.gif)
Gene Roberts (journalist)
Encyclopedia
Gene Roberts is an American
journalist and professor of journalism. Roberts was national editor at The New York Times
, executive editor of The Philadelphia Inquirer
from 1972 to 1990, and managing editor of The New York Times from 1994 to 1997. Roberts is most known for presiding over the "Golden Age" of The Inquirer, a time in which the newspaper was given the freedom and resources it needed, won 17 Pulitzer Prizes in 18 years, displaced The Philadelphia Bulletin as the city's "paper of record", and was considered to be Knight Ridder
's crown jewel as a profitable enterprise and an influential regional paper.
and worked for newspapers in Goldsboro, N.C.; Norfolk, Va.; Raleigh, N.C.; and Detroit. He covered the Kennedy Assassination
in Dallas for the Detroit Free Press
and also covered the civil rights movement
as a correspondent for The New York Times, where he also served as Saigon bureau chief in 1968 during the Vietnam War
. After serving as national editor at the The Times from 1969-1972, he was hired by John S. Knight
to head The Inquirer. Later after his retirement from The Inquirer in 1990, he would return to the The Times from 1994 to 1998 as managing editor.
Roberts has taught journalism from 1991 to 1994 and 1998 to the present at the Philip Merrill College of Journalism
at the University of Maryland
.
He is on the board of directors of the Committee to Protect Journalists
and served five years as its chairman; he also served as chairman of the Pulitzer Prize
Board, the International Press Institute
, and the Board Of Visitors of the School of Communications at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
.
(Black Hawk Down) and Richard Ben Cramer
(What It Takes) worked at the Inquirer. Perhaps the most famous and longest lasting investigative team ever — Jim Steele and Don Barlett
— flourished under Roberts.
(managing editor of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution), won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize
for History for their book The Race Beat
. In it, Roberts and Klibanoff chronicled the civil rights struggle in America and the role the press played in bringing it to the forefront. The book's major contributions included an analysis of Gunnar Myrdal and Ralph Bunche's seminal 1944 book, An American Dilemma, which outlined the problems and possible solutions to American segregation, and a close examination of the contribution of the black press to the Civil Rights movement.
Roberts received the National Press Club's Fourth Estate Award for Distinguished Contributions to Journalism in 1993.
from Mars Hill College
in North Carolina. He went on to receive his B.A. in journalism from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
in 1954 and was later a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
journalist and professor of journalism. Roberts was national editor at The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, executive editor of The Philadelphia Inquirer
The Philadelphia Inquirer
The Philadelphia Inquirer is a morning daily newspaper that serves the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, metropolitan area of the United States. The newspaper was founded by John R. Walker and John Norvell in June 1829 as The Pennsylvania Inquirer and is the third-oldest surviving daily newspaper in the...
from 1972 to 1990, and managing editor of The New York Times from 1994 to 1997. Roberts is most known for presiding over the "Golden Age" of The Inquirer, a time in which the newspaper was given the freedom and resources it needed, won 17 Pulitzer Prizes in 18 years, displaced The Philadelphia Bulletin as the city's "paper of record", and was considered to be Knight Ridder
Knight Ridder
Knight Ridder was an American media company, specializing in newspaper and Internet publishing. Until it was bought by The McClatchy Company on June 27, 2006, it was the second-largest newspaper publisher in the United States, with 32 daily newspapers sold.- History :The corporate ancestors of...
's crown jewel as a profitable enterprise and an influential regional paper.
Career
Roberts grew up in North CarolinaNorth Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
and worked for newspapers in Goldsboro, N.C.; Norfolk, Va.; Raleigh, N.C.; and Detroit. He covered the Kennedy Assassination
John F. Kennedy assassination
John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the thirty-fifth President of the United States, was assassinated at 12:30 p.m. Central Standard Time on Friday, November 22, 1963, in Dealey Plaza, Dallas, Texas...
in Dallas for the Detroit Free Press
Detroit Free Press
The Detroit Free Press is the largest daily newspaper in Detroit, Michigan, USA. The Sunday edition is entitled the Sunday Free Press. It is sometimes informally referred to as the "Freep"...
and also covered the civil rights movement
Civil rights movement
The civil rights movement was a worldwide political movement for equality before the law occurring between approximately 1950 and 1980. In many situations it took the form of campaigns of civil resistance aimed at achieving change by nonviolent forms of resistance. In some situations it was...
as a correspondent for The New York Times, where he also served as Saigon bureau chief in 1968 during the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
. After serving as national editor at the The Times from 1969-1972, he was hired by John S. Knight
John S. Knight
John Shively Knight was an American newspaper publisher and editor.He was born in Bluefield, West Virginia to Charles Landon Knight and Clara Scheifly. He attended Cornell University but never graduated, leaving early to enlist in the Army. While at Cornell he was a member of the Phi Sigma Kappa...
to head The Inquirer. Later after his retirement from The Inquirer in 1990, he would return to the The Times from 1994 to 1998 as managing editor.
