Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Steve Coll has been appointed dean of Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, the university announced Monday.
Coll won a Pulitzer for his book “Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001” and also for reporting on the SEC, according to his bio at the New America Foundation, where he recently served as president.
Coll said in a written statement from Columbia:
“Columbia’s leaders and faculty have built an enormously successful school that affirms journalism’s most serious and enduring values – depth, originality, ethics, and the role journalists can play in a democracy by promoting transparency, giving voice to the powerless and holding the powerful to account. The digital revolution has been hugely disruptive within the profession but it is also made journalism more vital, accessible, and essential, we’re only beginning to learn what great journalism in new media will look like and how to teach, strengthen and inspire journalists in what is increasingly a globalized profession. The Journalism School has a chance across the next decade to extend its leadership as an institution with worldwide influence, a locus of deep and serious education, a source of experimentation, and a place where great journalism is not just taught but practiced.”
Columbia University President Lee Bollinger said in a statement:
“Steve Coll is one of the most experienced and respected journalists of his generation. Sweeping changes in digital technology and the global marketplace have created unprecedented challenges and opportunities for the news media that demand our constant reflection on the mission and substance of a modern journalism education. Our Journalism School is thriving today because of its innovative response to these developments, and Steve’s breadth of experience as a reporter, editor, author and executive make him ideally suited to lead the School in the years ahead.”
