Michael Clemente will join Fox News as the senior VP of news, effective immediately. Clemente leaves his position as ABC News' senior executive producer of the ABC Digital Media Group.

Clemente started his digital role in December 2006, and has been with the network for 27 years. Some past positions have included launching ABC News Now, and serving as senior broadcast producer for 20/20 and World News Tonight. The FNC position was vacated by David Rhodes, who left for Bloomberg in November.

Click continued to see the release...

Veteran ABC News television executive Michael Clemente has been named Senior Vice President of News for FOX News, announced Roger Ailes, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the network. Clemente assumes the position immediately and will report directly to John Moody, Executive Vice President of News Editorial.

In making the announcement, Ailes said, "Michael is one of the most seasoned television executives in the business and he's an excellent news man. His proven record of journalism at ABC News will be an asset to the entire FOX News operation."

Previously, Clemente spent 27 years at ABC News, most recently as a Senior Executive Producer of the ABC Digital Media Group (2006-09). There, he served as the executive producer of ABCNews.com and ABC News Now.

Clemente added, "I'm honored to take on this new and exciting role at FOX News during an incredible period in the network's history. The chance to work alongside such a talented group of journalists at the category leader in cable news is a tremendous opportunity.'

During his extensive career at ABC News, Clemente most notably launched ABC News Now (2004-06), the first ever fully live 24/7 broadband wireless news channel. He also held the positions of senior broadcast producer for 20/20 with John Stossel, Elizabeth Vargas and Barbara Walters (2001-04) and executive producer of ABC's breaking news specials during that same period. He served as senior broadcast producer for World News Tonight from 1997-99 and was the chief producer for Peter Jennings, responsible for much of the editorial and creative direction for the anchor.

Prior to ABC News, he spent two years at CNN (1996-97). There, he oversaw all live and breaking news coverage out of Washington and helped grow CNN's signature talk shows of that era, including Crossfire, Reliable Sources and Inside Politics.

Earlier in his tenure at ABC News, Clemente served as the senior producer of This Week with David Brinkley (1987-93). He was also a senior editor-producer of World News Tonight in New York (1983-87) and spent three years as an editor/writer on the program as well. A graduate of American University's School of Communications he now serves as a board member there.