The full-time Arlington press corps is growing by 50 percent. Rebecca A. Cooper has just been named the Arlington neighborhood reporter for the forthcoming TBD.com.
“I’m thrilled!” Cooper told ARLnow.com. “Arlington has been my home for almost four years, and I’m always discovering new niches and quirks about the place. The area certainly has been crying out for some more coverage, and I’m excited to start adding to what’s already out there.”
Cooper will begin reporting on Arlington when TBD launches. The launch date is, well, TBD, but we’re thinking “by the end of summer” seems like a decent guess.
TBD, owned by Allbritton Communications and helmed by former washingtonpost.com executive editor Jim Brady, will be both a web site, which will replace the current web sites of ABC7 and NewsChannel8, and a TV channel, which will replace the current format of NewsChannel8.
Cooper joins Scott McCaffrey and this guy on the full-time Arlington beat. Other reporters who regularly cover Arlington as part of a wider beat include the Washington Post’s Christy Goodman, WAMU’s David Schultz, the Washington Examiner’s Markham Heid and Connection Newspapers’ Delia Sava and Michael Lee Pope.
Prior to joining TBD, Cooper worked as a staff writer for DCist.com, covering mostly food, drink and culture. Her resume also includes three years as a community reporter on Long Island.
It’s worth noting that Cooper is the second DCist staffer to defect for TBD. Former DCist editor Sommer Mathis joined TBD in June.