Mark schoofs biography

American journalist

Mark Schoofs is an American Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and was the editor-in-chief of BuzzFeed News. He is also a visiting professor at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.

Biography

After graduating magna cum laude from Yale University, Mark Schoofs began his journalistic career in the 1990s with the Chicago LGBT newspaper Windy City Times. In 1999, Schoofs spent more than six months on an assignment for The Village Voice in African countries writing an eight-part series of articles on AIDS. A year later, he earned the Pulitzer Prize for his "provocative and enlightening" reporting. Throughout his career, Schoofs also earned the Best Reporting Award from Deadline Club and the New York chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, Peter Liagor award from Headline Club, and won the Chicago chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists four times. He also has been awarded multiple science journalism awards from the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

In addition to international reporting, Schoofs specialized in cultural essays, art and music reviews, and foreign correspondence from Eastern Europe. His works appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The Washington Post, Esquire, the Advocate, The Paris Courrier International, and other magazines. For example, he reported on frauds in the medical industry; became a part of The Wall Street Journal breaking news team that covered the 9/11 attacks. The joint work from Ground Zero was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting in 2002. Later on, Schoofs worked at ProPublica as an editor of a team of investigative reporters.

In 2014, Schoofs joined BuzzFeed News, where he founded an investig

About the Fellowship

The California Local News Fellowship program is a groundbreaking, multi-year, state-funded initiative to strengthen local journalism across the state. As of fall 2024, 75 early-career journalists will be working as local news fellows in two-year, full-time public service reporting positions, with an emphasis on underrepresented communities.

Based at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism and in collaboration with newsrooms from Del Norte to Imperial counties, fellows are working in large urban newspapers, public radio stations, and community and ethnic media outlets with support, training and mentorship from seasoned journalists. They are reporting on education, local government, the environment, housing, police and more.

The fellows and newsrooms are selected through a competitive process and fellows receive full-time salaries and benefits from the University of California.

The first cohort began in September 2023. The second begins in September 2024. The application for the third cohort will open in late 2024.

This program directly addresses the crisis in local news that is unfolding across the nation. In California alone, a quarter of news publications ceased operations between 2004 and 2019, four of the state’s 58 counties lack local newspapers, one county has no news outlet, and 18 counties have only one, as documented in the comprehensive 2024 study from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.

The impacts of this crisis are significant. Research indicates that the decline in local reporting results in reduced accountability, increased borrowing costs for municipalities, elevated government expenditures and deficits, fewer individuals pursuing public office, and diminished voter turnout, among other consequences.

Perhaps the biggest threat of a weakened information ecosystem is that Californians are exposed to disinformation, leaving many — especially those historically underrepresented at the decision-mak

Mark Schoofs will teach English 467, Journalism, this spring. Win- ner of the Pulitzer Prize in 2000 for international reporting, he has worked as an investigative reporter for the Wall Street Journal and a staff writer for The Village Voice. He currently serves as a senior editor at ProPublica, a non-profit online news organization devoted to investigative reporting.

Writing today needs more …

It doesn’t need more, it needs less. The Internet is a vast plumbing system for logorrhea. Mothers should update how they admonish their children: if you can’t say something substantive or witty, don’t say anything.

You can’t live without …

Dark chocolate and mountains.

If you could ask President Obama one question, what would it be?

Can I interview you, one-on-one, on tape, with no handlers present, for an hour every week until the end of your Presidency?

What’s the most difficult piece you’ve ever had to write?

My first eulogy.

If you could go back to college now, what would you do differently?

Everything.

What is your favorite word and why?

A painter once told me that any color — any at all — could be beautiful, depending on its context. The same is true for words. My favorite word is the one that’s perfectly, absolutely apt.

The most embarrassing moment of your career was …

For a series on Medicare fraud, a Wall Street Journal researcher, a fellow reporter, and I had identified a medical provider whom I’ll call John Michaels. Not only did he have suspicious billing patterns, but he had also been convicted of manslaughter in 1981 in South Carolina. So my colleague and I did a meet- and-greet, showing up unannounced at his home. Michaels wasn’t there, but his wife was. I gave her my card, and she gave me her husband’s cell number. I called it, and he promised to call me back. He didn’t. Over the next couple of weeks, I called him again and again and again. He never answered. I also called his wife, who kept assu

Mark Schoofs es un periodista estadounidense ganador del Premio Pulitzer y fue editor en jefe de BuzzFeed News. También es profesor invitado en la Escuela Annenberg de Comunicación y Periodismo de la Universidad del Sur de California.​

Biografía

Después de graduarse magna cum laude de la Universidad Yale, comenzó su carrera periodística en la década de 1990 con el periódico LGBT de ChicagoWindy City Times.​​​ En 1999, Schoofs pasó más de seis meses en una tarea para The Village Voice en países africanos escribiendo una serie de ocho partes de artículos sobre el VIH/sida. Un año más tarde, ganó el premio Pulitzer por su reportaje «provocador y esclarecedor».​ A lo largo de su carrera, Schoofs también obtuvo el premio al Mejor Reportaje de Deadline Club y el capítulo de Nueva York de la Sociedad de Periodistas Profesionales, el premio Peter Liagor de Headline Club, y ganó cuatro veces el capítulo de Chicago de la Sociedad de Periodistas Profesionales.​​​​​ También ha sido galardonado con múltiples premios de periodismo científico de la Asociación Estadounidense para el Avance de la Ciencia.​​

Además de reportajes internacionales, Schoofs se especializó en ensayos culturales, reseñas de arte y música y correspondencia extranjera de Europa del Este. Sus trabajos aparecieron en The New York Times Magazine, The Washington Post, Esquire, The Advocate, Courrier international y otras revistas.​ Por ejemplo, informó sobre fraudes en la industria médica; se convirtió en parte del equipo de noticias de última hora de The Wall Street Journal que cubrió los atentados del 11 de septiembre de 2001. El trabajo conjunto desde la zona cero recibió el premio Pulitzer por reportajes de noticias de última hora en 2002. Más tarde, Schoofs trabajó en ProPublica como editor de un equipo de repor