Derrek Vaughn | The Valdosta Daily Times

VALDOSTA – The Valdosta Daily Times welcomes Chris Herbert to its staff of reporters.

Herbert is from Atlanta and traveled to Florida for college where he attended the University of Florida. There, he got his degree in applied physiology and kinesiology because he thought he wanted to go to PA or med school.

He returned to Atlanta after graduation and spent three years working in retinal ophthalmology. Herbert decided he did not care much for health care and wanted to try his hand at writing.

Initially, he pursued sports writing and did some writing for SB Nation which led to a job with Yahoo for college football.

He said he found himself at a crossroads as to whether or not he should pursue sports writing or return for his master’s degree, which led to University of Georgia where he received his master’s in journalism.

Herbert wanted to “cut his teeth” somewhere, which brought him down to Valdosta to join The Valdosta Daily Times staff.

“I wanted to work in an environment where I would get a lot of bylines and do a lot of things,” Herbert said. “My boss in grad school told me this was a paper where you get to report on a lot of interesting things and had a company behind you that was going to let you do actual journalism.”

He is looking forward to digging into stories here in Valdosta.

“We are really excited to have Chris onboard. His passion for investigative, enterprise journalism is refreshing,” Valdosta Daily Times Editor Jim Zachary said. “He is a smart journalist who cares deeply about the facts and reporting fairly and accurately.”

As for Herbert’s future, he hopes to one day be part of the Washington Post’s investigative unit, particularly on political investigations, but for now, he’s focusing on getting to know the Valdosta area and reporting about the local government.

“With local governments, there is less of a limelight on them so I think it’s very important for people to know what’s going on,” Herbert said. “Going hand in hand with that, keeping that power to a certain standard and showing the people what is actually going on and then by doing that, not limiting, but keeping the powerful accountable.”

Outside of work, Herbert said he enjoys hiking, working out and cooking and is looking forward to checking out Georgia Beer Company. 

Desiree Carver is a reporter at the Valdosta Daily Times. She can be reached at (229) 244-3400 ext. 1215.