Appearances

For the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, Roy Harris was busy remembering some of the press coverage that resulted in Pulitzer Prizes. He produced this account of what the New York Times did in the wake of 9/11 – including its creation of “Portraits of Grief” to remember the victims – to earn the 2002 Pulitzer for Public Service.

Also for Poynter, Harris recounted how The Wall Street Journal produced a miraculous account of the terrorist attacks despite having its newsroom across the street from the targeted World Trade Center in Manhattan.

For a special Sept. 9 presentation of the WGBH-TV media panel "Beat the Press" in Boston, Harris appeared as a panelist on a special program examining the press during and after the 9/11 attacks.

Harris was busy, as usual, during the 2011 Pulitzer Prize announcement week. This April 17 Poynter.org curtain-raiser ran on the Sunday before Pulitzer Monday. Then on Tuesday he hosted the Washington Post’s online chat – his fourth straight year of that duty. Harris also was cited as a Pulitzer expert in a number of news articles, including ones prepared by the Associated Press and by the Washington Post. New York Times public editor Art Brisbane quoted him in the paper’s analysis of how the Times writes about issues at rival newspapers.

In January 2011, as an adjunct journalism professor, Harris began teaching a class at Emerson College titled “Impact Journalism.” The class is studying a number of the cases in Pulitzer’s Gold, and using the book as its reader. One class noted the approach of the 10th anniversary of the Boston Globe's Pulitzer-winning exclusive on sex crimes by Catholic priests, and the Church cover-up, leading to a story on Poynter.org, and in the Emerson school paper, the Berkeley Beacon.

On a Western swing in the fall of 2010, Roy Harris talked about public service journalism in three presentations. At the 2010 Society of Professional Journalists national conference in Las Vegas on October 5th, Alexandra Berzon and Mark Maremont joined him on a panel titled “The Pulitzer Public Service Challenge,” discussing their 2009 and 2007 Pulitzer-winning projects at the Las Vegas Sun and at The Wall Street Journal, respectively. Both reporters are now with the Journal. On October 6th, the Rancho Mirage Public Library presented a talk and book-signing by Harris to kick off of the library’s lecture series. Veteran journalist Dennis A. Britton, who joined Harris for the program, wrote this profile of the author and Pulitzer's Gold in the Palm Springs-based Desert Sun. That same evening, Harris discussed the book at Leo Baeck Temple in West Los Angeles in a program sponsored by the Leo Baeck Temple Community of Elders.

At the Investigative Reporters and Editors national conference in June in Las Vegas, Harris conducted a discussion with the reporters most responsible for the 2010 and 2009 Public Service Pulitzer Prizes, Daniel Gilbert of Virginia's Bristol Herald Courier, and Alexandra Berzon of the Wall Street Journal, formerly with the Las Vegas Sun. He wrote this for IRE's website. He also produced this analysis of the IRE conference for Poynter.org, the website of the Florida-based Poynter Institute journalism training center.

Roy Harris - Wall Street Journal Online Video Interview

In analyzing the journalism that was awarded 2010 Pulitzer Prizes, the media often cited Pulitzer’s Gold and Harris. Editor & Publisher magazine not only drew on his analysis of what the 2010 Pulitzer meant, but it included an excerpt from the book titled “A Pulitzer Won with Blood.” He wrote an Op-Ed for WashingtonPost.com on April 12th, the day of the awards, and—for the third straight year—hosted the Post’s online reader discussion on the Pulitzers. As a commentator for Poynter.org, Harris profiled Daniel Gilbert, and also provided Poynter.org’s analysis of “Pulitzer Day.”

In the days leading up to the 2010 Pulitzers, National Public Radio's Robin Young, host of WBUR's “Here and Now,” interviewed Harris in Boston about the new paperback edition of Pulitzer's Gold. So did Southern California Public Radio's Patt Morrison, on her program for Los Angeles-based KPCC-FM on April 9th. Also, Harris summarized the situation in this article on the Web site of the Poynter Institute, and followed that with an accounting of entries as the Pulitzer jurors began their meetings.

With the survival of a strong investigative reporting function being increasingly threatened in the U.S., Harris continues to discuss the newspaper industry's woes in a variety of other venues, including journalism schools around the country. At New York's Columbia University, he guest-lectured at three classes, and wrote this Op-Ed for the student-operated Columbia Spectator. On Southern California tours in December 2009 and January 2010, Harris talked to classes at Cal State Fullerton, Cal State Northridge, and the University of Southern California. This article ran on the front page of Fullerton's Daily Titan student newspaper.

“Pulitzer's Gold and the Shaky Future of Public Service Journalism” was the subject of Roy Harris's presentation at the Thomas Crane Public Library in Quincy, Mass., on Wednesday, April 7th, 2010, as the April 12th announcement of the Pulitzer Prizes approached. This interview served as a promotion of the program.

