Civil Beat’s founding editor, John Temple, has joined First Look Media, the journalism startup in the process of being created by CB owner, Pierre Omidyar.

The venture already includes founders Glenn Greenwald, Laura Poitras and Jeremy Scahill, along with several other key journalists already on board.

Omidyar made the announcement this morning in a post on the First Look blog. Temple will be in a leadership role, with the title President, Audience and Products.

Omidyar wrote:

I value John’s judgment. I’ve seen his commitment to questioning and testing ideas in action. He is a seasoned publisher and journalist who has embraced the endless possibilities at the intersection of technology and media. He is fresh from his post as a senior fellow at the John S. Knight Journalism Fellowships program at Stanford, where he spent a year investigating how technology can better help people engage and connect with the news. I believe his skills will strengthen First Look during these early stages of development. He is a strong leader who believes in learning through experimentation, and who knows the power of being surrounded by passionate, driven people who challenge each other to try, fail, learn and try again.

Temple, in a brief note on Facebook, called it the “Biggest challenge/opportunity of my professional life.”

According to a press release, “Temple will develop the best ways to serve audiences as well as oversee the company’s editorial vision.”

Temple actually started work a week ago, although the public announcement was made today. He will be based in San Francisco.

We can hope that Civil Beat will benefit from its close ties with Temple and the team being assembled at First Look.