can reach Ethan at Ethan@TheAnkler.com.
