Anna Fifield trades the Washington Post for the Dominion Post
Friday, 31 July 2020
Foreign correspondent and author Anna Fifield has been appointed editor of The Dominion Post and Stuff’s Wellington newsroom.
Currently the Beijing bureau chief for the Washington Post, Fifield was raised in Hastings and started her journalism career with the Rotorua Daily Post and the New Zealand Press Association.
Stuff Editorial Director Mark Stevens said he was delighted Stuff had been able to attract such a top-class journalist to the role.
“Anna has a wonderful reputation, is an amazing journalist and we’re thrilled she’ll be leading our Wellington newsroom during these exciting times for our business.”
**READ MORE:
* National Portrait: Anna Fifield - from the Bay to Beijing
* A journo's journey; from Canterbury to North Korea via the West Wing
**
Fifield said she was thrilled to be returning home after 20 years away, “and to be joining Stuff at this exciting time”.
“I was in New Zealand when Sinead Boucher made her inspirational move to buy Stuff, and I'm making this leap now because I absolutely believe in Sinead's vision and because I believe that Stuff will flourish under Kiwi ownership.
'I started reading the Dominion and Evening Post in 1994, when I arrived in Wellington to start at Victoria University, and I've been a loyal reader (and crossword do-er) ever since. I'm looking forward to working with Stuff's Wellington-based journalists to make Stuff – on paper and online – an even more integral part of capital life.'
Over Fifield’s two-decade career as a foreign correspondent with the Washington Post and the Financial Times, she has covered major stories including North Korea's first nuclear test, the disputed Iranian presidential election in 2009, and the 2012 United States presidential election.
Previously the Tokyo bureau chief for the Washington Post, Fifeld was also a Nieman journalism fellow at Harvard University and in 2018 won Stanford University's Shorenstein Prize for excellence in reporting on Asia.
Her first book, The Great Successor: The Secret Rise and Rule of Kim Jong-un, published last year, has been translated into 24 languages.
Having covered coronavirus since its inception in Wuhan, Fifield has spent much of 2020 back in New Zealand.
She will take up her new role in October.
Also returning to New Zealand to join Stuff is Joseph Akel, taking up the newly created role of Perspectives Editor, overseeing Stuff’s opinion writing and commentary.
Most recently the deputy editor of the New York Post’s Page Six section and website, Akel’s 10-year journalism career in New York includes editing stints with At Large, V, Vman, and L’Officiel magazines. As a freelance writer, his work graced publications including the New York Times, Vanity Fair, Interview Magazine and the Wall Street Journal Magazine.
Akel, who spent his childhood in Mt Eden and studied at Auckland University, will be based in Auckland when he joins Stuff.
The appointments of Fifield and Akel follow a string of high-profile hires for Stuff, including senior journalists Mike White (formerly of North & South) and Kirsty Johnston (of the NZ Herald), and data journalist Kate Newton (from RNZ). Jehan Casinader (formerly TVNZ) has also come on board as a contributing writer.
Stevens said Akel would bring a modern and sophisticated approach to Stuff’s commentary offering as it continued to build a diverse stable of voices across its newspapers and website.
“All these great appointments reflect our commitment to excellent, independent and trustworthy local and national journalism,” Stevens said.