Daily Loaf

Creative Loafing Editor David Warner made this announcement today:

Mitch Perry, who served for over 9 years as assistant news director of WMNF-FM and created the WMNF Evening News in 2003, joins the staff of Creative Loafing as News & Politics editor beginning September 21.
A respected voice in Bay area journalism with broad experience in covering local, national and international news and community affairs, he brings multi-media expertise and deep knowledge of the local scene to CL’s print and online publications. He has already won readers as a contributor to the Daily Loaf blog, where he worked with former CL Political Editor Wayne Garcia, and his appointment as Wayne’s successor reflects CL’s continued commitment to fair, thorough and intelligent coverage of the issues that are important to Tampa Bay residents.
“I’m thrilled that Mitch is joining our team,” said CL Editor David Warner. “I’ve long admired his work as anchor and reporter on the Evening News, and I’m looking forward to the new dimensions he will bring to CL — including that unmistakable Mitch Perry voice.” That voice will continue to be heard in a new daily CL podcast hosted by Mitch, along with a weekly print column, in-depth feature reporting and daily coverage in CL’s news & politics website, cltampa.com/news.
“The new owners of Creative Loafing have expressed strong support for good, solid journalism,” said Warner, “and this hire more than meets that standard. I’m looking forward to adding further depth to the newsroom as the year progresses.”
Perry, a San Francisco native, worked as an anchor and reporter for KPFA Radio in Berkeley, CA before his tenure at WMNF. He has moderated candidates’ debates in the Tampa Bay area, and regularly appears on local news and public affairs television and radio programs. He is a graduate of San Francisco State University and a member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists.

After nearly five years of documenting the inside story of Tampa Bay and Florida politics, my time here is coming to a close.

I have accepted a yearlong appointment as the Freedom Forum Visiting Professional at the University of Florida’s College of Journalism and Communications, where I am teaching four sections of investigative journalism and editing this fall. For the past four years, I have worked to complete a Master of Arts degree in Mass Communications from the University of South Florida-St. Petersburg, and teaching was a goal of mine that the editors at CL have always supported. I have already started working on campus this week, while finishing up some projects for CL and editing the blog through the end of this week. Read the rest of this entry »