Ernest joined the Times in 1992 as a Tampa sports editor. He coordinated coverage of prep and community sports events for Hillsborough County. He also supervised 10 staff writers and correspondents, produced budgets, issued photo assignments, wrote and edited stories. In July 1997, he covered the NFL/Bucs beat for the Times. He wrote features, sidebars, weekly television/radio sports columns and related stories. He is currently a columnist who writes news notes columns three times a week on numerous topics around the city of Tampa.

While at the Times, Ernest has received several awards for his writing. In 2000, the Associated Press Sports Editors recognized one of his stories as one of the Top 10 in the nation. He also won a first place and honorable mention from the Society of Professional Journalists in regional competition. And in 1996, he was honored with a second place by the National Association of Black Journalists in their national contest.