05/19/06

Linda Wagner appointed AP director of media relations and public affairs


NEW YORK -- Linda Wagner has been named director of media relations and public affairs of The Associated Press, a new position. Wagner, a former senior director of communications for Consumer Reports and Consumers Union, reports to Vice President and Director of Corporate Communications Ellen Hale, who made the appointment.

"Linda Wagner is a strategic thinker and a seasoned leader, with a journalism background and experience in all forms of media," said Hale. "One of the many skills she brings to us is her experience in crisis communications."

Wagner has served as director of public relations at the Brooklyn Historical Society and freelanced as a journalist for National Public Radio, BBC and the AP, among others. She joined Consumer Reports in 1990 as a radio writer/media liaison and had advanced to the position of senior director in the communications office of Consumer Reports' publisher, Consumers Union, by the time she departed in November 2005. A graduate of the State University of New York at Buffalo, she is pursuing a master's degree in public policy and public administration at Columbia University.

In her role as head of media and public affairs at the AP, Wagner is responsible for developing and implementing AP’s external communications policies and plans, and providing strategic leadership in directing the company's relations with the media and public.

Reporting to Wagner is a media relations coordinator, Jack Stokes, who handles day-to-day routine media calls, and the director of the AP Corporate Archives, Valerie Komor.

The Associated Press is the world's oldest and largest newsgathering organization, providing content to more than 15,000 news outlets with a daily reach of 1 billion people. AP's multimedia services are distributed by satellite and the Internet to more than 120 countries. See details at http://www.ap.org

Contact: Jack Stokes, AP Corporate Communications, 212.621.1720