Reporters shifting to new beats

Reporters can cover any subject at any time, but they primarily focus on a beat or even multiple beats. For instance, Gary Robbins covers science and higher education.

Readers become familiar with reporters. Many probably associate Kate Morrissey with immigration or David Garrick with San Diego City Hall, for example.

Many reporters like to switch beats from time to time, maybe to cover a fresh topic or move to a higher-profile subject.

“Reporters love to learn new things and talk to different people, or try a different style of writing,” said Denise Amos, who leads the Watchdog and Government teams.

Readers might notice some recent changes, or they might want to contact reporters, so here are three recent beat changes:

Deborah Sullivan Brennan has moved to the county government and politics beat. She had been covering North County education, environmental and marine issues and biodiversity. Her experience includes working at the North County Times, Los Angeles Times and the Los Angeles Daily News. She can be reached at deborah.brennan@sduniontribune.com.

Gary Warth had been covering county government temporarily after Charles T. Clark moved to a columnist role. Warth also covers homelessness and has played a key role in COVID-19 coverage.

He has now switched to the North County team. He’ll cover San Marcos and Vista, in addition to other subjects. He will continue to report on homelessness countywide. North County is familiar territory. He worked at the Blade-citizen in Oceanside and at the North County Times. Warth can be reached at gary.warth@sduniontribune.com.

Military reporter Andrew Dyer has moved from the Watchdog team to the Enterprise team, where he will continue covering the military and the issues families and support staff face. He also will continue reporting on local extremist groups. Dyer served in the Navy for 11 years. He began at the Union-tribune as an intern three years ago. He can be reached at andrew.dyer@sduniontribune.com.

adrian.vore@sduniontribune.com