Errin Haines Whack named race and ethnicity writer

I am pleased to announce that Errin Haines Whack has been appointed AP’s Race and Ethnicity Writer. This national writer-level position will place a dedicated, full-time reporter focused on issues of race, culture and politics who can help us with rapid response around stories such as Charlottesville and Ferguson and the recent NFL protests. It will also help us bring a higher profile to the already strong work being done by the Race and Ethnicity team. Errin brings a passion for the topic, a history of breaking news within it and sees how the AP can be a leader with its coverage.

To understand why she’s an ideal choice for the position, it’s best to listen to how she describes the opportunity: “I believe we have an opportunity to lead conversation on these issues as the world’s largest newsgathering organization -- not just in major outlets, but in the small cities and towns between the coasts, with communities and newsrooms that may lack the demographics or resources to have such discussions, and for the international audience that is fascinated by America's racial dynamics,” she said. We couldn’t agree more.
In the role, Errin will continue to collaborate closely with Race and Ethnicity team leader Sonya Ross, and report to newly-appointed News Editor for National Beats Josh Hoffner. Errin’s first journalism job was at The Atlanta Daily World, one of the oldest continuously published black newspapers in the country. She has sought to make race a part of every position since. As part of the Atlanta bureau from 2005 to 2012, she covered urban affairs and focused on historically black colleges, the legacy of the civil rights movement, voting rights, black politics and the black electorate. She joined the Washington Post in 2012, where she joined the team covering Virginia politics, and covered the intersection of race, politics and culture for a variety of outlets before returning to AP in Philadelphia in 2015. Since then, she has been a leading member of the Race and Ethnicity beat team.  She was recently honored by the Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists as its print journalist of the year.  Please join me in congratulating Errin. We’re excited to see everything ahead with her in this role.  Noreen