NEW YORK (AP) — Amanda Barrett, a longtime newsroom manager at The Associated Press with years of experience leading innovative journalism and driving the coverage of big stories, has been promoted to deputy managing editor, AP Executive Editor Sally Buzbee announced Friday.
In her expanded role, Barrett will oversee newsroom talent development as well as continue to manage the Nerve Center at AP’s New York headquarters. The Nerve Center serves as AP’s hub for global news coordination, research, customer communication and audience engagement.
Barrett, 52, has led the Nerve Center for the past three years, revamping it to better serve AP’s editorial and client needs. She served as the editorial lead on a team that created a multi-platform planning tool allowing the news agency to better communicate with customers.
As head of talent development, Amanda will now also help lead efforts to create career paths to retain talented staff across the globe, and to develop a more diverse workforce. She will also work with news leaders around the globe to drive more inclusive storytelling more fully representing the communities AP journalists cover.
“Amanda is at the heart of our headquarters newsroom. She is immersed in the news of the day, leading some of our most important decisions and strategies as news unfolds,” Buzbee said. “In addition, she has long been an important mentor to talented journalists across our far flung, global news organization.”
Barrett joined AP in New York in 2007 as a content coordinator, working with journalists across the company on interactive projects. She became deputy East editor in 2009, helping to establish a new regional desk in Philadelphia and lead AP’s coverage of 10 northeastern U.S. states.
Two years later, she returned to New York as city news editor, directing AP’s award-winning coverage of Hurricane Sandy and its aftermath. In 2015, she moved to the Nerve Center as planning and administration manager and assumed leadership in 2017.
Barrett has played a critical role in coordinating news coverage of many of the biggest stories of recent years, including hurricanes Harvey and Maria, the #MeToo movement and the 2018 Winter Olympics. Barrett also serves as a leader of AP’s race and ethnicity reporting team.
Before joining AP, Barrett worked at Newsday, where she led a team of interactive journalists and managed the NYNewsday.com and amNY.com websites. She previously worked as a sports editor at the Orlando Sentinel and at the Roanoke Times in her hometown of Roanoke, Va.
Barrett begins her new role immediately.
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