In his new role, Clarke will serve as creative director for AccessNorthGa.com, Northeast Georgia's oldest online news source. He will develop content across Jacobs Media's radio, web and mobile platforms and will participate in WDUN's political coverage. He will also create marketing campaigns for the company and for the unique local content it produces.
"We are thrilled to have someone of Mitch's talent join our team," said Jay Jacobs, president and CEO of Jacobs Media. "Mitch is an experienced journalist, well known and well respected in our community. He brings a depth of knowledge and experience that will help us throughout the company."
"I am honored to join Jacobs Media," Clarke said. "I appreciate the confidence Jay and the Jacobs family has shown in me, and I look forward to a long association. I love Gainesville and Northeast Georgia, and the chance to continue to serve this community while working with such a respected news organization was something I couldn't turn down."
Clarke was executive editor of The Times in Gainesville for nearly seven years until 2013. During his tenure at The Times, the newspaper and its website have received numerous honors. The Times has won the Georgia Press Association's general excellence award for the five straight years, making it the best newspaper of its size in Georgia. The website, gainesvilletimes.com, was honored as best news website in the South for three of the last four years.
Clarke is the winner of several Associated Press and Georgia Press Association writing awards, including the Otis A. Brumby Trophy for serious column in 2010 and the Joe Parham Trophy for humorous column in 2012. He also won a first-place award in deadline writing in 1992 for coverage of a visit to Macon by Bill Clinton during his presidential campaign.
For 12 years, he was a reporter and editor at The Macon Telegraph, specializing in coverage of government and politics at both the local and state levels. He was also chief of the newspaper's Houston-Peach bureau in the mid 1990s.
Before coming to Gainesville, Clarke spent six years at Georgia College & State University as director of university communications. Before going to Georgia College, he was director of public information for the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners.
Since coming to Gainesville, Clarke has become very active in the community. He is a member of the Gainesville Kiwanis Club. Previously, he has served on the boards of the United Way of Hall County, the Northeast Georgia History Center, Court Appointed Special Advocates and the Gainesville State College Board of Trustees. He is a member of First United Methodist Church of Gainesville.
Clarke is a 1986 graduate of Valdosta State College, where he received a degree in English/Journalism. He is a native of Blakely in southwest Georgia.
Mitch Clarke
http://accesswdun.com/article/2014/4/274173