In celebration of the 75th anniversary of the George Polk Awards, a panel at The Times Center including Christiane Amanpour and Bob Woodward will discuss AI and other challenges facing today's journalists. Legendary reporters and editors share how their commitment to investigative journalism combats disinformation in our digital news ecosystem.
Martin Baron, Former Executive Editor, Boston Globe and The Washington Post
Martin “Marty” Baron was executive editor of The Washington Post from Jan. 2, 2013, through Feb. 28, 2021. He oversaw The Post’s print and digital news operations. During his tenure as executive editor the newsroom grew from 580 to almost 1,000 journalists. Baron-led newsrooms won 17 Pulitzer Prizes, including 10 at The Post. The Post during his tenure won four times for national reporting, twice for explanatory reporting and once each for investigative reporting, criticism, feature photography and public service. The public service prize was awarded in recognition of revelations of secret surveillance by the National Security Agency. Previously, Baron had been editor of the Boston Globe. During his 11½ years there, the Globe won six Pulitzer Prizes — for public service, explanatory journalism, national reporting and criticism. The Globe was awarded the public service prize in 2003 for its investigation into a pattern of concealing clergy sex abuse in the Catholic Church, coverage portrayed years later in the Academy Award-winning movie “Spotlight.”
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Before the Globe, Baron held top editing positions at the New York Times, Los Angeles Times and Miami Herald. Under his leadership, the Miami Herald won the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for breaking news for its coverage of the raid to recover Elián González, the Cuban boy at the center of a fierce immigration and custody dispute. He began his journalism career at the Miami Herald in 1976 as a state reporter and later as a business writer. In 1979, he moved to the Los Angeles Times, where he became business editor in 1983; assistant managing editor for page-one special reports, public opinion polling and special projects in 1991; and, in 1993, editor of the newspaper’s Orange County Edition. In 1996, Baron went to the New York Times, where he became associate managing editor for night news operations in 1997. He was named executive editor at the Miami Herald at the start of 2000. During his time at The Post, Baron became a leading defender of the First Amendment and the role of journalists in society, famously saying, "We are not at war … we are at work." He was born and raised in Tampa.
Honors and Awards: National Press Foundation Editor of the Year, 2004 ; Stephen Hamblett First Amendment Award, New England First Amendment Center, 2012 ; Inductee, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2012; Hitchens Prize, 2016; Award for Public Leadership, University of Pennsylvania’s Fels Institute of Government, 2016; Carr Van Anda Award for Excellence in Journalism, E.W. Scripps School of Journalism, 2016; Gerald Sass Award for Distinguished Service to Journalism and Mass Communication, 2016; Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press Award, 2017; Al Neuharth Award for Excellence in the Media, 2017; Benton Medal for Distinguished Public Service, University of Chicago, 2018 ; Damon Runyon Award, Denver Press Club, 2018; Gabe Pressman Truth to Power Award, New York Press Club, 2018 ; Fourth Estate Award, National Press Club, 2018; Goldsmith Career Award for Excellence in Journalism, 2019; First Amendment Award, Ford Hall Forum at Suffolk University, 2019; Canadian Journalism Foundation's Special Citation, 2019; Founders Award for Excellence in Journalism, International Center for Journalists, 2019; William Allen White Foundation National Citation, University of Kansas, 2020; Honorary degrees: George Washington University (2017), George Mason University (2017) and Lehigh University (2014)
Christiane Amanpour, Chief International Anchor, CNN
Christiane Amanpour is CNN’s chief international anchor of the network’s award-winning, flagship global affairs program “Amanpour,” which also airs on PBS in the United States. She is also host of “The Amanpour Hour,” a Saturday show consisting of forensic interviews with the news makers, game changers and cultural icons shaping our world. She is based in the network’s London bureau.
Beginning in 1983 as an entry-level assistant on the international assignment desk at CNN’s headquarters in Atlanta, Amanpour rose through the organization becoming a reporter at the New York bureau, and later, the network’s leading international correspondent.
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Amanpour’s fearless and uncompromising approach made her popular with audiences, and a force to be reckoned with by global influencers – in 1996, Newsweek said that her reporting from conflict hotspots in the Gulf and the Balkans had helped make CNN ‘must-see TV for world leaders’.
In addition to her work as an anchor and reporter, Amanpour is an active rights campaigner. A board member of the Committee to Protect Journalists, the Centre for Public Integrity and the International Women’s Media Foundation, she has used her profile to raise awareness of key global issues and journalists’ rights. She has interviewed educational rights activist Malala Yousafzai for CNN on several occasions – bringing focus to her courage and international advocacy work. In May 2014 she used an appearance on BBC television to raise awareness of the plight of the 200 Nigerian schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram - asking British Prime Minister David Cameron to join the #BringBackOurGirls campaign.
