Jesse Washington named AP race, ethnicity writer

The appointment was announced Friday by Mike Oreskes, the AP's managing editor for U.S. news. Washington replaces Erin Texeira, who resigned in March.

Few subjects permeate every corner of American life--and can expand our understanding of America--more than issues of race and ethnicity. The presidential candidacy of Barack Obama will be an early focus of Washington's coverage, as well as topics such as immigration and the Arab experience in America.

Washington, 39, had been the AP's entertainment editor since 2003, supervising an expanding team of journalists covering film, music, television, theater, books, pop culture and celebrities.

Before that he had been managing editor of Vibe magazine and later served as founding editor-in-chief of Blaze, a magazine focusing on hip-hop culture.

He started a company that published two coffee-table books, about the African-American artists Romare Bearden and Elizabeth Catlett, and also founded the street basketball magazine Bounce. His first novel, "Black Will Shoot," was published this year.

Washington joined the AP in Detroit in 1992 and transferred to its national editing desk in New York the next year. He also served as assistant bureau chief in the AP's New York City bureau before leaving in 1997 for Vibe.

Washington, a native of New York City, graduated from Yale in 1992.