John Haile

John Haile, who along with James Gentry is a principal of the consulting firm Inside Out Media Partners, will continue with their ongoing academic and consulting activities and will continue to be closely involved with Convergence: The Tour, The Media Center’s twice-a-year seminar on multiplatform publishing in Florida.

Haile was editor and vice president of the Orlando Sentinel for 15 years before retiring in late 2000. During his tenure, the Sentinel greatly expanded its local news coverage and received numerous regional and national awards. Three were Pulitzer Prizes – for editorial writing in 1988 and 2000 and investigative reporting in 1993. He is best known, though, as the architect of the Sentinel’s conversion from a traditional newspaper operation to a multimedia information company. Haile led the development of the newspaper’s — and Tribune Company’s — interactive TV project, which was tested on Time Warner’s Full Service Network in the mid-1990s. He also headed the newspaper’s development of a 24-hour cable news service and some of the industry’s first interactive services. Those included a travel service and Black Voices, the most popular niche service for African Americans.

Haile spent more than a dozen years as a political reporter for The (Nashville) Tennessean before moving to The Sentinel. In Orlando, he headed the newspaper’s investigative projects, political coverage and, then, editorial pages before becoming editor. Haile is a graduate of Vanderbilt University and has a master’s degree from Boston University. He also is a former professional journalism fellow in what is now the Knight Fellowship program at Stanford University.
Gentry consults frequently in convergence, helping newspapers and broadcast operations develop partnerships in the areas of content, advertising, promotions and online. In 1999-2000, he was the consultant who helped The Tampa Tribune, WFLA-TV and TBO.com converge their news efforts in a new $34 million facility.