FILE PHOTO: Sally Buzbee, executive editor of the Washington Post, attends an unveiling of a #BringAustinHome" banner, honoring freelance journalist Austin Tice, outside of the newspaper's headquarters in Washington, D.C., U.S., Aug. 9, 2022. Austin Tice was abducted in Syria on August 14, 2012. REUTERS/Sarah Silbiger/File Photo
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Sally Buzbee, most recently the executive editor of the Washington Post, will join Reuters as News Editor for the United States and Canada, overseeing the global news agency’s coverage of a second Donald Trump presidency, among other priorities, Reuters said on Tuesday.
Buzbee, 59, replaces Kieran Murray, who will begin a new role as the top editor of the company’s live events business. Murray ran Reuters’ Washington bureau for the past eight years and oversaw its U.S. and Canadian operations for the past five.
Buzbee, who prior to the Post had served as the executive editor and senior vice president of the Associated Press, will start her new position on Dec. 11. She departed the Post in June following a reorganization by the paper’s new CEO, William Lewis, with whom she disagreed, the paper reported.
“I have admired Sally for years, and I am so excited that she will be joining the Reuters family in this key role,” Reuters Editor-in-Chief Alessandra Galloni said in a statement. “Her journalistic chops, her management experience, her global understanding, and her positive and pragmatic approach are just what we need in this time of upheaval for the world and for the news industry.”
Buzbee will be steering Reuters’ U.S. political coverage after a presidential election in which Trump largely circumvented the mainstream media, engaging with podcast hosts and other online personalities who helped him reach voters.
Her appointment comes as Reuters is expanding its business for consumers with a new subscription-based website, newsletters and podcasts.
Buzbee was the first woman to lead the Washington Post’s newsroom when she joined the paper in 2021. She oversaw coverage that won several Pulitzer Prizes, including the 2022 public service award for an examination of the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol attack, and the 2024 national reporting prize for an investigation of the AR-15 rifle's role in mass shootings.
As the AP’s top editor from 2017 to 2021, the news agency won several Pulitzers for international reporting and photography.
Reuters is the news division of Toronto-based content and technology company Thomson Reuters.
(Reporting by Helen Coster; Editing by Ken Li and Anna Driver)
