Biography
Ken leads the AP’s video, text and photo coverage of the greater China region. He drives digital initiatives and new ways of storytelling to meet changing customer and audience needs.
Previously, Ken reported in Japan, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, the U.S. and Europe for AP. As the AP’s news director for Japan and Koreas, he helped steer the news agency’s coverage of the warming of relations between North and South Korea that laid the groundwork for the first meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
He joined the AP in 2007 as Asia enterprise editor in the company’s Asia-Pacific regional headquarters in Bangkok, overseeing major projects including “China’s Reach,” an award-winning, data-driven series. He was appointed Tokyo bureau chief in 2013 and promoted to news director in 2017.
Ken was part of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Newsday team for spot news reporting. He covered the aftermath of the Indian Ocean tsunami and the Rwanda genocide.
A graduate of Princeton University, Ken started his journalism career at The Japan Times in Tokyo. He later was a reporter for the St. Petersburg Times, and the Knight-Ridder Washington bureau, and worked as a freelance journalist in India. Ken is a promoter of newsroom diversity and has held several leadership posts in the Asian American Journalists Association, including Asia chapter president.
Articles, Publications, and Appearances
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AP Analysis: Taiwan vote signals growing divide with China (AP, January 13, 2020)
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Analysis: Hong Kong election shows desire for change (AP, November 25, 2019)
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Analysis: China blinks, but divide from Hong Kong remains (AP, June 17, 2019)
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Analysis: New challenges confront China’s Communists at 70 (AP, September 29, 2019)
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AP Reporter: North Korea fires missile over Japan (AP, August 29, 2017)