Chiefs from Reuters and NBC likely candidates for Twitter's news head

Twitter’s search for its head of news is likely to include candidates from some of the high-profile media organisations.

Sources said that Jim Roberts, who is stepping down as executive editor of Reuters Digital, and chief digital officer of NBC News Vivian Schiller are both said to be in the running.

According to the New York Post, Roberts had announced that he was leaving two weeks ago when Reuters shut down the two-year old Next project but said that he is still at Reuters and contemplating what to do next.

The report said that the former US editor for the UK’s The Guardian and the current director of the Tow Center of the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, Emily Bell is also said to have been approached but she has turned down the offer.

Twitter is looking for a news chief to handle its service which transformed the way news is gathered and disseminated in mere 140-character tweets.