Ed Reed has been appointed third vice president of the Associated Press Sports Editors, president Lisa Wilson announced.
Reed, the Gannett Florida deputy sports editor, has been based out of The News-Press in Fort Myers for more than 21 years. The transplanted Bostonian started as a staff writer at The News-Press and was promoted to assistant sports editor and then editor more than 13 years ago. During that time, he had additional roles as the breaking news editor for two years and business editor for six months. He shepherded The News-Press into increased digital and social media coverage as it moved from being print-focused to draw readers on mobile.
Before moving to Florida, Reed worked at his college’s Independent newspaper at Boston University, spent a year at the weekly Holyoke Sun in Massachusetts as sports editor and spent three years at the MetroWest Daily News in Framingham, Mass., where he juggled producing 3-4 weeklies along with daily writing duties.
The third vice president represents the interests from APSE’s smallest member organizations.
“With more markets falling into the ‘small’ paper category, I feel like those sites are prime to be drivers for APSE membership, as well as collaboration and innovation in our industry,” Reed said. “I’d like to drive those discussions and share ideas as I feel we are each other’s best resource for growth and opportunity.”
Steve Hemphill, who was elected third VP in 2020, was laid off from the Roanoke Times last fall when the paper eliminated his position. The Executive Committee voted to grant Hemphill a six-month extension to continue to serve as third VP while seeking employment. The position was considered vacant at the end of that six-month period, per APSE bylaws, because Hemphill had not secured a job within the scope of APSE membership.
Reed will serve the remainder of Hemphill’s two-year term, through the end of the 2022 summer conference.
“With fewer resources to work with, I’d like to provide a conduit for newsrooms to share ideas and best practices,” Reed said. “I believe through communication and collaboration we can bolster coverage in our many markets. I also want to be a representative for the smaller markets as far as the contest is concerned to assure we keep making adjustments to make the competition fair and balanced in all categories for our members.”
