County Assigns New Media Officer

September 23, 2010

The Tulare County Board of Supervisors today announced Jed Chernabaeff will serve as the County Media Officer.

Chernabaeff has served as a Board Representative for the Tulare County Board of Supervisors since September 2007, where he has been responsible for constituent issues and special projects, including the Board's Step Up anti-gang activities. Chernabaeff will retain his Board Representative duties in addition to serving as media officer. The addition of media officer duties was approved Tuesday, September 21 during the Tulare County budget hearings.  

“The Board is confident Jed will do a great job in his new role as media officer,” said Steve Worthley, Chairman of the Tulare County Board of Supervisors.

As the County’s Media Officer, some of Chernabaeff’s additional duties will include: serving as the central source of departmental information and responding to inquiries made by the news media and the public; developing new publications; and utilizing social media and websites for information dissemination.

Chernabaeff has assumed the media-related duties of Eric Coyne, who has served as Tulare County Media Officer since 1998. Coyne will now be responsible for managing Tulare County’s tourism program, the Tulare County Film Commission, and leading the county’s Broadband Expansion Initiative, among other duties. Prior to serving as Tulare County Media Officer, Coyne served as staff to the Board of Supervisors and as a reporter for the Fresno Bee and Visalia Times-Delta.

“Eric has served as the County’s tourism manager for the past two years and has been dividing his time between media duties and promoting our local economy,” Chairman Worthley said. “This change will allow Jed to expand his social media outreach programs and will allow Eric to better promote Tulare County.”

Chernabaeff earned a degree in Mass Communications and Journalism from CSU, Fresno in 2004. He will officially begin his media officer duties today. Prior to working for Tulare County, Chernabaeff served as a reporter for the Visalia Times-Delta, covering county government and educational issues.