Peter Schorsch
Gainesville Sun public safety reporter Arek Sarkissian has been tapped to become Tallahassee bureau chief for the Naples Daily News.
Prior to joining the Sun in August 2014, Sarkissian was a legislative reporter for LobbyTools, where he focused health care and education issues. Before that, he served as a multimedia journalist for the Tallahassee Democrat.
“Leaving ‘The Sun’ is hard,” Sarkissian said about his new role, “but I’m excited to work on a team that loves this state and the news business so much.”
“Also, I’m excited to reunite with my Tallahassee long-distance running crew,” he added.
Sarkissian will visit Gainesville one night a week to teach a reporting lab under Mike Foley at the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications.
The Arizona Daily Wildcat alumni website calls Sarkissian a “reporter’s reporter” who often writes on state worker issues, and named Tallahassee Democrat employee of the month for coverage of the Florida Retirement System. He also covered Gov. Rick Scott’s trade mission to Bogota, Colombia. Sarkissian has also reported on public safety and the courts in Evansville, Indiana, Savannah, Georgia and Bluffon, South Carolina.
Sarkissian will be replacing Matt Dixon, who left the Scripps/Journal Media Group to join POLITICO.
