The Tennessean Losing Good Peebles: Veteran Government Editor Departs To Texas
Posted on August 22, 2008 at 7:18 pmFirst, you get the Pulle, then you get the Peebles, then you get the pageviews.
Post Politics has learned that Tennessean Government Editor Jennifer Peebles will depart 1100 Broadway two weeks from today for sunny Houston, Texas. Peebles will take the title of Deputy Editor at a new non-profit news site she helped found, Texas Watchdog.
Peebles confirmed the news late this evening, “I’m really excited about going to work for Trent [Seibert], but leaving here is really hard.”
Earlier this month, Post Politics reported that Peebles had helped set up, and would sit on the board of, the startup. At the time, Peebles had every intention of being just a helpful and watchful remote eye from Tennessee for fellow co-founders, Trent Seibert and Lee Ann O’Neal. It appears, however, that the lure of the Astrodome was too much.
Editor-in-Chief Seibert couldn’t be happier that the woman responsible for “75% Texas Watchdog’s vision” will come on board as a full-time staffer.
“She’s one of the best editors I’ve ever worked with over my career and we are all thrilled to get her to come with us on a full-time basis. I feared she wouldn’t leave Tennessee but I believe she was comforted by the fact they’ve got statues of famous Tennessean Sam Houston up everywhere,” Seibert tells Post Politics excitedly. “Truth be told, that makes us all feel right at home. Jennifer can crunch numbers like Stephen Hawking and can see through politicians’ bullsh** like she’s got a radar built into her head. She is instrumental in complex stories.”
Peebles, of course, joins not just Seibert and O’Neal but Matt Pulle as well as Tennessee journalists leaving to contribute to Seibert’s new Texas venture in what is becoming somewhat of a Tennessee journalism brain drain.
“I feel I’m creating a halfway house of sorts. You know, ‘Seibert’s Home for Wayward Journalists,’ or something similar,” Seibert quips. “But it’s my kind of halfway house. We’ve got a bottle of vodka in my bottom drawer.”
Comments
3 Responses to “The Tennessean Losing Good Peebles: Veteran Government Editor Departs To Texas”
Are there no journalists in Texas from which to pick from?
Seibert’s Home for Wayward Journalists
Yeah, that’s what I’d call it. Sorry. I have a memory.
More GTT signs being hung. Not all causing regret.