AP Appoints Sonya Ross as First Race/Ethnicity/Demographics Editor

The Associated Press (AP) recently appointed veteran journalist Sonya Ross to be the organization’s first-ever race, ethnicity, and demographics editor. The new position comes at a time when sophisticated reporting by and about racial minority communities is not keeping up with the pace of their growth. 

The new post will “produce coverage that captures the changing facets of race and ethnicity in the United States and its effects on the experiences of people of various races,” acting AP Washington Bureau Chief Steve Komarow said in a statement.

Ross, a former urban affairs and White House reporter, said she intends to “offer these audiences a sophisticated level of information about themselves and how everyone interacts and works together…I’m glad that AP sees the wisdom in paying attention to racial issues.”

“Determining how to cover race is such a volatile subject and everyone runs from it,” she said. “People find euphemisms for what needs to be said as though it’s being discussed in polite company, but these are not always polite issues. Our challenge is to reflect this in a way that people understand.”

According to its website, AP is a not-for-profit news cooperative that serves 1,700 newspapers and 5,000 radio and television outlets in the United States as well as newspaper, radio and television subscribers internationally.