02/22/06

Mike McQueen named AP assistant chief of bureau in New Orleans

NEW ORLEANS -- Mike McQueen, managing editor of The Macon (Ga.) Telegraph, has been named assistant chief of bureau of The Associated Press in New Orleans, chief of bureau Hank Ackerman announced Feb. 22.

In the new position, McQueen will work with the Louisiana and Mississippi AP staffs as well as in AP's relationships with member newspapers and broadcast stations in the two states, Ackerman said.

McQueen worked for the AP in Miami and Tallahassee, Fla., before joining The Miami Herald in 1984. There he worked as an urban affairs reporter and as day city editor among other positions before being named managing editor at The Macon Telegraph in 2004.

During several breaks from work in Miami he was part of USA Today's national in-depth reporting and spot features team from 1987 to 1989 and head of Gannett News Service's Tallahassee bureau for two years. During 1994 he was co-owner of a corporate writing, lobbying and newsletter firm based in Miami.

While working at The Miami Herald he was an instructor, associate professor and then chair of the journalism and broadcasting sequence of Florida International University's School of Journalism and mass communication.

McQueen started his journalism career in 1977 as a reporter for the Tallahassee Democrat after graduation from Florida State University. He holds a master's degree in communications from Florida Atlantic University.

He is member of the Society of Professional Journalists, serving on its South Florida region board of directors from 1996 to 1997 and as region president from 2001 to 2002, and of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communications. He served on the board of directors of the National Association of Black Journalists during 1986-1987.

Contact: Jack Stokes, AP Corporate Communications, 212.621.1730