Reuters appoints bureau chiefs, editors in Asia

Reuters has appointed key editorial roles in bureaus across Asia on Monday:

–Visuals journalist Angie Teo will lead our coverage from Indonesia, covering the world’s fourth most populous country and one that spans a distance wider than the continental United States. Teo joined Reuters in 2010 as a contractor, reporting on palm oil pricing in Malaysia. Two years later, she joined Reuters Video News and in 2014 moved to Jakarta. She has anchored various major stories in Asia including the disappearance of Malaysian Airlines MH370, the assassination of Kim Jong Nam and the Easter bombings in Sri Lanka.

—Karen Lema has been appointed bureau chief of the Philippines. Lema joined Reuters in 2006 as a contractor before becoming a staff treasury correspondent in 2008. As acting bureau chief previously, She led the team during a period that saw the fallout from the $81 million Bangladesh Bank cyber heist and the meteoric rise of Rodrigo Duterte to the presidency in the 2016 election. Lema has also been central to the bureau’s coverage that won a Pulitzer Prize for its reporting on Duterte’s bloody war on drugs.

—A.Ananthalakshmi becomes bureau chief of Malaysia and Brunei after moving to Kuala Lumpur as deputy bureau chief in 2016. Anantha distinguished herself in reporting on everything from the assassination of Kim Jong Nam to investigations of migrant deaths in detention and the palm oil industry to the surprise fall of Najib Razak’s government and the return of Mahathir Muhammad in 2018 elections – and then Mahathir’s own fall earlier this year. She joined Reuters in Bangalore, where she covered U.S. companies in the industrial, aerospace and auto sectors and previously anchored coverage of gold and other precious metals in Asia.

—Ed Davies moves to one of two new positions of news editor, Southeast Asia, responsible for helping shape the day-to-day coverage from the region. In his previous role of Indonesia bureau chief, Davies led the team reporting on a series of natural and transport disasters, the turbulent 2019 presidential election and a period that saw a growing tussle over the influence of Islamic groups in the world’s biggest Muslim majority country. Davies joined Reuters in 1996 in Hong Kong before moving with the Asia Desk to Singapore, and then headed to Seoul as an editor for South Korea. As deputy bureau chief in Indonesia, he reported on the country as it became one of the hottest emerging market investment destinations.

—Martin Petty also becomes news editor, Southeast Editor, moving from his former position as bureau chief, Philippines. While Petty led the Philippines team, he also reported from Mindanao on the five-month battle for Marawi, during which he broke news of President Duterte’s secret backchanneling with insurgents and gained exclusive access to the abandoned hideout of Islamic State’s Southeast Asian leader. Petty also joined a Reuters team on an old fishing boat to the disputed Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea to become the first foreign media there since it was seized by Beijing. He joined Reuters in Bangkok, initially as a sports reporter, before becoming a senior correspondent.