Robert Jon Rosenthal
Robert Jon "Rosey" Rosenthal | |
---|---|
![]() Rosenthal in 2018 | |
Born | August 5, 1948 |
Education | University of Vermont |
Occupation(s) | Journalist, editor |
Spouse | Inez Katherina von Sternenfels (1985–2013) |
Children | 3 |
Parent(s) | Irving Rosenthal, Ruth Moss |
Robert Jon "Rosey" Rosenthal (born 1948) is a journalist, former editor of The Philadelphia Inquirer and managing editor of the San Francisco Chronicle.[1] Rosenthal currently holds the position of executive director of the Center for Investigative Reporting.[2] He is known for his work as an investigative reporter and foreign correspondent.[3] As an African correspondent for The Philadelphia Inquirer, Rosenthal won several journalism awards, including the Sigma Delta Chi Award for Distinguished Foreign Correspondence.[3][4]
Early life
Rosenthal is the son of Irving Rosenthal and Ruth Moss.[2] His father, Irving, was Professor of English and communication at the City College of New York; he created the first two journalism classes at the college in 1936.[5]
Rosenthal has two siblings: David, of Atlanta, Georgia, and Risa Finkel, of Huntington, New York.[5]
Career
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/58/Daniel_Ellsberg%2C_Mike_Myatt%2C_%26_Robert_Rosenthal_%2815614896798%29.jpg/220px-Daniel_Ellsberg%2C_Mike_Myatt%2C_%26_Robert_Rosenthal_%2815614896798%29.jpg)
After graduating from the University of Vermont, where he was a member of the 1970 E.C.A.C. Division II championship ice hockey team,[6] Rosenthal went to work as a news assistant for The New York Times.[2] In the spring of 1971, he was an editorial assistant on the team that produced the Pentagon Papers, which exposed American activities in Southeast Asia.[7] He worked for the paper from 1970 to 1973.[2] From 1974 to 1979, he was a reporter for The Boston Globe.[2]
In 1979, he took a new job as reporter for The Philadelphia Inquirer, where he stayed for 22 years.[1][2] Starting on the city desk, he became the paper’s Africa correspondent in 1982,[2] and also covered conflicts in Lebanon and Israel. He returned to Philadelphia in 1986 and became the paper’s foreign editor. During his five-year tenure as foreign editor, his staff won two Pulitzer Prizes.[3] In 1991, Rosenthal became the city editor.[2]
He became the paper’s executive editor on January 1, 1998.[8] At the time, the Inquirer was the 16th-largest daily newspaper in the United States.[8] During his term, he witnessed staff cuts and money-saving changes to the reporting process, including shorter stories and smaller photographs. Rosenthal left the Inquirer in late 2001.[2][9][10]
He then taught classes at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism.[11] On September 11, 2002, he became managing editor for the San Francisco Chronicle.[11] He left that position in June 2007.[2]
In 2007, Rosenthal became the executive editor of The Chauncey Bailey Project, a team of journalists working for news outlets throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, tasked with investigating the murder of Oakland Post editor Chauncey Bailey.[12]
In January 2008, he became executive director of the Center for Investigative Reporting,[1] a nonprofit investigative news agency.[4] Since then, he has overseen the growth of the organization to what is now the largest nonprofit investigative reporting organization in the country, with a staff of 70 and budget of $11 million.[13]
Awards and recognition
In 1983, Rosenthal received the Third World Reporting Award from the National Association of Black Journalists.[2] In 1986, Rosenthal received the Overseas Press Club Award for magazine writing, the Sigma Delta Chi Award for distinguished foreign correspondence, and was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in international reporting.[14]
While Rosenthal was managing editor, the San Francisco Chronicle won a Pulitzer Prize for its feature photography.[4] The paper also received the prestigious George Polk Award for its investigative reporting of the BALCO labs and performance-enhancing drugs scandal.[15] From 2002 to 2005, 14 sports writers at the Chronicle were finalists for the Associated Press Sports Editors national award, more than any other paper with a comparable circulation.[15]
While Rosenthal was editor, the Chauncey Bailey Project won awards from Investigative Reporters and Editors, the Online News Association and the National Association of Black Journalists, among others.[16]
The Center for Investigative Reporting has won Society of Professional Journalists Awards, Investigative Reporters and Editors Awards, a Scripps Howard Award, The George Polk Award, and The MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions. CIR was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2012.[4][8][17][18][19]
Personal life
Rosenthal married Inez Katherina von Sternenfels on November 22, 1985.[2] They have three children together: Adam, Benjamin, and Ariella.[2]
References
- ^ a b c "Robert J. Rosenthal". California Watch. Retrieved October 1, 2012.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m “Robert Jon Rosenthal” (August 8, 2012). The Complete Marquis Who’s Who.
- ^ a b c Said, Carolyn (September 14, 2002). “Chronicle picks managing editor; Respected as ‘born newsman’”. San Francisco Chronicle, A2.
- ^ a b c d "About CIR". Center For Investigative Reporting. Retrieved October 1, 2012.
- ^ a b Robert D. McFadden (May 19, 2008). "Irving Rosenthal, 95, Mentor to Journalists, Dies". The New York Times. Retrieved October 1, 2012.
- ^ "Robert Rosenthal '71". The University of Vermont. Retrieved October 1, 2012.
- ^ Robert J. Rosenthal (Winter 2007). "Optimism in a Time of Chaos and Change". The Nieman Foundation For Journalism At Harvard. Retrieved October 1, 2012.
- ^ a b c "Scripps Howard Awards Honor Nation's Best 2011 Journalism". The E. W. Scripps Company. March 16, 2012. Retrieved October 1, 2012.
- ^ Loviglio, Joann (November 6, 2001). “Robert Rosenthal resigns abruptly as editor of The Philadelphia Inquirer”. Associated Press.
- ^ Felicity Barringer (November 7, 2001). "Philadelphia Inquirer Editor Is Forced Out". The New York Times. Retrieved October 1, 2012.
- ^ a b Don Campbell (November 2002). "Help Wanted". American Journalism Review. Retrieved October 1, 2012.
- ^ "Staff". The Chancy Bailey Project. Retrieved October 1, 2012.
- ^ Jodi Enda (September 5, 2012). "Staying Alive". American Journalism Review. Retrieved October 1, 2012.
- ^ Robert Rosenthal (June 25, 2012). "The Idea of Exclusivity Is Gone". The European. Archived from the original on September 27, 2012. Retrieved October 1, 2012.
- ^ a b “Prize for Chronicle’s BALCO investigation; Steroids probe wins national award from sports editors” (March 20, 2005). San Francisco Chronicle, A2.
- ^ "Awards". The Chauncy Bailey Project. Retrieved October 1, 2012.
- ^ Kevin Roderick (February 16, 2012). "Morning Buzz: Thursday 2.16.12". LA Observed. Retrieved October 1, 2012.
- ^ Andrew Beaujon (February 16, 2012). "CIR's plan for MacArthur million". Poynter. Retrieved October 1, 2012.
- ^ Kevin Roderick (February 19, 2012). "Kudos to California Watch for Polk Award". LA Observed. Retrieved October 1, 2012.