Here is her memo to staff:
National News Editor for Beats Wendy Benjaminson. (AP Photo/J. David Ake)
It’s my pleasure to announce that Wendy Benjaminson is taking on a role as national news editor for beats. This assignment in U.S. news begins immediately and she’ll continue to be based in Washington.In this role, Wendy will supervise our existing national beat teams on state government, education, the environment, immigration and race and ethnicity. She’ll also directly supervise three national beat reporters on social issues, religion and law enforcement.These teams and reporters break much news and create some of our most distinctive and engaging journalism. As we move ahead, it will be Wendy’s job to help them continue to do that, and to look for other topics that would benefit from a team-based approach -- and build those teams.Wendy will report to the deputy managing editor for U.S. News, but will work closely with news leaders across the company, both in the U.S. and overseas.Wendy has long been among AP’s top editors at helping guide journalists to break news. As Texas news editor, she helped spearhead coverage of drug violence along the U.S.-Mexico border, and the drug wars beat team she led became a model for excellence.In Washington, Wendy was assistant bureau chief and led national security coverage, where her team repeatedly broke news of significance including Pentagon reporter Robert Burns’ groundbreaking series on mistakes and problems inside the nation’s nuclear security forces, for which he won a Gramling Journalism Award in 2013.Most recently, Wendy stepped in as interim bureau chief in Washington, directing the coverage of the first six months of the Trump administration.We want our beat teams to have an edge and break news. We want them to report out enterprise that demands page one and makes Chartbeat flutter. For that reason, we’re excited to have Wendy in this new job. Please join me in congratulating her.Best,
Sally