Merrill Brown is a media executive and journalist. In addition to writing for

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

, he launched MSNBC.com and was the website’s founding editor-in-chief. He is the former Director of the School of Communication and Media at

Montclair State University Montclair State University (MSU) is a Public university, public research university in Montclair, New Jersey, with parts of the campus extending into Little Falls, New Jersey, Little Falls. As of fall 2018, Montclair State was, by enrollment, ...

. Brown is founder of The News Project.

Career

Journalist

Brown was associated with The Washington Post from 1979 to 1985, serving as a financial reporter (1979–1982),

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

financial correspondent (1982–1984) and director of business development, Washington Post Company (1984–1985). Prior to that, Brown wrote for the

Washington Star ''The Washington Star'', previously known as the ''Washington Star-News'' and the Washington ''Evening Star'', was a daily afternoon newspaper published in Washington, D.C., between 1852 and 1981. The Sunday edition was known as the ''Sunday Star ...

(1978–1979), Media General Newspapers (1975–1978), the Winston-Salem Sentinel (1974–1975) and the

St. Louis Post Dispatch The ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch'' is a major regional newspaper based in St. Louis, Missouri, serving the St. Louis metropolitan area. It is the largest daily newspaper in the metropolitan area by circulation, surpassing the ''Belleville News-Dem ...

(1973–1974). Brown was a member of the

Peabody Award The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Peabody, honor the most powerful, enlightening, and invigorating stories in television, radio, and ...

s Board of Jurors from 1988 to 1991. On January 10, 2023, it was announced that Brown was appointed as the editorial director for

G/O Media G/O Media Inc. is an American media holding company that runs ''Gizmodo'', '' Kotaku'', ''Jalopnik'', ''Deadspin'', '' Lifehacker'', ''Jezebel'', ''The Root'', ''The A.V. Club'', ''The Takeout'', ''The Onion'', and ''The Inventory''. History ...

. On June 30, he announced a decision to test AI-generated content on the company's portfolio of media websites, and was met with opposition from the different editorial teams across the portfolio.

Launching Court TV, MSNBC.com

Brown was a member of the 1991 launch team for the cable network

Court TV Court TV is an American digital broadcast network and former cable television channel. It was originally launched in 1991 with a focus on crime-themed programs such as true crime documentary series, legal analysis talk shows, and live news cove ...

. From 1990-1994, he oversaw public relations and the development of the network's day-to-day management structure. In 1996, Brown helped launch MSNBC.com, and was the website’s first editor-in-chief. He was responsible for connecting

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...

’s “technology wizards” and

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

’s “news hounds,” developing the relationships between

MSNBC MSNBC (originally the Microsoft National Broadcasting Company) is an American news-based pay television cable channel. It is owned by NBCUniversala subsidiary of Comcast. Headquartered in New York City, it provides news coverage and political ...

on the Internet, based in Redmond, Washington, and MSNBC Cable, based in New Jersey. He went on to become senior vice president in August 2000 and during his tenure, the company grew to become one of the most visited news offerings on the Internet.

Media consultant

In the spring of 2005, he prepared a report for the

Carnegie Corporation of New York The Carnegie Corporation of New York is a philanthropic fund established by Andrew Carnegie in 1911 to support education programs across the United States, and later the world. Carnegie Corporation has endowed or otherwise helped to establis ...

, which examined young peoples' changing media consumption habits. The report was referenced later that year in a speech to the

American Society of Magazine Editors The American Society of Magazine Editors (ASME) is an industry trade group for magazine journalists and editors of magazines published in the United States. ASME includes the editorial leaders of most major consumer magazine in print and digital ex ...

. In 2012, Brown co-authored a report with Larry Kramer, publisher of

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...

, about the future of the PBS NewsHour. The report, commissioned by the

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), a merging of the William H. Gates Foundation and the Gates Learning Foundation, is an American private foundation founded by Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates. Based in Seattle, Washington, it was l ...

, called on the program to “modernize news-gathering production.”

Montclair State University

In 2012, Brown was appointed as the inaugural Director of the School of Communication and Media at

Board work

Brown has served on the boards of directors for GoLocal24, Revenue.com and MedCity News. He is also an advisor to Capture Media Inc., Dstillery, Mixpo and is a member of the advisory board of the

City University of New York The City University of New York ( CUNY; , ) is the Public university, public university system of Education in New York City, New York City. It is the largest urban university system in the United States, comprising 25 campuses: eleven Upper divis ...

Graduate School of Journalism. Previously Brown was chairman of the board at NowPublic. Brown has also served on the board of Smashing Ideas Inc.

The News Project

In 2018 Brown formed The News Project with founding partners Charming Robot, 10up, Mark Walsh and other investors supporting the platform, which includes technology from Piano.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Merrill American male journalists American media executives Living people The Washington Post journalists St. Louis Post-Dispatch people Washington University in St. Louis alumni People from Silver Spring, Maryland Journalists from Philadelphia Year of birth missing (living people)