NY Times has a new Andes bureau chief

In 2012, Julie Turkewitz was a stringer for Metro, pitching stories and fighting for every byline. By 2014, she was hired full-time by The Times. Now, she will move on to cover international as its new Andes bureau chief, starting in early December, reports the New York Times.

When she joined the National desk and moved to Colorado, Turkewitz’s first dateline was out of Crested Butte while her 100th dateline turned out to be from a bunker in Kansas.

Along the way, she fiercely covered a lot of breaking news including wildfires, hurricanes and mass shootings in places like Las Vegas; San Bernardino, Calif.; and Orlando and Parkland, Fla. Sheexcels at putting readers right into the thick of things. For example,  inside the hospital with Kim Gervais, paralyzed in Las Vegas or on an eight-hour bus ride with students, just days after the shooting in Parkland.

She has also done a remarkable job helping readers understand the essential tensions shaping the West.

“I try to remember that when I knock at a door I am most likely a person’s first experience with the news media,” Turkewitz said in a memorable piece for Times Insider after covering four mass shootings in eight months. “The way I approach an interview will determine whether I am part of the trauma or part of the healing.”

Turkewitz is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she studied journalism and Spanish. She grew up in Silver Spring, Md.