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Robert Jon Rosenthal

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Robert Jon "Rosey" Rosenthal
Rosenthal in 2018
Born (1948-08-05) August 5, 1948 (age 76)
EducationUniversity of Vermont
Occupation(s)Journalist, editor
SpouseInez Katherina von Sternenfels (1985–2013)
Children3
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

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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

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Rosenthal with J. Michael Myatt (left) and Daniel Ellsberg (2008)

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

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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

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Rosenthal married Inez Katherina von Sternenfels on November 22, 1985.[2] They have three children together: Adam, Benjamin, and Ariella.[2]

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Robert J. Rosenthal". California Watch. Retrieved October 1, 2012.
  2. ^ 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.
  3. ^ a b c Said, Carolyn (September 14, 2002). “Chronicle picks managing editor; Respected as ‘born newsman’”. San Francisco Chronicle, A2.
  4. ^ a b c d "About CIR". Center For Investigative Reporting. Retrieved October 1, 2012.
  5. ^ a b Robert D. McFadden (May 19, 2008). "Irving Rosenthal, 95, Mentor to Journalists, Dies". The New York Times. Retrieved October 1, 2012.
  6. ^ "Robert Rosenthal '71". The University of Vermont. Retrieved October 1, 2012.
  7. ^ Robert J. Rosenthal (Winter 2007). "Optimism in a Time of Chaos and Change". The Nieman Foundation For Journalism At Harvard. Retrieved October 1, 2012.
  8. ^ a b c "Scripps Howard Awards Honor Nation's Best 2011 Journalism". The E. W. Scripps Company. March 16, 2012. Retrieved October 1, 2012.
  9. ^ Loviglio, Joann (November 6, 2001). “Robert Rosenthal resigns abruptly as editor of The Philadelphia Inquirer”. Associated Press.
  10. ^ Felicity Barringer (November 7, 2001). "Philadelphia Inquirer Editor Is Forced Out". The New York Times. Retrieved October 1, 2012.
  11. ^ a b Don Campbell (November 2002). "Help Wanted". American Journalism Review. Retrieved October 1, 2012.
  12. ^ "Staff". The Chancy Bailey Project. Retrieved October 1, 2012.
  13. ^ Jodi Enda (September 5, 2012). "Staying Alive". American Journalism Review. Retrieved October 1, 2012.
  14. ^ 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.
  15. ^ a b “Prize for Chronicle’s BALCO investigation; Steroids probe wins national award from sports editors” (March 20, 2005). San Francisco Chronicle, A2.
  16. ^ "Awards". The Chauncy Bailey Project. Retrieved October 1, 2012.
  17. ^ Kevin Roderick (February 16, 2012). "Morning Buzz: Thursday 2.16.12". LA Observed. Retrieved October 1, 2012.
  18. ^ Andrew Beaujon (February 16, 2012). "CIR's plan for MacArthur million". Poynter. Retrieved October 1, 2012.
  19. ^ Kevin Roderick (February 19, 2012). "Kudos to California Watch for Polk Award". LA Observed. Retrieved October 1, 2012.
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