Amanpour has earned every major television journalism award including fourteen News and Documentary Emmy Awards, four Peabody Awards, two George Polk Awards, three duPont-Columbia Awards and the Courage in Journalism Award. She has received nine honorary degrees, has been named a CBE and was inducted into the Cable Hall of Fame. In 2023, she was honored with the Columbia Journalism Award, the highest award bestowed by Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism, and with the President’s Award from the Overseas Press Club. She is an honorary citizen of Sarajevo and a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for Freedom of the Press and the Safety of Journalists.
Dean Baquet, Former Executive Editor, The New York Times
Dean Baquet served as executive editor of The New York Times from May 2014 until June 2022. Mr. Baquet served in the highest ranked position in The Times’s newsroom and oversaw The New York Times news report in all its various forms.
Before being named executive editor, Mr. Baquet was managing editor of The Times. He previously served as Washington bureau chief for the paper from March 2007 to September 2011. Mr. Baquet rejoined The Times after several years at the Los Angeles Times, where he was editor of the newspaper since 2005, after serving as managing editor since 2000.
Previously, Mr. Baquet had been National editor of The New York Times since July 1995, after having served as deputy Metro editor since May 1995.
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Mr. Baquet joined The Times in April 1990 as a Metro reporter. In May 1992, he became special projects editor for the business desk, and in January 1994, he held the same title, but operated out of the executive editor’s office.
Before joining The Times, he reported for the Chicago Tribune from December 1984 to March 1990, and before that, for The Times-Picayune in New Orleans for nearly seven years.
While at the Chicago Tribune, Mr. Baquet served as associate Metro editor for investigations and was chief investigative reporter, covering corruption in politics and the garbage-hauling industry.
He was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting in March 1988 when he led a team of three in documenting corruption in the Chicago City Council, and was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize in 1994 in the investigative reporting category. Mr. Baquet has also received numerous local and regional awards.
Julie Pace, Executive Editor, Associated Press
Julie Pace is Washington bureau chief for The Associated Press, overseeing more than 100 journalists covering the White House, Congress, national politics, national security and federal agencies. Pace also continues to be one of the AP’s most prominent writers and reporters, focusing on the presidency and national politics.
Prior to assuming the role of bureau chief, Pace was AP’s chief White House correspondent, covering the presidencies of Barack Obama and Donald Trump. She was awarded the Merriman Smith prize for her coverage of the 2012 presidential campaign _ one of four presidential campaigns Pace has covered.
Pace joined the AP in 2007 as a multimedia reporter covering presidential politics, including Obama’s campaign. She previously worked as multimedia reporter in the converged newsrooms of The Tampa Tribune and WFLA in Tampa, Florida, and at e.TV, the first independent television station in South Africa.
Pace is a native of Buffalo, New York, and a graduate of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. She lives in Washington.
Moderator: Dick Tofel, Former President, ProPublica
Richard Tofel was the founding general manager of ProPublica from 2007-2012, and served as president from January 2013-September 2021. In this role, he had responsibility for all of ProPublica’s non-journalism operations, including communications, legal, development, finance and budgeting, and human resources.
He was formerly the assistant publisher of The Wall Street Journal and, earlier, an assistant managing editor of the paper, vice president, corporate communications for Dow Jones & Company, and an assistant general counsel of Dow Jones. More recently, he served as vice president, general counsel and secretary of the Rockefeller Foundation, and earlier as president and chief operating officer of the International Freedom Center, a museum and cultural center that was planned for the World Trade Center site.
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He is the author of “Not Shutting Up: A Year of Reflections on Journalism” (2020); “‘A Federal Offense of the Highest Order’: The True Story of How the Joint Chiefs Spied on Nixon, And How He Covered It Up” (2019); “Speaking Truth in Power: Lessons for Our Sorry Politics from Our Inspiring History” (2018); “Home Run Revolution: Babe Ruth in His Time, 1919-1920” (2015); “Non-Profit Journalism: Issues Around Impact” (2013); “Why American Newspapers Gave Away the Future” (2012); “Eight Weeks in Washington, 1861: Abraham Lincoln and the Hazards of Transition” (2011); “Restless Genius: Barney Kilgore, The Wall Street Journal, and the Invention of Modern Journalism” (2009); “Sounding the Trumpet: The Making of John F. Kennedy’s Inaugural Address” (2005); “Vanishing Point: The Disappearance of Judge Crater, and the New York He Left Behind” (2004); and “A Legend in the Making: The New York Yankees in 1939” (2002).
Presented with Long Island University
This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.
The Center's programs are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
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