02/22/06

James Martinez named a deputy national editor for the AP

NEW YORK -- James Martinez, the Southern regional editor for The Associated Press, has been named a deputy national editor.

The appointment was announced Feb. 22 by Kristin Gazlay, AP's deputy managing editor for national news.

In his new role, Martinez will be the chief day-to-day liaison with the AP's domestic bureaus in helping shape the national news report.

Martinez has led the AP's South Wire since its inception in 2000, overseeing spot news and enterprise in a 12-state region. He also has served as a key editor in coverage of Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Ivan, the 2004 Athens Olympics, the Washington-area sniper shootings and the disputed 2000 presidential election.

Martinez joined the AP in 1985 and worked as a reporter in Atlanta, Miami and Tampa, Fla., before becoming an editor on the AP's national desk in New York and later news editor in Portland, Ore. He then became an editor at The Arizona Republic in Phoenix before returning to the AP as Southern editor.

He is a graduate of the University of Georgia's Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication.

He replaces Ann Levin, who took a leave of absence.

Contact: Jack Stokes, AP Corporate Communications, 212.621.1730