Vet journalist Jackson named new Times executive editor

Veteran journalist David S. Jackson has been named executive editor of The Washington Times, company president and CEO Larry Beasley announced Wednesday.

Mr. Jackson, a former correspondent for Time magazine and director of the Voice of America, started his career in newspapers and later served in senior news-management positions overseeing online, broadcasting and print operations. Since February, he has been working as a strategic planning consultant for The Washington Times.

“We’re fortunate to have a journalist of David’s caliber who has both international experience and a track record of growing audiences through solid reporting and the creative use of multimedia,” Mr. Beasley said. “The Internet age has given news organizations access to larger potential audiences than ever before, and David has the background and skills to help us reach those audiences.”

Mr. Jackson, who will assume his new role immediately, said, “These are exciting times to be in the news business, and I’m looking forward to helping The Times build on its reputation of providing the kind of independent and trusted voice — both online and in print — that is so rare to find in today’s crowded news environment.”

Mr. Jackson began his career at the City News Bureau in Chicago, a wire service, and the Chicago Daily News. In 1978, he joined Time magazine, where he spent 23 years as a correspondent, bureau chief, and senior correspondent based in Chicago, Washington, Houston, Cairo, Seoul, Hong Kong, San Francisco and Los Angeles.

As a foreign correspondent, he reported from dozens of countries, and as Time’s chief technology correspondent, he led the magazine’s coverage of the growth and development of the Internet as a tool for communication and commerce.

After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Mr. Jackson created and edited a public website for the Defense Department devoted to news and information about the war against terrorism. In September 2002, he was appointed by the U.S. Broadcasting Board of Governors as the 26th director of the Voice of America, the nation’s leading international broadcasting service that provides news and information in 44 languages to audiences around the world.

Under his leadership, VOA’s global audience grew by one-third, to nearly 120 million people, and VOA’s website was named one of Google’s top 10 Internet destinations for international news. The Broadcasting Board gave him a Distinguished Honor Award in recognition of his achievements.

Mr. Jackson later worked as a senior adviser for communications at the State Department and served as the first director of Defense Media Activity, an agency that consolidated the print, broadcast and online media operations of the Defense Department and the military services into one organization. In that role, he oversaw all American Forces Network (AFN) radio and television broadcasting and Internet support operations, plus the Stars and Stripes newspaper and other elements.

An honors graduate of the University of California at Berkeley, Mr. Jackson is a member of the Washington Institute of Foreign Affairs and the Public Diplomacy Council. He and his wife, Susan, a television producer, and their daughter live in the Washington, D.C., area.

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