Tyler Bridges
{{short description|American freelance reporter|bot=PearBOT 5}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Tyler Bridges
| birth_place = Palo Alto, California
| nationality = American
| education = Stanford University
| occupation = Journalist
| spouse =
}}
Tyler Bridges is an American reporter for The Advocate/The Times-Picayune who has contributed to The Washington Post, Politico, and other publications. He was previously a reporter for The Lens (a non-profit digital newsroom based in New Orleans), The Miami Herald, and The Times-Picayune. Bridges has reported on New Orleans and Louisiana politics as well as on Latin American affairs.
Early life and education
Bridges grew up in Palo Alto, California, and attended Palo Alto High School. In 1982, he graduated with a degree in political science from Stanford University, where he was a member of the Leland Stanford Junior University Marching Band.{{cite web|title=Biography|url=http://www.tylerbridges.com/bio.htm|work=Tyler Bridges|accessdate=May 25, 2013|archive-date=December 9, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131209192139/http://tylerbridges.com/bio.htm|url-status=live}}
Career
From 1982 to 1984, Bridges was the editor of People & Taxes, a monthly newspaper published by Ralph Nader's Public Citizen. From 1984 to 1986, he was a reporter for The Daily Journal, the English-language newspaper in Caracas, Venezuela.{{cite web|last=Bridges|first=Tyler|title=Stanford Magazine|url=http://alumni.stanford.edu/get/page/magazine/article/?article_id=41377|work=Stanford Magazine|accessdate=May 25, 2013|archive-date=February 9, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150209112051/http://alumni.stanford.edu/get/page/magazine/article/?article_id=41377|url-status=live}}
From 1986 to 1989, he was a freelance journalist in South America, reporting from various countries. From 1989 to 1996, Bridges was a reporter for The Times-Picayune of New Orleans. His coverage of David Duke, the former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard who at the time was in the process of briefly gaining political office in Louisiana, resulted in Bridges's first book, The Rise of David Duke, published in 1994.{{cite web|title=Biography|url=http://www.tylerbridges.com/bio.htm|work=Tyler Bridges|accessdate=May 25, 2013|archive-date=December 9, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131209192139/http://tylerbridges.com/bio.htm|url-status=live}}{{Cite web |date=May 20, 2010 |title=The Rise of David Duke by Tyler Bridges |url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/tyler-bridges/the-rise-of-david-duke/ |url-status=live |access-date=August 26, 2022 |website=Kirkus Reviews |language=en-US |archive-date=August 26, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220826190616/https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/tyler-bridges/the-rise-of-david-duke/ }}{{Cite news |last=Leggett |first=Jim |date=June 13, 1994 |title=Duke Biography Reveals the Real Man |pages=23 |work=The Town Talk |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108363998/duke-biography-reveals-the-real-man-by/ |access-date=August 26, 2022 |archive-date=August 26, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220826190614/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108363998/duke-biography-reveals-the-real-man-by/ |url-status=live }}
Between 1992 and 1996, Bridges also covered the legalization of gambling in Louisiana. This became the subject of his next book, Bad Bet on the Bayou: The Rise of Gambling in Louisiana and The Fall of Governor Edwin Edwards.{{cite web|title=Bad Bet on the Bayou|url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/tyler-bridges/bad-bet-on-the-bayou/|work=Kirkus|accessdate=May 25, 2013|archive-date=February 9, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150209123604/https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/tyler-bridges/bad-bet-on-the-bayou/|url-status=live}}{{Cite web |date=May 7, 2001 |title=BAD BET ON THE BAYOU: The Rise of Gambling in Louisiana and the Fall of Governor Edwin Edwards by Tyler Bridges |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780374108304 |url-status=live |access-date=August 26, 2022 |website=Publishers Weekly |language=en-US |archive-date=August 26, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220826191312/https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780374108304 }}
After leaving the Times-Picayune, Bridges went to work for the Miami Herald, for which he served as chief political correspondent, based in Miami, and as a reporter on the Florida state government, based in Tallahassee.{{cite web|title=Tyler Bridges Papers|url=http://lib.lsu.edu/special/findaid/4899.pdf|accessdate=May 25, 2013|archive-date=September 5, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120905111048/http://www.lib.lsu.edu/special/findaid/4899.pdf|url-status=live}}
In 2011–2012, Bridges spent a year at Harvard University on a Nieman Fellowship, studying the coverage of politics and government in digital media.{{cite web|title=Nieman Foundation announces Nieman Fellows in Class of 2011|url=http://www.nieman.harvard.edu/newsitem.aspx?id=100137|work=Nieman Foundation for Journalism|accessdate=May 25, 2013|archive-date=May 4, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130504095604/http://www.nieman.harvard.edu/newsitem.aspx?id=100137|url-status=live}}
On September 19, 2012, Bridges became a staff writer for The Lens, a digital news site in New Orleans.{{cite web|title=The Lens|url=http://thelensnola.org/?s=tyler+bridges&search+submit=GO|accessdate=May 25, 2013|archive-date=August 26, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220826190616/https://thelensnola.org/?s=tyler+bridges&search+submit=GO|url-status=live}}
Writing for Politico in November 2016, Bridges recounted his experience watching former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard David Duke in his race for New Orleans Senate seat of retiring U.S. Senator David Vitter in 2016. Bridges sat in on the statewide television debate held at the historically black college, Dillard University.{{cite web|last1=Bridges|first1=Tyler|title=David Duke's Last Stand|url=http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/11/david-duke-louisiana-debate-214414|publisher=Politico|accessdate=January 26, 2017|archive-date=February 2, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202025353/http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/11/david-duke-louisiana-debate-214414|url-status=live}}
Personal life
From 2008 to 2019, Bridges was married to Cecilia Tait, who was a prominent member of the silver medal-winning Peruvian women's volleyball team at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul. She was known as "the golden left arm." Bridges and Tait were a couple for eight years and had a daughter together, Luciana, before marrying on September 14, 2008. Tait also has another daughter, Laura from a previous relationship. Bridges and Tait divorced in 2019.{{cite web|title=Cecilia Tait:El Triunfo del Amor|url=http://www.caretas.com.pe/Main.asp?T=3082&idE=795&idS=74|work=Caretas|accessdate=May 25, 2013|archive-date=February 2, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140202193922/http://www.caretas.com.pe/Main.asp?T=3082&idE=795&idS=74|url-status=dead}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.tylerbridges.com Official website]
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Category:American male journalists
Category:Stanford University alumni
Category:Writers from New Orleans