Village Voice editor Tony Ortega to helm editorial at Raw Story

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Village Voice editor Tony Ortega to helm editorial at Raw Story

BERKELEY, CA - October 31, 2013 -- Raw Story is pleased to announce that Tony Ortega, former editor-in-chief at The Village Voice, has been selected as the company’s new executive editor.

Ortega will take the reins of Raw Story next week, where he plans to bring more reporting to a website that is experiencing record growth. "Raw is really tearing up its competition, and I'm fortunate to be asked to help it get to the next level with an increased emphasis on original stories," Ortega said.

Ortega started his journalism career at the Phoenix New Times, where he was named Arizona's Journalist of the Year after only his first full year as a reporter, largely based on his reporting on corruption in the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office under Joe Arpaio. He rose through the ranks at the company's papers in Los Angeles, Kansas City, and Fort Lauderdale before he became top editor at the Voice in 2007.

Since he left the Voice a year ago, Ortega has penned a book about Scientology, and he also found time to break the news at his personal website in July that "King of Queens" actress Leah Remini had left the controversial church.

"John Byrne established Raw Story's reputation in 2004 with hard-hitting reporting about national affairs. John and I would both like to see Raw Story get back to its roots with more reporting and unique stories with national impact," Ortega said.

"Tony's appointment comes at a time of tremendous opportunity for Raw Story," said publisher Roxanne Cooper.

In October, 2013, Raw Story will hit a record-setting milestone --reaching more than 6 million unique visitors and serving more than 25 million pageviews. This is 95% growth in uniques and 59% growth in pageviews over October 2012.

"We've achieved an amazing trajectory of growth during the last couple of years -- unmatched by any of our direct competitors. But as we reach our ten-year anniversary, we don't want to become complacent," Cooper said. "Now's a good time for us to pivot a bit and establish a deeper commitment to hard-hitting, investigative journalism."