Former editor and publisher of Rocky Mountain News will oversee The Post’s local coverage and digital initiatives

The Washington Post today announces John Temple will join The Post as a managing editor, overseeing coverage that predominantly serves the local audience and acting as the newsroom’s senior digital editor.  

Temple is a former editor and publisher of the Rocky Mountain News, a former vice president of the E.W. Scripps Newspaper group, and most recently, the founding editor and general manager of Honolulu Civil Beat, an online news site co-founded by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar.  

“As a reporter and editor with decades of experience running local newsrooms and as a leader who has successfully launched a number of pioneering digital news projects, John’s background is ideally suited to the role he's taking on at The Post. As a managing editor for The Post, John will ensure that the coverage we provide to our print and digital audiences is smart, original and acutely attentive to our audience. He'll help us to build on the rapid growth we've enjoyed recently with readers who come to us through our website, on mobile devices, or through new platforms like the incredibly successful Washington Post Social Reader on Facebook,” said Marcus Brauchli, Executive Editor of The Washington Post.    

As a Washington Post managing editor, Temple will run Local, Sports, Weekend, the Going Out Guide, Local Living, Food, Travel, Sunday Arts, Sunday Style, The Washington Post Magazine and Capitol Business. He joins managing editor Liz Spayd, who will continue to oversee the day-to-day plans for the newspaper and manage the National, Foreign, Business, Style, Investigative, Outlook, Health & Science sections and Universal News Desk.    
During Temple’s time at Rocky Mountain News, he spearheaded the launch of a number of successful digital ventures and founded YourHub.com, the largest citizen-journalism initiative by a major American newspaper when it was created in 2005. The paper also won four Pulitzers and was a finalist for two others. At Scripps, he conceived, developed and launched a national cultural/political website, RedBlueAmerica.com that set out in 2008 to inform users about civic issues and perspectives different from their own. Among Temple’s most ambitious local digital news projects was his recent launch of CivilBeat.com, a site that was named Hawaii's best overall news site by state chapter of Society of Professional Journalists.  

Temple’s first day at The Washington Post will be April 30.