Eugene Leslie Roberts Jr. (born June 15, 1932) is an American journalist and professor of journalism. He has been a national editor of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', executive editor of ''

The Philadelphia Inquirer ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' is a daily newspaper headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The newspaper's circulation is the largest in both the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the Delaware Valley metropolitan region of Southeastern Pennsy ...

'' from 1972 to 1990, and managing editor of ''The New York Times'' from 1994 to 1997. Roberts is most known for presiding over ''The Inquirer'' "Golden Age", a time in which the newspaper was given increased freedom and resources, won 17

Pulitzer Prizes The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made hi ...

in 18 years, displaced ''

The Philadelphia Bulletin The ''Philadelphia Bulletin'' was a daily evening newspaper published from 1847 to 1982 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was the largest circulation newspaper in Philadelphia for 76 years and was once the largest evening newspaper in the United ...

'' as the city's "paper of record", and was considered to be

Knight Ridder Knight Ridder was an American media company, specializing in newspaper and Internet publishing. Until it was bought by McClatchy on June 27, 2006, it was the second largest newspaper publisher in the United States, with 32 daily newspaper brand ...

's crown jewel as a profitable enterprise and an influential regional paper.

Career

Roberts was born in Pikeville in the Goldsboro, North Carolina Metropolitan Area. He grew up in

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

and worked for newspapers in Goldsboro, N.C.; Norfolk, Va.; Raleigh, N.C.; and Detroit. He covered the

Kennedy Assassination John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 un ...

in Dallas for the ''

Detroit Free Press The ''Detroit Free Press'' is the largest daily newspaper in Detroit, Michigan, US. The Sunday edition is titled the ''Sunday Free Press''. It is sometimes referred to as the Freep (reflected in the paper's web address, www.freep.com). It primari ...

'' and subsequently covered the

Civil Rights Movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional Racial segregation in the United States, racial segregation, Racial discrimination ...

as a correspondent for ''The New York Times'', where he also served as

Saigon , population_density_km2 = 4,292 , population_density_metro_km2 = 697.2 , population_demonym = Saigonese , blank_name = GRP (Nominal) , blank_info = 2019 , blank1_name = – Total , blank1_ ...

bureau chief in 1968 during the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

. After serving as national editor at ''The Times'' from 1969 to 1972, he was hired by

John S. Knight John Shively Knight (October 26, 1894 – June 16, 1981) was an American newspaper publisher and editor based in Akron, Ohio. Early life and education Knight was born in Bluefield, West Virginia, to Charles Landon Knight and Clara Irene Shivel ...

to head ''The Inquirer''. He retired in 1990 and returned to the ''Times'' as managing editor from 1994 to 1998. Roberts taught journalism from 1991 to 1994 and from 1998 to 2010 at the

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 1947 and was named after newspaper editor Philip Merrill in 2001. The school has about 550 undergr ...

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of M ...

. He is on the board of directors of the

Committee to Protect Journalists The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is an American independent non-profit, non-governmental organization, based in New York City, New York, with correspondents around the world. CPJ promotes press freedom and defends the rights of journa ...

and served five years as its chairman; he has also served as chairman of the Pulitzer Prize Board, the

International Press Institute International Press Institute (IPI) is a global organisation dedicated to the promotion and protection of press freedom and the improvement of journalism practices. The institution was founded by 34 editors from 15 countries at Columbia Universit ...

, and the Board Of Visitors of the School of Communications at the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...

Pulitzer Prizes

''The Inquirer'' had never won any Pulitzer Prize (established 1917) before Roberts became executive editor but won them under his leadership. * 1975,

national reporting This Pulitzer Prize has been awarded since 1942 for a distinguished example of reporting on national affairs in the United States. In its first six years (1942–1947), it was called the Pulitzer Prize for Telegraphic Reporting – National. L ...

* 1976,

editorial cartoons A political cartoon, a form of editorial cartoon, is a cartoon graphic with caricatures of public figures, expressing the artist's opinion. An artist who writes and draws such images is known as an editorial cartoonist. They typically combine ...

* 1977, local reporting * 1978, public service journalism * 1979, international reporting * 1980, local reporting * 1985,

investigative reporting Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, such as serious crimes, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend months or years res ...

* 1985, feature photography * 1986, feature photography * 1986, national reporting * 1987,

feature writing A feature story is a piece of non-fiction writing about news. A feature story is a type of soft news. The main sub-types are the ''news feature'' and the ''human-interest story''. A feature story is distinguished from other types of non-news ...

