LONDON: Andy Braddel has been appointed as director of Global Media Services, the video newsgathering facilities arm of The Associated Press. The GMS appointment was announced by Senior Vice President Daisy Veerasingham, who heads AP’s video business. Braddel reports to Veerasingham.
Braddel has worked with the AP since 1994. He has spent much of his career in the former Soviet Union, progressing from regional editor to head of Broadcast Services, Russia and the CIS. Before joining the AP, Braddel worked for ABC News and Channel 4 News in Moscow and Washington, D.C. He was part of the ITN team which won an Emmy in 1993 for reports exposing Serb-run detention camps in Bosnia.
GMS provides editorial and logistical support to broadcasters and news platforms covering global or regional news stories on location. It has highly-specialised team of 155 producers, reporters, facilitators and technicians around the globe and has fixed facilities in AP bureaus in London, Washington, New York, Paris, Moscow, Cairo, Baghdad, Jerusalem and Kabul.
AP is in the midst of a multimillion-dollar upgrade of its newsgathering infrastructure in order to provide high-definition images to the broadcast and digital industries. At the same time, AP will also significantly increase the depth and breadth of video content available from around the world. The upgrade is the single biggest investment in the AP’s London-based video business since 1998, when the AP bought its competitor, Worldwide Television News.
Braddel will take up his new post in September and will split his time between London and New York.
