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Dean Baquet

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Dean Baquet
Born(1956-09-21)September 21, 1956(age 67)
New Orleans,Louisiana,U.S.
EducationColumbia University(did not graduate)
Occupation(s)Journalist; Editor
Notable credit(s)The New York Times;Los Angeles Times;Chicago Tribune
Spouse
Dylan Landis
​
(m.1986)​
Children1
Parent

Dean P. Baquet[1](⫽bæˈkeɪ⫽;[2]born September 21, 1956[3]) is an American journalist. He served as theeditor-in-chiefofThe New York Timesfrom May 2014 to June 2022.[4]Between 2011 and 2014 Baquet was managing editor under the previous executive editorJill Abramson.[5]He is the first Black person to have been executive editor.[1]

A native ofNew Orleans,Baquet began his career in journalism there in the 1970s before moving to theChicago Tribunein the 1980s. He joinedThe New York Timesmetro desk in 1990 and in 1995 became that paper's national editor,[6]after having served as deputy metro editor. In 2000, he left to become managing editor, and later executive editor of theLos Angeles Times.He returned toThe New York Timesas Washington bureau chief in 2007, after he refused to implement management-desired news room budget cuts at the Los Angeles paper.

In 1988, Baquet shared aPulitzer Prize for Investigative Journalism,leading a team of reporters that includedWilliam GainesandAnn Marie Lipinskiat theChicago Tribune,for "their detailed reporting on the self-interest and waste" that plagued theChicago City Council.[7]

Early life and education[edit]

Baquet was raisedCatholicinTremé,a working-class African-American neighborhood inNew Orleans,Louisiana.[8]He is the fourth of five sons of New Orleans restaurateurEdward Baquet.[9]

Baquet graduated fromSt. Augustine High Schoolin 1974.[10]Baquet received a scholarship to study English atColumbia University,but dropped out shortly before graduation[11][12][13]to pursue a career in journalism.[14][15]

Baquet worked in New Orleans for almost a decade, before leaving for theChicago Tribune.[16]

Career[edit]

Baquet began his journalism career at theNew Orleans States-Item,which later merged withThe Times-Picayune.[17][18]After six years at theTimes-Picayune,he joined theChicago Tribunein 1984, where he won thePulitzer Prize,before joiningThe New York Timesin April 1990 as an investigative reporter on the Metro desk. In May 1992, he became the special projects editor for the business desk. In January 1994, he held the same title, but he operated out of the executive editor's office. In 1996, he became national editor.[19]

In 2000, he joined theLos Angeles Timesas managing editor, working as editorJohn Carroll's "right-hand man". Baquet became the top editor in 2005 after Carroll resigned amid clashes with theTribune Company,which had acquired theLos Angeles Timesfrom the Chandler family in 2000.[19][20]He was the first Black person to serve as the newspaper's top editor.[21]Baquet was fired in 2006 after he publicly opposed plans to cut newsroom jobs.[22]

Two months later, Baquet rejoinedThe New York Timesas theWashingtonbureau chief.[23]He became managing editor in September 2011,[24]serving under executive editorJill Abramson,[25]and was promoted to executive editor on May 14, 2014.[19][26][27]Baquet has made hiring reporters and editors of color a priority, saying that his efforts to diversify the newsroom have been "intense and persistent".[28][29]

Baquet, whom U.S. PresidentDonald Trumphas attacked by name,[30]has spoken out against Trump's anti-press rhetoric, tellingThe Guardian,"I think personal attacks on journalists, when he calls them names, I think he puts their lives at risk."[31]Baquet was formerly on the board of directors of theCommittee to Protect Journalists.[32]In April 2022,The New York Timesannounced that Baquet will no longer be executive editor, and will be succeeded by Joseph Kahn. The company stated that they have plans for Baquet to lead a new venture and will still remain at the paper, without giving further details.[33]The New York Timeslater announced that Baquet would lead a fellowship program to train young journalists in local investigative journalism.[34]

