MediaNews CEO Dean Singleton, who owns most of the daily newspapers in the Bay Area, will be the next chairman of the Associated Press. The AP is owned by the nation’s 1,600 daily newspapers and its board of directors consists mainly of the chief executives of major newspaper companies such as Hearst, Gannett, Scripps, McClatchy, Cox, Media General, Tribune, etc. They appoint AP’s top management. Singleton, 54, was first elected to the AP board in 1999. Singleton was elected following a two-day private meeting by AP’s board, where the executives discussed their strategies for expanding the online operations of newspapers.

“The issues that our newspapers are facing are the same issues that AP is facing — how we navigate from a print-only world to a print/online world, and how we find ways to monetize our news online,” Singleton said. He added that he believes the AP “will be the key to pulling the industry together so that they work collectively.”

Singleton, whose MediaNews already owns eight dailies in the Bay Area, is awaiting approval from the Justice Department’s antitrust division for his proposed purchase of the San Jose Mercury News, Contra Costa Times, Monterey Herald, Palo Alto Daily News and St. Paul Pioneer Dispatch.