Congratulations to Edmund Sanders Upon Becoming LAT's New Nairobi Correspondent

It seems sometimes that with all the cutbacks at the L.A. Times that it's in danger of losing its essential virtues, but appointments to new positions seem to be coming thick and fast these days, and that's all to the good.

I was particularly glad to hear this week that Foreign Editor Marjorie Miller is announcing the appointment of Edmund Sanders to the refilled post of Nairobi correspondent, restoring a full complement to our African reportage.The paper also has a writer in Johannesburg, and Megan Stack spends considerable time in Cairo.

Sanders is a top reporter, with a wonderful background of significant stories in Orange County and more recently reportage in Baghdad. Nairobi is a significant post for the Times, just as New Delhi is, because it puts Times reporting into the heart of the Third World.

Throughout the long slog in Baghdad, the LAT has maintained a great team of reporters there. Obviously, this remains a key story in world affairs, and we've had very comprehensive coverage there, and, I think, it's been quite straightforward by and large.

Kim Murphy's Pulitzer announced this week for Russian reporting is a boon to the foreign desk, obviously. Foreign coverage is very important to the future of the L.A. Times, no doubt about it, and the Sanders appointment will enhance it.