Paul Haven named AP news director for Latam and Caribbean

NEW YORK, N.Y. – Paul Haven, a veteran foreign correspondent and news manager who has led Associated Press bureaus in South Asia, Europe and Latin America, has been named the co-operative’s first all-format News Director for Latin America and the Caribbean.

Haven’s appointment was announced Thursday by John Daniszewski, AP’s Vice-President for International News. He succeeds Marjorie Miller, who last year became Director of Global News and Enterprise in New York.

The 44-year-old Haven will oversee more than 100 journalists and editors in text, photos and video in a region stretching from the U.S.-Mexico border to Chile’s Tierra del Fuego. He will also be responsible for the co-operative’s Spanish-language service, with correspondents throughout Latin America, as well as in the United States and Spain.

The appointment is part of a transformation to make the co-operative fully cross-format, with multimedia journalists and integrated editing desks that emphasize video and social media, along with a streamlined management structure to meet customer needs.

“Haven has worked in Latin America for the past seven years, and his global experience before that gives him extraordinary breadth and depth of perspective for the challenge of telling the exciting stories from this region,” said Daniszewski.

Haven has reported for AP from more than 15 countries in a career spanning two decades. He began as a reporter in Bogota in the 1990s, covering the violent drug wars and clashes between leftist rebels and right-wing paramilitaries. While in the region, he was part of a team that won the Associated Press Managing Editors Award for coverage of a commando raid that ended a four-month hostage crisis in Peru.

After a transfer to New York, Haven had stints as a national issues writer, a political polling editor and leader of the co-operative’s international terrorism investigations following the Sept. 11 attacks.

As bureau chief in Pakistan and Afghanistan, Haven won the 2005 Daniel Pearl Award Silver Prize for investigative reporting on al-Qaida, and covered the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. He transferred to Spain in 2006, focusing on al-Qaida’s reach into Europe as head of the co-operative’s offices in Madrid and Lisbon.

In 2009, Haven became chief of AP’s Havana bureau, spearheading coverage of Cuba’s nascent free-market reforms. He also helped lead print coverage of the 2010 Haiti earthquake and served as a special writer at the 2012 London Olympics.

Since 2013, Haven has served as deputy Latin America editor, part of a leadership team driving award-winning all-format coverage of the region. He has been acting regional editor since June.

“He is an experienced editor who will drive smart coverage of the region in all formats,” said Miller. “He will be a terrific leader for the AP in Latin America.”

Haven is a native New Yorker and graduate of Cornell University, with a bachelor’s degree in American and Latin American history. In addition to his journalism, he is the author of two children’s books: “The Seven Keys of Balabad” and “Two Hot Dogs with Everything.”