Levey-Baker named associate editor of News Leader

Veteran journalist Cooper Levey-Baker of Sarasota has been named associate editor of The Sarasota News Leader.

Following two years as editor of the popular Creative Loafing publication in Sarasota, Levey-Baker was named editor of The Florida Independent in 2010, at its launch. He not only wrote frequently about regional and statewide political issues himself, he also oversaw staff members who were producing journalism that had an impact on public policy and debate.

Additionally, Levey-Baker led the growth of traffic to the The Florida Independent site. That traffic reached the level of 70,000 unique visitors and 85,000 pageviews per month.

At Creative Loafing, Levey-Baker was known for his writing about political and civic issues. During his tenure at that publication, he also was an executive board member of Forum Truth, which brought a wide range of national figures to Sarasota to discuss national issues.

Prior to joining the Creative Loafing staff, Levey-Baker was the field organizer for the Florida Campaign for Change, in 2008. He organized hundreds of volunteers to conduct highly successful voter registration drives and voter contact shifts. As a result of his and his staff’s efforts, Barack Obama only narrowly missed becoming the first Democratic presidential candidate to win Sarasota County since Franklin Roosevelt in 1944.