Notable stories[edit]

Baquet was awarded thePulitzer Prize for Investigative Reportingin 1988, in recognition of a six-month investigation that he conducted alongsideChicago Tribunereporters William C. Gaines and Ann Marie Lipinski documenting corruption andinfluence-peddlingin the Chicago City Council in a seven-part series. Baquet was also a finalist for the 1994 Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting, for stories that exposed "fraud and mismanagement" at the largest U.S. non-profit health insurer.[35][7]

Between 1990 and 1995 he reported on different cases of corruption and money laundering.[36]

As managing editor at theLos Angeles Times,Baquet was involved in the newspaper's decision to publish, a few days before the2003 California recallelection, an article containing "a half-dozen credible allegations by women in the movie industry" thatArnold Schwarzenegger,a front-runner in the election, had sexually harassed them.[37]The newspaper debated whether to withhold publication until after the election, ultimately deciding not to do so.[37][38]In 2006,Brian Rossand Vic Walter ofABC Newsreported that Baquet andLos Angeles Timesmanaging editorDouglas Frantzhad made the decision to kill a plannedTimesstory aboutNSA warrantless surveillance of Americans,acceding to a request made to them by theDirector of National IntelligenceJohn NegroponteandDirector of the NSAMichael Hayden.[39]Baquet confirmed that he had spoken with Negroponte and Hayden, but said that "government pressure played no role in my decision not to run the story", and that he and Frantz had determined that "we did not have a story, that we could not figure out what was going on" based on highly technical documents submitted by a whistleblower.[39]Baquet's decision was criticized byGlenn Greenwald,who said that Baquet had "a really disturbing history of practicing this form of journalism that is incredibly subservient to the American national security state."[40]

In the aftermath of the2016 U.S. presidential election,Baquet explained toNPRthat somemainstream mediaoutlets were too secular for their own good. He said:

I think that the New York-based and Washington-based... media powerhouses don't quite get religion. We have a fabulous religion writer, but she's all alone. We don't get religion. We don't get the role of religion in people's lives. And I think we can do much, much better. And I think there are things that we can be more creative about to understand the country.[41]

Baquet later characterized an article in which theNew York Timespublic editor[42]questioned whether theTimes'prior coverage of President Trump's possibleRussiaties had been unnecessarily and overly cautious[43]as a "bad column" that comes to a "fairly ridiculous conclusion".[44]In an interview after the Mueller report came in, Baquet said: "We wrote a lot about Russia, and I have no regrets. It’s not our job to determine whether or not there was illegality."[45]

In 2019,The New York Timespublished the headline "Trump Urges Unity Vs. Racism", referring to Trump's speech on the2019 El Paso shootingand the2019 Dayton shooting.Baquet called it a "bad headline" but defended theTimes'coverage of Trump.[46]The next month,The New York Timespublished personal details about the whistleblower at the center of theimpeachment inquiry against Donald Trump,a decision which Baquet defended.[47]

Personal life[edit]

In September 1986, Baquet married writer Dylan Landis.[48]They live inGreenwich Village.[49][50]He is Catholic.[51]

Awards and honors[edit]

In 1988, Baquet earned thePulitzer Prize for Investigative Reportingfor coverage of corruption in the Chicago City Council,[52]as well as thePeter Lisagor Awardfor investigative reporting.[53]

He received theChicago Tribune'sWilliam H. Jones Award for Investigative Reporting in 1987, 1988, and 1989.[54]He received an honorary degree fromLoyola University New Orleansin 2013,[55]was a guest speaker at Columbia College Class Day in 2016,[56]and received theReporters Committee for Freedom of the Press'Freedom of the Press Award in 2018.[57]

In 2019, Baquet received the Larry Foster Award for Integrity in Public Communication at the Arthur W. Page Center Awards,[58]the Norman C. Francis Leadership Institute National Leadership Award for Excellence,[59]and was named one of the "35 most powerful people in New York media" byThe Hollywood Reporter.[60]He received an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters fromXavier University of Louisianain 2020.[61]

