AP appoints Baker as Southeast Asia photo editor, part of regional reorganization

JAKARTA, Indonesia—Mark Baker, Malaysia and Singapore chief of bureau for The Associated Press, has been appointed to the new role of Southeast Asia photo editor, based in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Baker will be responsible for photo operations in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines.

The announcement was made Friday by Greg Baker, the AP’s Asia photo editor. The move is part of a reorganization which began with the appointment of Chris Brummitt as Southeast Asia news editor in December, and is intended to provide greater coverage of the region.

Baker joined the AP in 2003 in Sydney as chief photographer for Australia.

He moved to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in 2009 and was named acting chief of bureau in 2012, and chief of bureau for Malaysia and Singapore in 2013. Baker will continue to take a lead role in organizing photo coverage of major news and sports events for the AP throughout Asia.

Baker, 53, started his career at his family’s community newspaper in New Zealand, followed by stints with various daily newspapers before moving to Australia in 1987. Before joining the AP, he worked for Reuters news agency in Australia for 14 years, rising to the position of chief photographer in Sydney.

In 1996, Baker won Australia’s premier photo award, the Walkley News Photo of the Year award for his coverage of the anti-nuclear riots in Tahiti. He has also twice been named the New Zealand sports photographer of the year.

A native of Matamata, New Zealand, Baker has covered major news stories in Indonesia, Japan, East Timor, New Zealand, Australia and the Pacific as well as five Summer Olympics and four Winter Olympics, plus a host of major international sporting events around the world.

After running the AP’s photo operations at the Australian Open tennis tournament this month, he is scheduled to cover the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia, in February.