AP editor will talk about keeping journalists safe during dangerous assignments

Thomas Kent, an editor and journalist at the Associated Press (AP), will speak at Yale on Friday, Feb. 28 as a Poynter Fellow in Journalism. Kent’s talk is co-sponsored by the Yale Globalist, an undergraduate, international affairs publication (tyglobalist.org).

Kent will discuss “Dangerous Assignments: Physical Safety and Cyber Security for Journalists” at 4 p.m. at the Saybrook-Branford Room in Saybrook College, 242 Elm St. The event is free and open to the public.

A Yale College graduate with a degree in Russian and Eastern European studies, Kent has worked at the AP in many different capacities over the past few decades. After serving as a correspondent in Australia, Belgium, and Russia, he became the AP bureau chief in Moscow and later led AP operations in Iran during the Iranian Revolution.

More recently, Kent worked as the deputy news editor of the AP’s World Service Division and as the AP’s international editor. Currently, Kent is the deputy managing editor and standards editor of the AP.

Kent is also a board member of the Overseas Press Club of New York and teaches at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. He has twice served as a juror for the Pulitzer Prize in international reporting.

The Poynter Fellowship in Journalism was established by Nelson Poynter, who received his master’s degree in 1927 from Yale. The fellowship brings to campus journalists from a wide variety of media outlets who have made significant contributions to their field. Among recent Poynter fellow are Jill Abramson, Nathaniel Rich, and James Bennet.