Alex Panetta named new Washington correspondent for Canadian Press

Alex Panetta will be the new Washington correspondent for The Canadian Press. He will replace Lee-Anne Goodman, who will start her new position in the news wire’s Ottawa bureau this week.

Panetta has been CP’s Montreal news editor since 2009. Prior to that, he worked as a political reporter in the Ottawa bureau and covered several international stories, including the evacuation of expatriates from Lebanon to Canada in 2006 and the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake in Haiti. He also was one of CP’s war correspondents in Afghanistan. In a memo sent to CP staff, editor-in-chief Scott White noted that “Panetta is conversant in Spanish—an important attribute for any correspondent in the United States, where the growing Latino population is exerting increasing political, social and economic power.”

White added that the Washington correspondent remains an “extremely important position for The Canadian Press.”

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“As other news organizations have reduced their foreign bureaus, CP still believes a distinct Canadian voice is necessary to report on our most influential neighbour,” he said. “No one else is focusing on the key bilateral issues between the two countries and Panetta’s experience as an investigative reporter will mine new stories that will keep CP ahead of other news organizations.”

Panetta told J-Source he hopes to be at his new post in early November.