An announcement from International Editor Doug Jehl, Deputy International Editor Jenn Amur, Senior Editor on the International Desk Alan Sipress, and International Editor Erin Cunningham:
We are thrilled to announce that Loveday Morris will become Istanbul bureau chief, with broad coverage responsibilities that extend across much of the roiling Middle East.
This is a job that will require relentless reporting, deep expertise and strong conceptual skills — qualities that Loveday has consistently displayed since she joined The Post 12 years ago as a correspondent in Beirut. An accomplished Middle East hand, Loveday has delivered top-quality work as a bureau chief first in Baghdad, then in Jerusalem, and most recently in Berlin, her nominal base since 2020.
In practice, of course, Loveday has spent the last 16 months back in the Middle East, reporting from Israel, the West Bank, Lebanon and Syria as a senior member of the top-tier team we assembled to cover the Oct. 7 attacks and the trauma and upheaval they ignited. Her deep knowledge and investigative spirit have been critical in driving some of The Post’s most impressive reporting on the conflict, including examinations of the atrocities committed by Hamas fighters and of Israeli shortcomings in defending against such a brazen cross-border attack.
With her move to Istanbul, Loveday will deliver high-altitude reporting on a volatile region that is rapidly changing in unpredictable ways, Israel’s military assaults succeeding in crippling foes in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran but also bringing death and destruction among civilians at a monumental scale. Loveday’s immediate focus will include coverage of Syria, where the toppling of the Assad regime by Islamist rebels has added even more turbulence to the region.
Loveday began her career at Bloomberg News, covering financial news in London, before moving to the Middle East for the National newspaper in Abu Dhabi. She also freelanced from the Middle East for U.K. newspapers including the Independent. She is a graduate of Exeter University, with a BA in Middle Eastern studies with Arabic.
Having spent much of the last two months in Syria covering the revolutionary changes there, Loveday has essentially begun her new role. In relocating to Turkey, she will ultimately take the reins from Kareem Fahim, our Middle East bureau chief, who is wrapping up more than eight remarkable years in Istanbul and will move on to a new assignment this summer.
Loveday will formally begin her new role on March 1.