Robert Hartmann Giles

Robert H. Giles was a leader in journalism and journalism education for a half-century. As Curator of the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University, 2000-2011, Giles created programs that extended the reach of the Foundation, including the Nieman Journalism Lab, Nieman Watchdog Reporting Project, and the Nieman Narrative Journalism Program. He also served as publisher of Nieman Reports, a quarterly of commentary and criticism about the news media. As Managing Editor of the Akron Beacon Journal, Giles directed the paper's coverage of the Kent State shootings in 1970 and shared a Pulitzer Prize with the newspaper's staff for local reporting. He was the editor of The Detroit News when it received a Pulitzer for its disclosures of a scandal in the Michigan House Fiscal Agency. His book Newsroom Management: A Guide to Theory and Practice (1990) is a standard for journalism education and the industry. Giles was editor of the Times-Union and Democrat & Chronicle, Rochester, New York, 1977-1986. As Executive Director of Freedom Forum's Media Studies Center in New York City, he edited Media Studies Journal, and led an examination of fairness in newspapers and broadcast news, and developed an initiative to increase the representation of journalists of color in newspaper newsrooms. He was President of the American Society of Newspaper Editors, Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, and Associated Press Managing Editors. He received the Scripps-Howard Foundation Distinguished Journalism Citation and the Gerald M. Sass Award for Distinguished Contributions to Journalism Education. Giles last lived in Traverse City, Michigan. He was a board member of the Traverse Symphony Orchestra and the International Affairs Forum.