C-Span Book TV nationally aired a program on Pulitzer's Gold that was recorded at Brookline Booksmith on August 27th, 2009. It was noted in the Boston Globe's “Off the Shelf” book blog. In a panel presentation, Boston University professor Elizabeth Mehren and WBUR health and science reporter Sacha Pfeiffer joined author Harris in discussing journalism's great tradition, and what the future holds. Pfeiffer was a key member of the Boston Globe team that won the 2003 Pulitzer for exposing sexual misconduct by priests and the Church cover-up—a case that is explored in the book.

If you would like Roy Harris to speak to a group, then please contact him directly.

On June 9th he presented a reading from Pulitzer's Gold at Porter Square Books, at 25 White Street in Cambridge, Mass. Earlier in the year in Cambridge, on March 13th, Harris addressed the Nieman Fellows attending Harvard University's prestigious journalism program.

In a series of articles in publications around the country, Harris introduced the 2009 Pulitzer prize season, and then commented on the recipients and the process. He began with an Op Ed article in the Los Angeles Times on April 18th.

Three articles for www.poynter.org, discussed secrecy in the Pulitzer judging process; involved interviews with staffers from the Las Vegas Sun, Pulitzer-winner in the public service category; and examined some of the year's “non-winners.” Harris also managed the Washington Post's April 21st online chat about the year's prizes.

Another analysis of the 2009 Pulitzers by Harris ran as an Op Ed in the April 23rd Christian Science Monitor.

The Newseum in Washington, D.C., on January 10th, featured Roy Harris on “Inside Media.” He talked with Washington Post team members Dana Priest and Anne Hull, who produced the 2008 Gold Medal-winning series of articles exposing abuses at the Walter Reed Army Hospital in Bethesda, Md.

It was the second of a series of Newseum programs being designed to feature Harris and winners of the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service. On November 29th he appeared on a Newseum program with the Post's Jeff Leen, who has been involved with three public-service prizes during his career. (Click this link to hear the 37-minute discussion.) Watch this site for information about further Newseum programs featuring Harris.

The book's discussion of the key role of the press in exposing financial huckster Charles Ponzi, in 1920, has led to Harris being cited as an expert in that corner of American business history. For an article on Ponzi and the press, see the website of the Poynter Institute. Also, Harris discussed the topic in a February 2009 radio interview with Massachusetts-based WATD Radio.

The scandal involving Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich also recalled past abuses in the Land of Lincoln—abuses that led to Pulitzer Prizes for Public Service. Harris wrote an article for the St. Louis Beacon making those connections.

On Thursday, September 11th, Harris participated in a celebration of the University of Missouri Journalism School's 100th anniversary. He served with Pulitzer winners on a panel titled “The Pulitzer Prize and the Quality of American Journalism.”

For the 2008 Pulitzer Prizes, announced in April, Roy Harris was often cited as a Pulitzer expert. The Washington Post, which won the 2008 Pulitzer Public Service Gold Medal and five other of the year's Pulitzers, asked him to conduct the Q&A with Post readers on its Website on April 8th.

In February 2008, a month after the book was released, Harris made an appearance with veteran network news anchor Carole Simpson at Emerson College's “Changing the Conversation” series.

Talk Shows Feature Pulitzer's Gold

Roy Harris has also been a regular on the air around the U.S. this year. He appeared on a September cable-television interview for the program “Connie Martinson Talks Books.” Click here to see the interview program in a new window.

Connecticut Public Radio's Faith Middleton featured Pulitzer's Gold on her September 30th program. For a visit to St. Louis, he was interviewed by KMOX radio's Charlie Brennan, and by KWMU's Don Marsh.

On the West Coast, an interview with Guy Rathbun aired May 14th on San Luis Obisbo, Calif.'s KCBX-FM, and on March 17th Iowa Public Radio's "Talk at 12" program featured the book.

National Public Radio's Leonard Lopate Show, from the studios of WNYC, New York, presented Harris, a few weeks after the national airing of a one-hour interview, on January 30th, as part of NPR's Radio's Diane Rehm Show from the studios of WAMU, Washington, D.C.

NPR's "Hear It Now," based in North Dakota, featured Pulitzer's Gold and Harris. And closer to Harris' home base were a interview on WATD, Marshfield, Mass., and a program with WBZ's Jordan Rich Show in Boston.

On April 17th at Boston's Northeastern University, Pulitzer's Gold was featured at the School of Journalism Reception and Awards Ceremony for graduates. A YouTube recording was made of Roy Harris' “Meet the Author” presentation at Snell Library earlier in the day.

On April 12th, Harris' critique on the 2008 Pulitzer Prizes appeared in The Independent of London.

On April 8th, the New York Times coverage of the 2008 Pulitzer Prizes, by reporter Richard Pérez-Peña, quoted Harris as an expert on journalism's premier awards.

On April 5th, a Boston Globe commentary by Harris noted the importance of beat reporting to public-service journalism of the highest caliber.

On April 2nd, his Christian Science Monitor commentary, accompanied by a podcast, observed how important courageous journalists have been in creating change in American society.

On April 5th: Poynter Online Some Pulitzer Surprises—for a Change

The Pulitzer Prize Website Offers a Link to Pulitzer's Gold.