Mark Schoofs
Born
East Chicago, Indiana, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
Alma materYale University
OccupationJournalist

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.[1]

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.[2][3][4] 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.[5] 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.[5][6][7][8][9] He also has been awarded multiple science journalism awards from the American Association for the Advancement of Science.[10][11]

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.[5] 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.[12][8][9]

In 2014, Schoofs joined BuzzFeed News, where he founded an investigative reporting unit. Under his leadership, the team of more than 20 reporters earned a George Polk Award, a National Magazine Award, a Scripps Howard Award, two British Journalism Awards, and a London Press Club Award. Besides, his team's work was twice named as a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize.[6][7] Schoofs announced in March 2022 that he would resign from BuzzFeed News as editor-in-chief after more cuts to the newsroom were announced.[13]

Schoofs was appointed professor of journalism at Yale in 2012.[14] He has been a visiting professor at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism since 2018. He continued to hold this position when he took over as chief editor of BuzzFeed News in the spring of 2020. BuzzFeed News established an internship program for his students, Schoofs also participated in the creation of the summer practice of the Beacon Project.[12]

References

  1. ^ Tracy, Marc (May 5, 2020). "BuzzFeed News Has a New Editor in Chief". The New York Times.
  2. ^ Baim, Tracy (2015-09-23). "Windy City Times at 30". Windy City Times. Retrieved 2020-12-20.
  3. ^ "BuzzFeed News' New Editor-in-Chief Mark Schoofs Will Continue to Serve on USC Faculty". Variety. 2020-05-05. Retrieved 2020-12-20.
  4. ^ "Mark Schoofs Joins ProPublica as Senior Editor". ProPublica. 2011-07-25. Retrieved 2020-12-20.
  5. ^ a b c Fischer H. (2002). Complete Biographical Encyclopedia of Pulitzer Prize Winners, 1917—2000: Journalists, Writers and Composers on Their Ways to the Coveted Awards. Vienna: Walter de Gruyter. p. 290. ISBN 9783598301865.
  6. ^ a b "Mark Schoofs". University of Southern California. 2020. Retrieved 2020-12-20.
  7. ^ a b "BuzzFeed Announces Mark Schoofs As Editor-In-Chief Of BuzzFeed News". BuzzFeed News. 2020-05-05. Retrieved 2020-12-20.
  8. ^ a b Bhuiyan, Johana (October 21, 2013). "Buzzfeed hires Pulitzer winner Mark Schoofs to head new investigative unit". POLITICO Media.
  9. ^ a b Kaufman, Leslie (October 21, 2013). "BuzzFeed Hires Pulitzer Winner to Head Investigative Unit". The New York Times.
  10. ^ Ayers, Tiffany (1999). "AAAS News and Notes". Science. 283 (5406): 1355. Bibcode:1999Sci...283.1355.. doi:10.1126/science.283.5406.1355. JSTOR 2896595. S2CID 220110748.
  11. ^ Sirica, Coimbra (2001). "AAAS News and Notes". Science. 291 (5513): 2323. JSTOR 3082844.
  12. ^ a b "BuzzFeed News Has a New Editor in Chief". The New York Times. 2020-05-05. Retrieved 2020-12-20.
  13. ^ Robertson, Katie (2022-03-22). "Top Editors to Leave BuzzFeed News Ahead of Newsroom Cuts". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-04-11.
  14. ^ "The English Department is delighted to announce the appointment of Mark Schoofs". english.yale.edu. November 7, 2011. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
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