* 1987, investigative reporting * 1987, investigative reporting * 1988, national reporting * 1989, national reporting * 1989, feature writing * 1990, public service journalism

Awards

Roberts and

Hank Klibanoff Hank Klibanoff (born March 26, 1949 in Florence, Alabama) is an American journalist, now a professor at Emory University. He and Gene Roberts won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for History for the book '' The Race Beat: The Press, the Civil Rights Str ...

, managing editor of the ''

Atlanta Journal-Constitution ''The Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the only major daily newspaper in the metropolitan area of Atlanta, Georgia. It is the flagship publication of Cox Enterprises. The ''Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the result of the merger between ...

'', won the 2007

Pulitzer Prize for History The Pulitzer Prize for History, administered by Columbia University, is one of the seven American Pulitzer Prizes that are annually awarded for Letters, Drama, and Music. It has been presented since 1917 for a distinguished book about the history ...

recognizing their book ''

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 Civil Rights Movement in the United ...

'' as the year's best published in the U.S. 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 were an analysis of

Gunnar Myrdal Karl Gunnar Myrdal ( ; ; 6 December 1898 – 17 May 1987) was a Swedish economist and sociologist. In 1974, he received the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences along with Friedrich Hayek for "their pioneering work in the theory of money a ...

and

Ralph Bunche Ralph Johnson Bunche (; August 7, 1904 – December 9, 1971) was an American political scientist, diplomat, and leading actor in the mid-20th-century decolonization process and US civil rights movement, who received the 1950 Nobel Peace Prize f ...

's 1944 treatise, '' An American Dilemma: The Negro Problem and Modern Democracy'', which had explained the problem of racial inequality and its possible resolution, and a close examination of the contribution of the black press to the Civil Rights Movement. In 1980, he received the Golden Plate Award of the

American Academy of Achievement The American Academy of Achievement, colloquially known as the Academy of Achievement, is a non-profit educational organization that recognizes some of the highest achieving individuals in diverse fields and gives them the opportunity to meet o ...

. In 1984, Roberts was inducted into the N.C. Journalism Hall of Fame. Roberts received the

National Press Club Organizations A press club is an organization for journalists and others professionally engaged in the production and dissemination of news. A press club whose membership is defined by the press of a given country may be known as a National Press ...

's Fourth Estate Award for Distinguished Contributions to Journalism in 1993. Roberts was awarded the Order of the Long Leaf Pine by the state of North Carolina on January 30, 2015.

Personal

Roberts earned an

Associate degree An associate degree is an undergraduate degree awarded after a course of post-secondary study lasting two to three years. It is a level of qualification above a high school diploma, GED, or matriculation, and below a bachelor's degree. The fi ...

from

Mars Hill College Mars Hill University is a private Christian university in Mars Hill, North Carolina. The university offers 35 undergraduate majors and includes a school of nursing and graduate schools in education, criminal justice, and management. From 1859 t ...

in North Carolina. He went on to receive his B.A. in Journalism from the

in 1954 and was later a

Nieman Fellow The Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University awards multiple types of fellowships. Nieman Fellowships for journalists A Nieman Fellowship is an award given to journalists by the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University. ...

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

Books as co-author or co-editor

* ''The Censors and the Schools'' (

Little, Brown Little, Brown and Company is an American publishing company founded in 1837 by Charles Coffin Little and James Brown (publisher), James Brown in Boston. For close to two centuries it has published fiction and nonfiction by American authors. Ear ...

, 1963; Greenwood Press, 1977, ), by Roberts and Jack Nelson * ''Assignment America: A Collection of Outstanding Writing from the New York Times'' (Quadrangle, 1974; ), eds. Roberts and David Jones * ''Leaving Readers Behind: the age of corporate newspapering'' (University of Arkansas Press, 2001; ), editor-in-chief, with Thomas Kunkel and Charles Layton * ''Breach of Faith: a crisis of coverage in the age of corporate newspapering'' (University of Arkansas Press, 2002; ), editor-in-chief, with Thomas Kunkel * ''The Race Beat: The Press, the Civil Rights Struggle, and the Awakening of a Nation'' (

Alfred A. Knopf Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. () is an American publishing house that was founded by Alfred A. Knopf Sr. and Blanche Knopf in 1915. Blanche and Alfred traveled abroad regularly and were known for publishing European, Asian, and Latin American writers in ...

, 2006; ), by Roberts and

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Roberts, Gene 1932 births Living people Pulitzer Prize for History winners Pulitzer Prize winners for journalism American war correspondents The Philadelphia Inquirer people The New York Times editors Detroit Free Press people University of Maryland, College Park faculty Nieman Fellows UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media alumni Mars Hill University alumni George Polk Award recipients American male journalists 20th-century American newspaper editors 20th-century American historians American male non-fiction writers 21st-century American historians 21st-century American male writers 20th-century American male writers People from Wayne County, North Carolina Journalists from North Carolina