Rotten Tomatoes Editor-In-Chief Joins The Young Turks As Head Of Programming

Progressive digital news and entertainment company TYT Network, whose flagship The Young Turks series has clocked 6 billion lifetime views, has hired Matt Atchity as its head of programming.

Atchity was formerly the editor-in-chief of Rotten Tomatoes — a film and TV review aggregation website that he grew, over the course of a decade, into a discussion hub touting original video and social content. In his newly-created role at TYT, Atchity will oversee the network’s 12 owned and operated channels, including What The Flick?!, ThinkTank, TYT Sports, Pop Trigger, and Nerd Alert. Atchity will work directly with the hosts and producers of these channels to create editorial strategies, foster audience growth, and tap content partners.

“The Young Turks is already a household name in politics, and I see that same potential in each of the network’s channels,” Atchity said in a statement. “I couldn’t be more excited to get started and build TYT Network to become bigger than ever.”

Atchity first partnered with TYT Network co-founder Cenk Uygur and the commentator Ben Mankiewicz to create and co-host the network’s movie review show, What The Flick?!, and he will continue to appear on that channel in his new role. Atchity is TYT’s latest hire, following a $2 million crowdfunding campaign by which it tapped nine investigative journalists, it says, to keep the Donald Trump administration accountable.

“Matt established a powerful and authentic voice so well that Hollywood now thinks the site is too tough on the industry,” Uygur said. “TYT Network is built on speaking truth to power, no matter the topic or industry. Matt’s combination of experience in the digital media world and understanding of the audience’s desire for authenticity will be a huge asset.”