Since 2009, the Downtown Devil has strived to contribute something unique to the downtown Phoenix community.
Just like anyone else who lives or works downtown, we have used our talents and energy to try to make this city a better place. We have hoped to educate our readers about what is happening in their community, whether it is a lecture at ASU, a community initiative picking up steam, a popular business closing or a promising one opening.
The Downtown Devil has grown, improved and innovated every year since its inception, from a five-person operation producing a blog-style website to an award-winning publication with dozens of reporters and a steady production of professional-level content.
Throughout the publication’s first three years, few changes in leadership have taken place. Four of the five co-founders were still with the publication last semester, and all five managing editors had been with the Downtown Devil since its first semester of publication.
This semester, the Downtown Devil will undergo its first wholesale change in editorial leadership. Former managing editors LeeAnn DiSanti, Dan Neligh, Salvador Rodriguez, Stephanie Snyder and Dustin Volz will be replaced by Evie Carpenter, Jack Fitzpatrick, Jessica Goldberg, Julia Tylor and Mauro Whiteman.
Several former editors will remain involved as publishers, but the new managing editors will run the day-to-day news operations.
The current editors, reporters and entire staff of the Downtown Devil would like to thank the founders for their hard work over the last three years. Those editors not only brought downtown Phoenix its news everyday, but they also gave many young journalism students their first opportunity as reporters. They were responsible for every accomplishment the Downtown Devil has had and many more still in the works. We wish them well in their future pursuits.
Despite the transition in leadership, the Downtown Devil’s goal remains exactly the same — to provide reliable hyperlocal news coverage of downtown Phoenix. We are a niche publication focused on providing something our readers cannot find anywhere else. Larger news outlets cover downtown Phoenix, but we are determined to produce the most focused and comprehensive coverage of the issues that matter to this community.
That has always been the Downtown Devil’s purpose, and it will not change.
Other than that basic principle of professional, objective reporting, everything else at the Downtown Devil will evolve. Our editors will look for new, innovative ways to produce the news more effectively than ever. From our website design to our discussion and debate events, we will improve every aspect of our product, and hopefully by May we will have accomplished more in a semester than ever before.
But all these changes will keep with what our readers have grown to expect from the Downtown Devil. The publication has always adapted, grown and improved rapidly. When we make changes, we are following a tradition of innovation that has defined our publication for the last three years. We hope that, three years from now, we will have improved as much as we did in our first three years.
To accomplish those goals, we will work as hard as we ever have to publish the best product possible each day. We will work between classes, jobs and internships, throughout each weekend and late into the night.
We do it for fun, for practice, for professional experience — for practically everything but money. Mostly, we do it because we love downtown Phoenix and our readers make it worth all the effort.
When you choose to read the Downtown Devil, it gives us great satisfaction because we know we are helping brilliant students, renowned teachers, passionate and engaged community members, productive business owners, inventive artists and, most importantly, good people. The people of downtown Phoenix make it an exciting place to live and work, and we are honored to report the news here.
Thank you for your continued support.
To view all staff changes for the spring semester, please consult our masthead. Any questions can be directed to news@downtowndevil.com