In 2022, Baquet was honored bySyracuse University'sS.I. Newhouse School of Public Communicationswith theFred Dressler Leadership Awardat theMirror Awardsceremony in New York City.[62][63]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^abSmith, Jessie Carney, ed. (2012)."2005".Black Firsts: 4,000 Ground-Breaking and Pioneering Historical Events(3 ed.). Visible Ink Press.ISBN978-1578593699.The first black journalist to lead a top newspaper in the United States was Dean P. Baquet...
  2. ^Remnick, David, in'The New York Times' Journalists Maggie Haberman and Dean Baquet on Covering Trump.The New Yorker.June 14, 2018. Event occurs at 00:15. Archived from the original on June 16, 2020.RetrievedJuly 24,2020.{{cite AV media}}:CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  3. ^Fischer, Heinz-Dietrich; Fischer, Erika J., eds. (1989).Local Reporting 1947-1987 (Pulitzer Prize Archive Part A)(2011 ed.). De Gruyter.ISBN978-3598301735.
  4. ^"Outgoing Times editor to lead fellowship for local probes".The Seattle Times.April 26, 2022.RetrievedJuly 6,2022.
  5. ^"Dean Baquet".The New York Times Company.October 24, 2018.RetrievedOctober 16,2020.
  6. ^"Dean Baquet".The New York Times Company.October 24, 2018.RetrievedNovember 24,2020.
  7. ^ab"Finalist: Dean Baquet and Jane Fritsch of The New York Times".The Pulitzer Prizes.RetrievedJuly 22,2020.
  8. ^Rainey, Richard (May 15, 2014)."New Orleans-born journalist Dean Baquet named The New York Times' top editor".The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate.RetrievedJuly 21,2020.
  9. ^Auletta, Ken (October 3, 2005)."Fault Line: Can the Los Angeles Times survive its owners?".The New Yorker.RetrievedJuly 21,2020.
  10. ^Massa, Dominic (May 14, 2014)."N.O. native Dean Baquet named New York Times executive editor".WWL-TV.New Orleans. Archived fromthe originalon May 17, 2014.
  11. ^"Newspapers Hooked Dean Baquet, New Editor of The Times, at an Early Age".The New York Times.May 14, 2014.RetrievedDecember 15,2021.
  12. ^"Dean Baquet, Diane Paulus, and Other Alumni in the News".Columbia Magazine.RetrievedApril 18,2022.
  13. ^"Dean Baquet".The New York Times Company.January 11, 2021.RetrievedApril 18,2022.
  14. ^Edmondson, Catie (May 26, 2016)."At Columbia College Class Day, Dean Baquet urges graduates not to let ambition blind them".Columbia Daily Spectator.Columbia University.RetrievedJuly 21,2020.
  15. ^Peterson, Sarah (October 2, 2013)."New York Times Editor Dean Baquet Speaks at Foster-Foreman Conference".Onward State.RetrievedJuly 21,2020.
  16. ^"Dean Baquet | American journalist".Encyclopedia Britannica.RetrievedNovember 24,2020.
  17. ^McCalmont, Lucy (May 15, 2014)."10 facts about Dean Baquet".Politico.RetrievedJuly 22,2020.
  18. ^Coscarelli, Joe (May 14, 2014)."Everything You Need to Know About Dean Baquet, the First Black Executive Editor of the New York Times".New York.RetrievedJuly 22,2020.
  19. ^abcPompeo, Joe (June 19, 2017)."The Not-So-Bitter Rivalry of Dean Baquet and Marty Baron".Politico.RetrievedJuly 22,2020.
  20. ^Smolkin, Rachel."Nothing But Fans",American Journalism Review,August/September 2005.
  21. ^"Los Angeles Times Announces Editor Succession".Los Angeles Times.July 20, 2005.
  22. ^Katharine Q. Seelye,"Los Angeles Paper Ousts Top Editor",The New York Times,November 8, 2006.
