Shawn Gibson, our longest-tenured reporter, is leaving BarrieToday to take a newly created job with the mayor's office at city hall.
Beginning Sept. 1, Gibson will be the operations assistant under Mayor Alex Nuttall. His responsibilities will include providing confidential and non-confidential administrative and clerical support to personnel within the office of the mayor, as well as other duties in line with the city's "corporate objectives."
"I’ve always had a passion for politics, particularly municipal politics," Gibson said. "The opportunity was presented to me to get a taste of how our city works and while I absolutely love journalism and BarrieToday, it was something I felt deeply about and I wanted to give a try."
Gibson began reporting for BarrieToday in November 2015 in a freelance capacity, just one month after the news site was launched. The Rexdale native became a full-time staff member on Nov. 1, 2018, covering a wide variety of beats, including crime, sports, politics, and everything in between.
For editor Raymond Bowe, who joined BarrieToday in early 2018, Gibson was the first person he hired in the newsroom.
"Shawn was doing so much and covering so many different areas of the city that it only made sense to bring him on full-time," Bowe said. "At that time, we were still a pretty lean news outlet and Shawn brought a ton of energy and curiosity to the job every single day. He was always a bulldog on stories and never gave up.
"So while I am sad to see him go, our loss will be city hall's gain," Bowe added. "I wish him nothing but the best."
Gibson says local journalism will always be in his bones.
"I’m very proud to have worked at BarrieToday and help grow the company into what I feel is the best source for the news in our city," he said. "Journalism is important, especially when it is done right, and I believe BarrieToday does it the right way."
