Jill Aitoro has been appointed as editor of Defense News, where she will lead day-to-day operations for this leading global multimedia defense brand.
Aitoro joined Sightline Media in 2015 as editor of Federal Times. There she led a successful transformation effort, guiding its evolving content strategy to emphasize multimedia and more engaging news coverage, including a successful digital transformation strategy, events, webcasts, custom editorial and a significant increase in video projects.
Aitoro was later made executive editor of the Network Solutions group, which includes Federal Times and C4ISR & Networks. More recently, she became executive editor of Sightline's new business-to-business group, which consists of Federal Times, C4ISR & Networks and Defense News.
"Jill is an innovative content strategist, a forward-looking editor and a very successful manager, leading the Federal Times and C4ISR & Networks editorial team to collaborative success, particularly in digital media and video." said David Smith, vice president and general manager of Sightline Media Defense and Federal Solutions. "Jill will bring an innovative spirit, initiative, management acumen and solid journalism chops to the day to day leadership of Defense News. I am proud to have her lead the wonderful team of top journalists at Defense News. There are many great things to come."
"I have long been an admirer of Defense News, and am excited to lead such an exceptional team," Aitoro said. "Defense News sets the standard in defense journalism, and has done so for 30 years. The expertise and global presence of our journalists opens the door to leverage the in-depth reporting that our audience has come to expect from Defense News, while also incorporating multimedia to further engage and inform."
Aitoro brings more than 15 years' experience reporting and editing on defense and civilian government IT, policy and procurement. Prior to joining Sightline Media, she worked for Washington Business Journal, leading all defense and federal contracting and policy coverage. Before that she was a senior reporter for Government Executive, covering cybersecurity and DHS, among other roles. She has received multiple awards for her government reporting, including coverage of the Navy's Littoral Combat Ship program and sequestration. She was also a finalist for a Jesse H. Neal Award for an exposé about the selling of gray market technology from China to the Defense Department.
In addition to her duties as editor of Defense News, she will also continue maintain the role of executive editor for the group, guiding editorial strategy across all three brands. A new Federal Times editor will be announced shortly.
