OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERATristram Korten, a newspaper, magazine and radio journalist who has covered politics, the environment, and crime from Tallahassee to Port-au-Prince, is the new editor at the Florida Center for Investigative Reporting, effective immediately.

Korten has been a contributing writer for FCIR where his stories included the difficulty hunting international fugitives, the governor’s economic policies, and state challenges to the constitution.

He has reported extensively throughout Florida and the Caribbean for The Atlantic Monthly, Public Radio International’s “The World,” The New York Times, Miami Herald, Fast Company, Details and numerous other news organizations.

Previously he wrote for Miami New Times, the Times Herald-Record in Middletown, N.Y., and in 2000 he took a break from journalism to work as a special agent in the Miami-Dade County Office of the Inspector General.

Korten spent the last year as a Knight Wallace Fellow at the University of Michigan where he was the Mike Wallace Fellow in Investigative Journalism. He has written an e-book on organized crime’s impact on the Caribbean that will be released by The Atlantic Monthly this year.

“Tris has a rich background in investigative journalism and in-depth reporting that’s impressive for its range and substance,” said Sharon Rosenhause, FCIR’s board president. “He’s a great reporter with diverse interests who knows Florida and the hemisphere.”

Korten has won many awards for his reporting. In 2012, his FCIR/WLRN-Miami Herald Radio project “Bondsmen on the Hunt, Fugitives on the Run” won the National Headliner Best of Show for radio, first-place Edward R. Murrow Regional Broadcaster’s Award for Audio Feature Reporting and the Florida AP Broadcast Award, first place Public Affairs Reporting for a radio feature.

With 15 years of journalism experience in Florida, Korten knows the state and its issues. Korten described himself as a “proud contributor to FCIR” since 2011 and strongly believes in the mission of the nonprofit investigative, bilingual, digital organization.

“I know the special challenges involved in doing investigations with limited resources,” Korten said, adding: “FCIR offers a future for serious in-depth reporting in a changed media landscape, and I’m happy to help that mission in any way I can.”

Korten, who is originally from Michigan, graduated from Colby College, in Maine. He lives in the metro Miami area.

Korten succeeds Eric Barton, interim editor since August. Trevor Aaronson and Mc Nelly Torres were FCIR’s co-founders and associate directors.