'St. Petersburg Times' Appoints New Editor

Neil Brown has been named editor of the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times.
      
The appointment was announced Tuesday by CEO/Chairman Paul C. Tash during a staff meeting, saying he is handing over the title to “the person who has earned it -- Neil Brown.”

Brown most recently served as executive editor and vice president. Tash had carried the title of editor for the past decade, but in recent months has devoted more of his attention to the newspaper’s business operations and his responsibilities toward the Poynter Institute and several industry groups.

“We are fortunate to have such an able journalist and leader directing our news report,” Tash said in a staff note. “I salute the new editor of Florida’s Best Newspaper, who has already proven himself in the job.”

Brown joined the Times in 1993 as world editor overseeing national and international affairs. Two years later, he became managing editor. He was named to the board of Times Publishing Co. in 1997 and became a vice president in 2001. He was appointed executive editor and vice president in 2004.

An active voice in the industry, Brown is a member of the American Society of Newspaper Editors’ board of directors and is a past president and board mem¬ber of the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors. He also has served as a Pulitzer juror. 

Brown has served as a visiting faculty member of the Poynter Institute, and is past chairman and current member of the University of Iowa School of Journalism Advisory Board. An alumnus of the school, he also is a member of its journalism hall of fame.