Dan Watson

2801 San Marino St., Apt. 11, Los Angeles, CA 90006 Phone: 530.409.6919 E-Mail: dewatson@usc.edu Online Portfolio: www.danwatsononline.com B.A., Journalism, Cal Poly, SLO; M.A., Online Journalism, USC

Media background
Executive Editor Full-time Aug. 2012 Nov. 2013 West Hollywood Media Company (WEHOville.com) West Hollywood, Calif. As co-creator, conceived name, voice, mission, features, sections and design for online publication covering the city of West Hollywood. Built freelance reporter/photo staff. Assigned, edited, wrote and published stories. Launched WEHOville.com in one month (September 2012). In November, two months after launch, the site had 35,000 monthly pageviews, equaling the average of the two competing "hyperlocal" news sites that had operated for years. October 2013 pageviews were 92,000. As editor, managed a number of freelancers, including an editor-at-large, two part-time photographers, political reporter, food critic, architect critic, music critic, calendar editor and a number of others. Frequently wrote articles on all subjects. For nearly a year, was company's only full-time employee. Aggressively built Facebook "likes" to more than 3,300 through story promotion, contests, social media button placement and instruction of "marketing director." Using similar tactics, built Twitter feed to more than 1,000 followers. Created Tumblr, Pinterest, Instagram and Google+ accounts. Created "DailyFix" e-mail newsletter and built subscribers to nearly 1,000. Created "gTV" directory, which has since become the web's definitive guide for gay web series. Associate Producer Part-time July 2012 Aug. 2012

Los Angeles Times With small team, created augmented reality app for Olympics. Readers could hover their phones over photos in the newspaper to view multimedia content that included photo galleries and videos. Editor-in-Chief Full-time Sept. 2011 May 2012

Neontommy.com Was in charge of the nations most widely trafficked online college news site. Oversaw an editorial board of more than 40 editors, and an entire staff of more than 100. Instituted first daily budget system in publication history, including daily budget meetings using Google Hangout. Built the publications first graphics and photo department; created first policy handbook. Set all-time traffic records: more than 1 million pageviews in the first semester, spanning 120 countries. Led surge in Facebook likes and Twitter followers to nearly 4,000 apiece; directed four Tumblr sites. Effectively built staff of 20 executive producers for near-24/7 web aggregation. Received "Director's Award for Excellence" (USC's top honor in journalism) (2012) Assistant Sports Editor Full-time Nov. 2006 Aug. 2010

Lee Central Coast Newspapers Santa Maria, California Led a team of seven, overseeing production of five sports sections. Laid out multiple sections daily. Wrote stories, hosted a video sports show, tweeted about completed first marathon, awarded Sports story of year in California. Editor-in-Chief Full-time June 2005 June 2006

Mustang Daily San Luis Obispo, California (College newspaper) Supervised only completely student-run college newspaper in the nation. Managed 14 editors and 19 reporters. Launched new website. Shortly after its launch, it was named best college newspaper website in the nation (ACP).

Professional development
One of six winners of prestigious News21 fellowship, covering the 2012 presidential campaign for the Guardian (London, UK). Story online. (May 2012- July 2012). Freelance work has appeared in the Sac Bee, Orange County Register, KCET and Columbia Journalism Review. Part-time jobs have included work at the Mountain Democrat (2001-2002), San Luis Obispo Tribune (2002-2003), CBS-owned Maxpreps.com (2004) and Davis Enterprise (2006). Interned at UK current affairs magazine Prospect.

Online portfolio: www.danwatsononline.com