Roberts has taught journalism from 1991 to 1994 and 1998 to the present at the Philip Merrill College of Journalism
Philip Merrill College of Journalism
The Philip Merrill College of Journalism is a journalism school located at the University of Maryland, College Park. The college was founded in 1945 and was named after newspaper editor Philip Merrill in 2001. The school has about 600 undergraduates and 70 graduate students enrolled.The school...
at the University of Maryland
University of Maryland, College Park
The University of Maryland, College Park is a top-ranked public research university located in the city of College Park in Prince George's County, Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C...
.
He is on the board of directors of the Committee to Protect Journalists
Committee to Protect Journalists
The Committee to Protect Journalists is an independent nonprofit organisation based in New York City that promotes press freedom and defends the rights of journalists.-History:A group of U.S...
and served five years as its chairman; he also served as chairman of the Pulitzer Prize
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
Board, the International Press Institute
International Press Institute
International Press Institute is a global organisation dedicated to the promotion and protection of press freedom and the improvement of journalism practices. Founded in October 1950, the IPI has members in over 120 countries....
, and the Board Of Visitors of the School of Communications at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is a public research university located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States...
.
Impact
Roberts is widely viewed by his peers as among the most influential of late 20th Century American editors of a large city daily newspaper. He is credited with reviving The Inquirer and leading it from a second-place daily to one of the best regional newspapers in the country. Largely, he did this by recruiting young, talented journalists and then giving them a free hand both in time and space to write compelling investigative stories under the tutelage of senior editors. Such nationally known writers as Mark BowdenMark Bowden
Not to be confused with Mark Bowden, U.N. Resident & Humanitarian Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative for Somalia.Mark Robert Bowden is an American writer and a contributing editor at Vanity Fair. Born in St. Louis, Missouri, he is a 1973 graduate of Loyola University Maryland...
(Black Hawk Down) and Richard Ben Cramer
Richard Ben Cramer
Richard Ben Cramer is an American journalist and writer.-Biography:Cramer was raised in Rochester, New York and attended Johns Hopkins University earning a bachelor's degree in the Liberal Arts. He later went on to earn a masters degree in journalism at Columbia University...
(What It Takes) worked at the Inquirer. Perhaps the most famous and longest lasting investigative team ever — Jim Steele and Don Barlett
Donald L. Barlett
Donald L. Barlett is an American investigative journalist and author who collaborated with James B. Steele. According to The Washington Journalism Review they were a better investigative reporting team than even Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. Together they have won two Pulitzer Prizes, two...
— flourished under Roberts.
Pulitzer Record
The Inquirer had never won a Pulitzer before Roberts became executive editor but regularly won them under his leadership.- 1975, national reporting
- 1976, editorial cartoons
- 1977, local reporting
- 1978, public service reporting
- 1979, international reporting
- 1980, local reporting
- 1985, investigative reporting
- 1985, feature photography
- 1986, feature photography
- 1986, national reporting
- 1987, feature writing
- 1987, investigative reporting
- 1987, investigative reporting
- 1988, national reporting
- 1989, national reporting
- 1989, feature writing
- 1990, public service reporting
Awards
Roberts, along with co-author Hank KlibanoffHank Klibanoff
Hank Klibanoff was the Managing Editor for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution until June 24, 2008 when he stepped down. He received the Pulitzer prize for history in 2007 for the book The Race Beat: The Press, the Civil Rights Struggle, and the Awakening of a Nation, co-written with Gene Roberts.He...
(managing editor of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution), won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
for History for their book The Race Beat
The Race Beat
The Race Beat: The Press, the Civil Rights Struggle, and the Awakening of a Nation is a Pulitzer Prize-winning book written in 2006 by journalists Gene Roberts and Hank Klibanoff. The book is about the African-American Civil Rights Movement in the United States, specifically about the role of...
. In it, Roberts and Klibanoff chronicled the civil rights struggle in America and the role the press played in bringing it to the forefront. The book's major contributions included an analysis of Gunnar Myrdal and Ralph Bunche's seminal 1944 book, An American Dilemma, which outlined the problems and possible solutions to American segregation, and a close examination of the contribution of the black press to the Civil Rights movement.
Roberts received the National Press Club's Fourth Estate Award for Distinguished Contributions to Journalism in 1993.
Personal
Roberts earned an associate's degreeAssociate's degree
An associate degree is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by community colleges, junior colleges, technical colleges, and bachelor's degree-granting colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study usually lasting two years...
from Mars Hill College
Mars Hill College
Mars Hill College is a private, coed, liberal-arts college affiliated with the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina and the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. The college is located in the small town of Mars Hill, North Carolina, due north of Asheville, western North Carolina's largest city...
in North Carolina. He went on to receive his B.A. in journalism from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is a public research university located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States...
in 1954 and was later a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
.