DR. ROBERT H. GILES '58

Inducted: May 7, 1999

It was late nights editing copy and laying out pages in The DePauw newsroom that convinced Cleveland native Bob Giles that his instincts were right; he wanted a life in journalism. In 1958, he joined the staff of the Akron Beacon Journal and over the next 17 years held several reporting and editing positions, directed the Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage of the Kent State shootings, and became managing editor and then executive editor.

In 1976, he went to the William Allen White School of Journalism at the University of Kansas as a Gannett Foundation professional-in-residence. His experience in Akron had convinced him that newspaper editors needed a deeper understanding of management, and it was this feeling that led him to write a textbook on the subject, Newsroom Management: A Guide to Theory and Practice which was published in 1987.

In 1977, Giles became executive editor of the two Gannett newspapers in Rochester, New York, the Times-Union and Democrat & Chronicle, and was promoted to editor in 1980. In 1986, he joined The Detroit News as executive editor, and became editor and publisher in 1989. In 1993, The News won a Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting. In June 1997, Giles retired from The News and joined The Freedom Forum as a senior vice president and executive director of the Media Studies Center in New York City.  Giles is now the curator of the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University. He has held that position since 2000.

Giles won the Scripps-Howard Foundation Distinguished Journalism Citation in 1978 for "outstanding public service in the cause of the First Amendment." He received the honorary Doctor of Journalism degree from DePauw University in 1996, and currently serves on the Center for Contemporary Media External Board of Advisors.

Next -->