NY Times taps Eligon as Johannesburg bureau chief

The following excerpt announcement was sent out by The New York Times assistant managing editor, international, Michael Slackman, international managing editor Greg Winter and deputy international editor Laurie Goodstein:

Nearly a decade ago, John Eligon went to South Africa for a stint in the Johannesburg bureau and delivered an impressive series of stories. He fell in love with the country and the people, and from time to time, talked about going back.

Now, he finally is.

We are thrilled to announce that John, a National correspondent will move to International to be our new Johannesburg bureau chief.

He will join a long list of notable correspondents — and at least two former executive editors — who have had the post over the years, using it to tell some of our most impactful stories. John joined The Times in 2005 and spent his first two years on Sports before going to Metro.

In 2012, John went to Kansas City to cover the Midwest and arrived in the middle of a drought.

John is a huge sports fan who ran a fast mile in high school (4:34), but not fast enough to reach the Olympics, so he became a journalist instead.

We are thrilled to have him join us.

— Michael, Greg and Laurie