NEW YORK (AP) — Shelley Acoca, a veteran editor who has worked at the Miami Herald, Newsday and most recently Fox News Magazine, has been hired as The Associated Press’ East Coast Entertainment & Lifestyles Editor.
Acoca will oversee writers and editors across varying beats, from television to music to food and travel, and will help anchor coverage of major events such as the Grammy Awards, breaking news and more.
She will be based in New York City.
“Shelley is a highly creative, top-notch editor who has worked with award-winning writers,” Nekesa Moody, AP Global Entertainment & Lifestyles Editor, said Wednesday. “Shelley is the right person to help lead our team as it continues to excel in breaking news and features, and also inspire new journalism paths.”
Acoca, 52, was most recently senior editor at Fox News Magazine, where she helped grow the audience for its digital lifestyle magazine, and also worked on its text and video content. Before that, she was at Newsday Westchester, heading its digital content.
Acoca was also at the Miami Herald, where her roles included features editor and senior online editor. She edited Leonard Pitts Jr. when he won his 2004 Pulitzer Prize for commentary, and also was an editor on the newspaper’s Pulitzer Prize-winning, breaking news coverage of the Elian Gonzalez saga.
While at the Herald, she also headed coverage of events ranging from Art Basel Miami Beach to various award shows. She also was a part of the newspaper’s team covering the 2000 election, 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina.
Acoca was also a USC Annenberg/Getty Arts Journalism Fellow and a University of California at Berkeley Knight Digital Media Fellow.
She was also a board member of the American Association of Sunday and Features Editors, now the Society for Features Journalism.
Acoca is a native of Kenosha, Wisconsin, and attended Columbia College in Chicago.
Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
