Jay Reeves

Jay Reeves

Jay Reeves (born c. 1961 in Atlanta, Georgia) was an Associated Press correspondent who covered the Birmingham area from 1993 to 2022.

Reeves graduated from Troy State University in 1983 and began his career with The Montgomery Advertiser. He joined the Associated Press as a Montgomery-based reported in 1984. After a brief stint with the Gwinnett Daily News outside Atlanta, he returned to the AP in 1985. He was promoted to broadcast editor for the state in 1989. In that capacity he shared in a 1992 AP Managing Editors award for reporting on then-Governor Guy Hunt's use of state-owned airplanes for preaching engagements.

In February 1993 Reeves was named to succeed longtime Birmingham AP correspondent Hoyt Harwell. He added the duties of statewide news manager after the retirement of Kendal Weaver in January 201.

Reeves reported on the massive April 27, 2011 tornado outbreak; the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico; multiple hurricanes, including Katrina; and the mass shooting at Florida’s Pulse nightclub. Reeves also has reported extensively on civil rights, and he worked on AP’s Divided America project.

Reeves' son Alan, a former Thompson High School quarterback, attended Harvard University.

References

• "Jay Reeves Named Birmingham Correspondent" (February 8, 1993) Associated Press
• Reeves, Jay (February 6, 2008) "From Alabama to Harvard, a tale of an odd recruiting journey." International Herald Tribune
• "AP Alabama news editor retires." (January 18, 2011) Associated Press