07/06/06

Brian Toolan, editor of Hartford Courant, named national editor of AP

NEW YORK -- Brian Toolan, editor and senior vice president of The Hartford Courant, has been named national editor of The Associated Press.

The appointment was announced July 5 by Kristin Gazlay, AP's deputy managing editor for national news.

As national editor, Toolan will be responsible for working with AP's domestic bureaus to develop coverage of spot news and enterprise for national and international audiences. He also will have ultimate oversight of teams of national reporters covering such areas as health and science, religion and higher education.

Toolan has been editor of the Courant since 1998, responsible for the news, business, sports and feature sections and the supervision of 270 reporters, editors, photographers and designers.

He previously was managing editor, assistant managing editor-news and sports editor of the Philadelphia Daily News. He also has worked at the Baltimore News American, Dayton Journal Herald and Scranton Tribune.

Under his leadership, the Courant staff won the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for breaking news reporting for coverage of a shooting rampage in which a state lottery worker killed four supervisors before committing suicide. Courant journalists also were finalists in the investigative reporting category in 2001 and feature photography in 2003.

The national editor's position is a new one.


Contact: Jack Stokes, AP Corporate Communications, 212.621.1720