From tracking down the facts to doling out the information.
That’s the transition made by David DeCamp, the city’s director of communications.
The career journalist joined Mayor Alvin Brown’s staff in March 2012. He leads a 12-member department responsible for strategic communications, media relations, speech writing, web channels, social media and photographic communications.
DeCamp began his reporting as a teen, writing for two newspapers before enrolling at Indiana University to study journalism and public policy.
“I had my first byline when I was 17,” he said.
After graduating in 1996, DeCamp covered politics and government for the Fort Wayne (Ind.) Journal Gazette before coming to Jacksonville in 2000 for a job with The Florida Times-Union. He continued on the political beat and covered the 2000 presidential election, the state Legislature and the federal government.
After six years with the Times-Union, DeCamp moved south to cover government and politics at the Tampa Bay Times.
Then the mayor called.
“I got to do a lot of great things in journalism and then I got a great opportunity to work for Mayor Alvin Brown,” he said. “It also was the opportunity to come back to Jacksonville, which meant a lot to my wife and me.”
What’s the most major change that came with the career shift?
“There are a lot of the same traits and principles of effective communication. It’s a big difference being the one answering the questions instead of being the one posing the questions,” DeCamp said. “It’s important for both sides to respect the process.”
While working for the city is “a much different environment than working in a newsroom,” DeCamp said, one workplace element didn’t change.
“We write on deadline here. too,” he said. “I’m on deadline every day to communicate our side.”
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