June 12, 2014

Robyn Tomlin, former editor at Digital First Media’s Thunderdome is heading to Pew Research Center as chief digital officer. Tomlin tweeted the news on Thursday afternoon.

In April, Tomlin spoke with Poynter’s Jill Geisler about the reaction inside DFM Thunderdome when staff learned that it was be shutting down.

While talking up her “amazing group of people,” Tomlin tells me she hasn’t decided what she will do next in her own career. She’s not sure whether she’ll keep leading in legacy media or try the world of pure plays. Because Thunderdome’s shutdown will happen on a rolling basis, she hopes to guide each person and piece of it to a soft landing.

And, yes, it hurts. In her words, she’s “in mourning.”

Tomlin told me, “We still feel like we’re fighting for the future of journalism. We just won’t be doing it together.”


On June 6, Poynter’s Andrew Beaujon wrote that Jim Brady, former editor-in-chief at DFM, planned to launch a new news organization and would also teach at Temple University.

In April, Poynter wrote about a job fair Thunderdome held for employees in New York City.

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Kristen Hare teaches local journalists the critical skills they need to serve and cover their communities as Poynter's local news faculty member. Before joining faculty…
Kristen Hare

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