Multiformat journalist, editor Alicia Quarles named AP’s global entertainment editor

Quarles named AP global entertainment editor

NEW YORK — Alicia Quarles, an award-winning multiformat reporter, producer and editor for The Associated Press for the past seven years, has been named AP’s global entertainment editor.

Quarles, who has been the interim editor for the past six months, will be based in New York. She will lead a 60-member staff of text, video, audio and photo journalists based primarily in Los Angeles, London and New York.

“Alicia brings a strong background of entertainment coverage across all formats,” said Lou Ferrara, AP’s managing editor for entertainment, sports and interactive. “She is well positioned to lead AP’s entertainment reporting worldwide as we expand and adapt to the new landscape.”

Quarles will report to Ferrara, who announced the appointment Thursday.

Quarles, 28, joined the AP’s Los Angeles bureau in 2003 after graduating from the University of Southern California. She worked as an entertainment producer and text reporter and helped coordinate coverage of the Academy Awards, the Grammys and other major entertainment awards shows.

From 2005 to 2009, she worked in New York as a senior entertainment producer, text reporter and entertainment editor for North America, where she oversaw all video entertainment coverage for broadcast and online for that region.

Quarles also has appeared on-air for various networks and for the AP; as a host of red carpet interviews for the Oscars and the Grammys; and during a live video feed of the Michael Jackson funeral.

As entertainment editor, she will oversee staff coverage of music, film, television, books, social media and other areas of entertainment across formats worldwide. AP also has entertainment staff based in Nashville, Tenn., Hong Kong and Washington.

Quarles replaces Dan Becker, who led AP Entertainment for two years before becoming AP’s director of corporate services and content for AP Images last fall.