  23. ^Strupp, Joe."Baquet JoinsNew York Timesas D.C. Bureau Chief "ArchivedFebruary 8, 2007, at theWayback Machine,Editor and Publisher,January 30, 2007. Retrieved February 16, 2007.
  24. ^"New Orleanian named editor of N.Y. Times".The New Orleans Advocate.May 17, 2014. Archived fromthe originalon April 20, 2016.RetrievedMay 18,2014.
  25. ^Peters, Jeremy (June 2, 2011)."Abramson to Replace Keller as The Times's executive editor".The New York Times.
  26. ^"Times Topics: Dean Baquet".The New York Times.
  27. ^"Dean Baquet Named executive editor of The New York Times"(Press release). The New York Times Company. May 14, 2014.
  28. ^Pompeo, Joe (July 24, 2017)."The Agony and the Anxiety of The New York Times".Vanity Fair.RetrievedJuly 22,2020.
  29. ^Spayd, Liz (December 17, 2016)."Preaching the Gospel of Diversity, but Not Following It".The New York Times.RetrievedJuly 22,2020.
  30. ^@realdonaldtrump (May 22, 2020).".@deanbaquet is to be seriously respected. He has long been considered one of the dumbest men in the world of journalism, and he became Executive Editor of the Failing New York Times. Not easy to do. He has given up on" figuring Trump out ". Called it all wrong from the..."(Tweet) – viaTwitter.
  31. ^Waterson, Jim (November 18, 2019)."New York Times editor says Trump has put his reporters' lives at risk".The Guardian.RetrievedJuly 22,2020.
  32. ^CPJ Appoints Three New Board Members,Committee to Protect Journalists (November 10, 2003).
  33. ^Coster, Helen (April 19, 2022)."New York Times names Joseph Kahn executive editor, to succeed Dean Baquet".Reuters.RetrievedApril 19,2022.
  34. ^Medina, Eduardo (April 26, 2022)."Dean Baquet Will Lead Local Investigative Fellowship Program for The Times".The New York Times.RetrievedJuly 18,2023.
  35. ^Elizabeth A. Brennan & Elizabeth C. Clarage,Who's Who of Pulitzer Prize Winners(Oryx Press: 1999), pp. 358-59.
  36. ^"Dean Baquet | American journalist".Encyclopedia Britannica.RetrievedDecember 16,2020.
  37. ^abMichael Schudson, "The Multiple Political Roles of American Journalism" inMedia Nation: The Political History of News in Modern America(eds. Bruce J. Schulman & Julian E. Zelizer) (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2017), pp. 196-97.
  38. ^Gary Cohn, Carla Hall and Robert W. Welkos, "Women say Schwarzenegger groped, humiliated them",Los Angeles Times(October 2, 2003).
  39. ^abRoss, Brian; Walter, Vic (March 8, 2007)."Whistle-blower Had to Fight NSA, LA Times to Tell Story".ABC News.Archived fromthe originalon October 14, 2017.RetrievedJuly 18,2009.
  40. ^"Glenn Greenwald On Dean Baquet: A 'Disturbing History' Of Journalism 'Subservient' To National Security State".The Huffington Post.May 16, 2014.Archivedfrom the original on June 29, 2023.
  41. ^Douglas Ernst (December 9, 2016)."NYT executive editor: 'We don't get the role of religion in people's lives'".The Washington Times.
  42. ^Spayd, Liz (January 21, 2017)."Trump, Russia, and the News Story that Wasn't".New York Times.RetrievedJanuary 21,2017.
  43. ^Borchers, Callum (January 22, 2017)."New York Times public editor says paper might have been 'too timid' on Trump and Russia".Washington Post.RetrievedJanuary 22,2017.
  44. ^Wemple, Erik (January 21, 2017),"NYT's Dean Baquet rips 'fairly ridiculous conclusion' in public editor's column on Russia coverage",Washington Post,archivedfrom the original on June 29, 2023
