Alex Tiegen, Neighbor

E-Mail: Alex.Tiegen@Patch.com

Phone: 727-515-0640

Hometown: Newburyport, Massachusetts, but he moved to Florida when he was 7.

Birthday: Sept. 13

Alex Tiegen, editor for New Port Richey Patch, is a journalist and longtime Florida resident who has experience in covering community news, business issues and politics. Since moving to the state at the age of 7, he has written about, lived in or visited almost every major metropolitan area in the state.

He started his career as a full-time temporary staff writer for the Valley News in 2008. While at the paper, he reported on the people, government and camels of the Upper Valley, a cluster of communities on the border of Vermont and New Hampshire.

He returned to Florida and spent about two years freelancing for several daily or weekly news publications in South Florida, including Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers, Forum Publishing Group, the Miami New Times and Broward/Palm Beach New Times.

He was also one of the first staff writers for the Sunshine State News, a web start-up covering business and politics in Florida for a conservative readership.

In his free time, Alex love to ride his bike, spend time in nature and read. He reads everything: Novels, narrative and in-depth journalism, nonfiction, mostly about history and graphic novels with pretty, pretty pictures.

Your Beliefs

At Patch, we promise always to report the facts as objectively as possible and otherwise adhere to the principles of good journalism. However, we also acknowledge that true impartiality is impossible because human beings have beliefs. So in the spirit of simple honesty, our policy is to encourage our editors to reveal their beliefs to the extent they feel comfortable. This disclosure is not a license for you to inject your beliefs into stories or to dictate coverage according to them. In fact, the intent is the opposite: we hope that the knowledge that your beliefs are on the record will cause you to be ever mindful to write, report and edit in a fair, balanced way. And if you ever see evidence that we failed in this mission, please let us know.

Politics

I'm registered as a Democrat, but I don't let my political beliefs influence my reporting. I have worked for news outlets that are conservative, liberal and centrist. One of my favorite parts of being a journalist is the thrill annd challenge of looking at both sides of an argument and presenting them fairly.

Religion

I'm a casual Jew. I don't actively practice the religion, but I like to think I stay faithful to the culture and key tenets of Judaism. Staying kosher is easy when you're a vegetarian.

Hot Button Issues

Having just moved to the Tampa Bay area, I'm still getting a feel for New Port Richey. I'm excited to discover more about the community, and you'll probably see me exploring the area with a notebook or laptop in hand. If you see me walking or driving down the street, stop by and chat awhile.