Dean Baquet facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Dean Baquet
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Baquet in 2018
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| Born | September 21, 1956 New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.
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| Education | Columbia University (did not graduate) |
| Occupation | Journalist; Editor |
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Notable credit(s)
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The New York Times; Los Angeles Times; Chicago Tribune |
| Spouse(s) |
Dylan Landis
(m. 1986) |
| Children | 1 |
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Dean P. Baquet (born September 21, 1956) is an American journalist. He was the top editor, known as the editor-in-chief, of The New York Times from May 2014 to June 2022. Before that, from 2011 to 2014, Baquet was a managing editor. He is important because he was the first Black person to hold the executive editor role at The New York Times.
Baquet grew up in New Orleans. He started his journalism career there in the 1970s. Later, he moved to the Chicago Tribune in the 1980s. In 1990, he joined The New York Times. He became the national editor in 1995. In 2000, he worked for the Los Angeles Times, first as managing editor and then as executive editor. He returned to The New York Times in 2007.
In 1988, Baquet won a Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Journalism. He shared this award with a team of reporters from the Chicago Tribune. They won for their detailed reports on problems in the Chicago City Council.
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Early Life and Education
Dean Baquet grew up in Tremé, a neighborhood in New Orleans, Louisiana. His family was Catholic. He was the fourth of five sons. His father, Edward Baquet, owned restaurants in New Orleans.
Baquet went to St. Augustine High School. He graduated in 1974. He received a scholarship to study English at Columbia University. However, he left college early to start his career in journalism.
He worked in New Orleans for almost ten years. After that, he moved to the Chicago Tribune.
Career Highlights
Baquet began his journalism journey at the New Orleans States-Item. This newspaper later joined with The Times-Picayune. After six years there, he joined the Chicago Tribune in 1984. While at the Tribune, he won the Pulitzer Prize.
In April 1990, he joined The New York Times. He started as an investigative reporter. He worked on important stories for the Metro desk. In 1996, he became the national editor. This meant he oversaw news from all over the country.
In 2000, Baquet moved to the Los Angeles Times. He became the managing editor. He was the top editor there starting in 2005. He was the first Black person to lead that newspaper. He left the Los Angeles Times in 2006. This happened after he disagreed with plans to cut jobs in the newsroom.
Two months later, Baquet rejoined The New York Times. He became the chief of the Washington bureau. In September 2011, he became managing editor. On May 14, 2014, he was promoted to executive editor. As executive editor, Baquet worked hard to hire more reporters and editors of color. He said this effort was "intense and persistent."
Baquet has spoken out about how important it is to protect journalists. He has said that personal attacks on journalists can put their lives at risk. In April 2022, The New York Times announced that Baquet would step down as executive editor. He was succeeded by Joseph Kahn. Baquet will still work at the paper. He will lead a new program to train young journalists. This program will focus on local investigative reporting.
Award-Winning Stories
Dean Baquet won the Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting in 1988. He earned this award for a six-month investigation. He worked with other reporters from the Chicago Tribune. Their stories showed problems and unfair practices in the Chicago City Council.
He was also a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 1994. This was for stories that uncovered problems at a large U.S. health insurer. Between 1990 and 1995, he reported on different cases of corruption. He also covered stories about money laundering.
After the 2016 U.S. presidential election, Baquet discussed how some news outlets covered the election. He said that it's not the job of journalists to decide if something was illegal. Their job is to report the facts.
In 2019, The New York Times published a headline about unity. Baquet called it a "bad headline" but defended the newspaper's overall coverage.
Personal Life
In September 1986, Dean Baquet married writer Dylan Landis. They live in Greenwich Village. He is Catholic.
Awards and Honors
In 1988, Baquet won the Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting. He also received the Peter Lisagor Award for investigative reporting.
He received the Chicago Tribune's William H. Jones Award for Investigative Reporting three times. These were in 1987, 1988, and 1989. In 2013, he received an honorary degree from Loyola University New Orleans. He was a guest speaker at Columbia College Class Day in 2016. In 2018, he received the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press' Freedom of the Press Award.
In 2019, Baquet received the Larry Foster Award for Integrity in Public Communication. He also received the Norman C. Francis Leadership Institute National Leadership Award for Excellence. The Hollywood Reporter named him one of the "35 most powerful people in New York media." In 2020, he received an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Xavier University of Louisiana.
In 2022, Syracuse University honored Baquet. He received the Fred Dressler Leadership Award at the Mirror Awards ceremony.
See also
- New Yorkers in journalism
- The New York Times controversies
- She Said (film)
