Newark Department of Public Safety Welcomes Mark Di Ionno as Public Information Officer

Newark Mayor Ras J. Baraka and Public Safety Director Anthony F. Ambrose announced that former Star-Ledger columnist and author Mark Di Ionno has joined his executive staff as the Department of Public Safety Information Officer.

“I’ve known Mark as a journalist for almost two decades and he has consistently covered Newark and Essex County law enforcement with fairness and integrity,” Ambrose said. “There were plenty of times when our relationship was adversarial, but I always trusted that he was equally interested in our side of the story and I never felt blindsided by his work.”

Di Ionno was distinguished as a Pulitzer Prize finalist in news commentary in 2013 for his coverage of Hurricane Sandy and the ongoing trials in the Mount Vernon School shootings. He was a five-time winner of the New Jersey Press Association’s award for column writing, with many of his awarded columns centering on the impact of violent crime on families and about the city of Newark in general.

“We’re looking for Mark to tell the same stories about our policing initiatives that he did as a journalist,” Ambrose said. “We want him to write about the human interaction between police, firefighters and the community, and to promote the programs we offer to bring us even closer to the public.”

“One of my goals as a journalist was to explore people’s similarities rather than exploit their differences,” said Di Ionno. “I intend to do the same here.”