AP appoints new leaders for European coverage

NEW YORK – The Associated Press has named two news executives in London and new bureau chiefs in Germany and France as part of a series of European appointments Thursday.

Tom Berman, a longtime news leader in AP's U.S. operations, will move to London as Deputy Europe Editor, and Sheila Norman-Culp, supervisor on the Europe Desk, has been promoted to the new position of Assistant Europe Editor.

Robert Reid, AP's regional editor for the Middle East, will become Chief of Bureau for Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Berlin newsman David Rising becomes Chief Correspondent for Germany.

Angela Charlton, the AP's news editor in Paris, becomes Chief of Bureau for France, the Benelux nations and North Africa. The Benelux countries are Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.

The appointments were announced by John Daniszewski, AP's senior managing editor for international news. "This will be a very potent team for a very important part of the world," he said.

In London, AP Europe Editor Niko Price said the group "brings a wealth of expertise in leading both journalists and journalism, and will help us dig deeper to tell stories that people want to hear about a continent that is undergoing profound transformation."

Berman, 46, will work with Price to enhance AP's news report in Europe and increase its appeal for digital platforms.

He spent the past decade helping to shape AP's domestic report, as director of state news and previously as director of state news for the eastern United States, and as one of the architects of AP's U.S. restructuring along regional lines.

Prior to that, he was AP's news editor for Pennsylvania and a supervisor at the news cooperative's Boston office. For the past three months Berman has been working as interim deputy regional editor in Phoenix, helping oversee coverage of the western United States.

Berman, who worked previously for newspapers in New York and Massachusetts, holds a degree in history from New York University. He will be based in London.

Reid, 65, has spearheaded AP's coverage of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He has been the AP's Middle East editor since 2010, directing AP's coverage of the Arab Spring. Prior to that, he served as news director for Afghanistan and Pakistan, was chief of bureau in Iraq and served as correspondent at large from a base in Amman, Jordan, from 2005-2008.

Reid joined AP in Charlotte, North Carolina, in 1969 and took a three-year break to serve as an officer in the U.S. Army in Germany. After a stint on the International Desk, he transferred to Bonn — then West Germany — in 1977. Reid was named chief of bureau in Cairo in 1982 and in Manila in 1986, as chief correspondent at the United Nations in 1995, chief of bureau in Vienna in 1998 and as European news editor based in Brussels in 2001.

Reid won the AP Gramling award for excellence in journalism in 2005. He graduated from Davidson College. He will be based in Berlin.

Charlton, 40, has been acting bureau chief in Paris since 2010. She joined the AP in 1994 as a reporter in Moscow, and went to Kiev in 1996. She transferred to Charleston, West Virginia, in 1997, and became an editor on the International Desk in New York before returning to Moscow.

She joined the Paris bureau in 2006, where she was a reporter, news editor and then acting bureau chief. Charlton holds degrees in journalism and Slavic studies from New York University. She will remain in Paris.

Sheila Norman-Culp, 53, will oversee day-to-day operations of AP's regional desk for Europe and work with Berman and Price in directing news coverage of the region. Norman-Culp, who has been a supervisor on the desk since 2008, previously covered FIFA for AP in Zurich and had a weekly business column.

Prior to that, Norman-Culp spent two decades at AP's headquarters in New York supervising international and domestic news. Norman-Culp began her AP career as the company's spokeswoman from 1983-86. She won an AP Managing Editors feature writing award in 1993, and holds a degree in peace studies from Colgate University.

Rising, 43, has served as acting chief of bureau in Berlin since 2010. He joined AP in 1999 in Providence, Rhode Island. He transferred in 2001 to Berlin, from where he has also worked assignments including Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Egypt and Georgia.

Prior to joining AP, Rising was a reporter at The Standard Times in New Bedford, Massachusetts. He holds degrees in journalism from Boston University and in modern European history and political science from the University of Toronto. He will remain based in Berlin.