Tim Stephens
Editor, Consultant, and Social Media Manager in Boynton Beach, Florida
WHO I AM
I am Vice President of Strategic Partnerships at SportsManias.com, one of the nation's most innovative and fastest-growing sports apps.
Before that, I was deputy managing editor at CBSSports.com where I supervised all writers and set our editorial vision across all beats and platforms. I also worked closely with CBSSports, CBS Sports Network and CBS Sports Radio.
I joined CBS from Tribune Co., where I was Sports Topics Manager for the Orlando Sentinel and South Florida Sun-Sentinel. I joined Tribune in 2003 as a senior desk editor at the Orlando Sentinel, moving to assistant sports editor and deputy sports editor before being promoted to Sports Topics Manager in 2009. I was promoted to head of department of both the Sentinel and South Florida Sun-Sentinel of Fort Lauderdale in August 2010.
I served as president of the Associated Press Sports Editors for 2013-14. I began my career at the Post-Herald of Birmingham, Ala., rising from intern to co-managing editor between 1994 and 2003.
WHAT I'VE DONE
I've led multiple sports staffs to record digital metrics and national recognition in print and online. I've recruited, coached, promoted and advanced many talented journalists who've made me look good. I've had a lot of fun doing what I dreamed of doing as a kid.
WHAT I'VE SAID
"We're covering sports. ... for you. Those last two words are the most important words."
"See the need; be the need. These six words have defined the motivation for innovation from the time man's ancestors crawled from the primordial soup. These six words need to define everything we do in transforming journalism in the digital realm."
"Know your audience. No, really, know your audience. The median age of the print reader comes from a world in which they actually remember life with three television stations. Their needs and expectations as news consumers are clearly defined by their life experiences. News consumers below that median age have very different expectations. Our younger audience is defined by the expectation that any answer they want is 1 second away. Different products, different platforms, different audiences. Different needs and expectations."
"Competing on the digital level is the most challenging and rewarding thing we can do as journalists. But we must understand what it really means to compete."