Matt Waite, a senior news technologist for the St. Petersburg Times and the principal developer of the Pulitzer Prize-winning PolitiFact, has joined the Florida Center for Investigative Reporting’s Board of Directors.
As a member of the investigative staff of the St. Petersburg Times, Waite co-authored a series of stories about Florida’s wetlands that was later expanded into a book, Paving Paradise: Florida’s Vanishing Wetlands and the Failure of No Net Loss.
In 2009, Waite co-founded Hot Type Consulting, a company that builds applications for media outlets and which helped launch the nonprofit Texas Tribune.
Waite currently teaches web development and new media at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, where he lives with his wife and their two children.
“We’re thrilled to have Matt join the FCIR Board,” said Sharon Rosenhause, president of FCIR’s Board of Directors. “He’s an experienced journalist who knows how to use technology to do more and better journalism. His commitment to public service reporting and his skill in finding new, dynamic ways to tell stories will be invaluable to the Florida Center for Investigative Reporting.”
While Waite has contributed to nonprofit journalism organizations around the country, his position as a board member at FCIR will give him a leading role in this organization.
“I’ve worked with nonprofit news organizations in Texas and California as a consultant and believe groups like FCIR have an important role in the future of journalism’s public service mission,” Waite said. “FCIR gave me a chance to be involved in a different capacity, helping to ensure the organization is part of that future.
“I truly believe investigative journalism is the highest calling for all journalists. It is journalism’s core mission. I believe, and my employers at the St. Petersburg Times believe, that Florida is better with more investigative journalism. FCIR’s focus on investigative reporting is a great addition to Florida journalism.”