Sally Buzbee has been named the first woman to be The Washington Post’s new executive editor. She was the executive editor and senior vice – president for Associated Press journalist since 2017.
Buzbee, from 2010 to 2016, has also served news agency’s the Washington bureau chief. Sally has the experience of being AP’s Middle East regional editor under her belt as well.
While she was the AP Buzbee won a 2019 Pulitzer Prize for international reporting and was a finalist for that year’s Pulitzer Prize for national reporting.
She will start on June 1, succeeding longtime newsroom boss Marty Baron, who left the Post at the end of February. Buzbee is the first woman to lead the Post in its’ 144 history. She plans to diversify and work more on digital subscriptions.
Fred Ryan, a Washington Post publisher, said, “Sally Buzbee has an exceptional record of achievement and a tremendous wealth of experience in leading a global news organisation,” and he claimed that, “In an extensive search that included many of the best journalists in America, Sally stood out as the right person to lead the Post going forward.”
Sally Buzbee’s appointment is not the only change that involves a well-known newspaper. The Los Angeles Times had hired Kevin Merida as its next executive director. She is known for her work done on race, culture and ESPN’s sports head. Merida had also work at the Washington Post for two decades.
The Post expanded under the ownership of Jeff Bezos which he bought for $250m in 2013. Marty Baron brought the journalists from 580 to 1000 for the Post’s newsroom.