  45. ^Barkan, Ross (March 28, 2019)."Will Rachel Maddow face a reckoning over her Trump-Russia coverage?".The Guardian.Archivedfrom the original on October 27, 2023.
  46. ^Calderone, Michael; Thompson, Alex (August 6, 2019)."Democrats' frustration with the news media boils over".Politico.RetrievedApril 19,2022.
  47. ^Arkin, Daniel (September 26, 2019)."New York Times criticized for publishing details about whistleblower".NBC News.RetrievedApril 19,2022.
  48. ^"Dean Paul Baquet Marries Miss Landis in Larchmont".New York Times.September 7, 1986.
  49. ^Gardner, Eriq (April 9, 2015)."New York Times' Dean Baquet Gives Look at Private Office, Says He Checks Facebook 15 Times a Day".The Hollywood Reporter.RetrievedAugust 6,2020.Still, the newsman has a hard time switching off, even under pressure from his wife, Dylan, at their Greenwich Village house post-8 p.m.
  50. ^"The New York Times Executive Editor Dean Baquet named speaker for Columbia College Class Day 2016".Columbia College. March 23, 2016.
  51. ^Feinberg, Ashley (August 15, 2019)."Here's the Transcript of the New York Times Town-Hall Meeting".Slate Magazine.RetrievedMarch 31,2021.
  52. ^McCalmont, Lucy (May 15, 2014)."10 Facts About Dean Baquet".Politico.RetrievedAugust 6,2020.
  53. ^"Who Is Dean Baquet? 6 Facts About the New York Times' 1st Black Executive Editor".The Root.May 14, 2014.RetrievedAugust 11,2020.
  54. ^"Judges: Dean Baquet".University of Michigan.RetrievedAugust 11,2020.
  55. ^"Dean Baquet of The New York Times receives honorary degree tomorrow".Loyola University New Orleans.Archived fromthe originalon February 8, 2021.RetrievedAugust 11,2020.
  56. ^Edmondson, Catie (May 26, 2016)."At Columbia College Class Day, Dean Baquet urges graduates not to let ambition blind them".Columbia Daily Spectator.Columbia University.RetrievedAugust 11,2020.
  57. ^Nitz, Amelia (May 10, 2018)."Reporters Committee honors Dean Baquet for leadership in journalism, from investigative reporter to executive editor".Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.RetrievedAugust 11,2020.
  58. ^McVerry, Jonathan F."Baquet, Laurie and Rowe named 2019 Larry Foster Award honorees".November 12, 2018.Pennsylvania State University.RetrievedAugust 11,2020.
  59. ^"Norman C. Francis Leadership Institute Honors Leaders".The New Orleans Tribune.October 2, 2019.RetrievedAugust 11,2020.
  60. ^Brower, Alison; Guthrie, Marisa (April 11, 2019)."The 35 Most Powerful People in New York Media 2019".The Hollywood Reporter.RetrievedAugust 11,2020.
  61. ^"Xavier University Celebrates Graduation with Virtual Ceremony Saturday, May 23".The New Orleans Tribune.May 21, 2020.RetrievedAugust 11,2020.
  62. ^Loughlin, Wendy S. (April 20, 2022)."New York Times Executive Editor Dean Baquet to be honored by the Newhouse School at annual Mirror Awards ceremony".Newhouse School at Syracuse University.RetrievedNovember 29,2022.
  63. ^"Mirror Awards for Dean Baquet and Misinformation Coverage".The New York Times Company.June 10, 2022.RetrievedNovember 29,2022.

External links[edit]

Preceded by Executive editor ofThe New York Times
May 14, 2014 – June 2022 		Incumbent
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dean_Baquet&oldid=1232403078"