POLITICO’s David Mark Named Editor-in-Chief of Politix

PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Politix (politix.topix.com), a mobile and desktop site that enables Americans to personally connect with the 2012 election by interacting with political news, has named David Mark Editor-in-Chief. Mark, a veteran political journalist, most recently served as a senior editor at POLITICO where he ran The Arena, the site’s opinion and debate forum. In his new role, Mark will shape Politix’s editorial direction, delivering daily original content as well as reaching out to contributors and thought leaders to build the community.

“David Mark brings the political and journalistic DNA we need to take Politix to the next level”

“David Mark brings the political and journalistic DNA we need to take Politix to the next level,” said Chris Tolles, CEO of Topix, the largest local forum site in the U.S. and the company responsible for Politix. “Leveraging his experience in soliciting opinions and response from some of the country’s top political minds, we hope to solidify Politix as a destination where everyone – from everyday citizens to members of Congress – can meet in a marketplace of ideas and have their voice heard.”

Mark brings more than 15 years experience in political reporting to Politix. Prior to his six years at POLITICO, Mark was the editor-in-chief of Campaigns & Elections as well as a reporter for Congressional Quarterly and Associated Press. Mark is also the author of “Going Dirty: The Art of Negative Campaigning”, which has been embraced as part of the curriculum by Dartmouth, Northwestern and Fordham among others. David is a graduate of the Columbia University School of Journalism and Brandeis University.

"I'm thrilled to be joining Politix as we head into the final months of the presidential race because the best political conversation these days is not one-way. Writing is only half the battle - stirring up informed discussion among interested citizens is the other,” said David Mark, editor-in-chief, Politix. “I look forward to bringing in a wave of new voices and opinions to Politix through Election Day and into either President Obama's second term or Mitt Romney's first."

Politix, which launched in February 2012, features news embedded with a call to action or question within each story. The resulting comments are then integrated into the site, enabling users to see where different people in different parts of the country stand on the issues. For example, Politix offers a daily Issues Map poll, allowing visitors to vote on important political issues – as well as make or endorse a statement – and get a sense for how their opinion compares with others around the country.

Other features of Politix include the ability to:

Endorse statements from “verified profile” users—crafted by well known thought-leaders, professors, policy analysts, journalists, and bloggers
See how people across the country, whether Democrat, Republican, Libertarian or Independent, stand on the issues that matter most
Share thoughts and opinions expressed on Politix via social networks such as Facebook and Twitter
Find, in one central location, where all the candidates stand on an issue

About Topix

Topix is the largest local forum site in the United States, aggregating news and hosting conversation for over twenty thousand cities and towns to over ten million people a month. A Top 10 online newspaper destination (comScore, July 2011), Topix is also the third largest local mobile site (Quantcast, February 2012). Based in Palo Alto, Calif., Topix LLC is a privately held company with investment from Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE: GCI), The McClatchy Company (NYSE: MNI) and Tribune Company. For more, visit www.topix.com