Eugene Robinson

Eugene Robinson is on the front lines of news coverage everyday. He is a twice-weekly, Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for The Washington Post who is syndicated in 145 newspapers across the nation and is a prominent commentator on MSNBC. With an innate ability to cut through the clutter and provide clarity on today’s events, Robinson’s insights are free of the usual inside-the-beltway jargon. While media outlets may be tempted to churn out news served on a platter by candidates and companies, Robinson takes a step back not only to look at the big picture, but to focus on deeds—not just words. Whether he’s assessing politicians, cliff-hanging events on Wall Street or handicapping elections, he reminds us that politics may not be for the faint of heart but sure can be fun to watch.

The presidency of Barack Obama put American in a new era of race relations, Eugene Robinson provides a compelling look at race relations and diversity today. The author of the recently released Disintegration: The Splintering of Black America, Robinson explains why old conceptions of race in America are obsolete. Born into the segregated South, Robinson shares his memories with audiences, telling of the civil rights movement’s culminating years during a time when he was one of a handful of black students at a predominantly white high school in South Carolina. While he shares the strides that have been made in the enormous educational and economic progress made by African-Americans since the 1960s as well as the sharp increase in interracial marriage seen over the last few decades, he also shows that there is much that remains in educating people that race is ultimately meaningless—except as an artifact of society.

The number one question among journalists today is what new economic model will emerge to fund investigative journalism. While there is a wealth of news commentary, we are faced with a dearth of factual reporting. Eugene Robinson’s unique 25-year career includes covering beats as varied as city hall, foreign affairs, pop culture and national politics. He reminds audiences that while the media may have its failings, the profession is a time-honored watchdog that fights corruption and abuse. Today’s media holds extraordinary power over the political life of the nation and is less subject to control, even by the media moguls who are nominally in charge. The rise of 24-hour cable news and the Internet have vastly increased the flow of information, but have also short-circuited the traditional process. Robinson provides insights on the following:

• The impact of the decoupling of news and advertising
• Fundamental trends in how news is gathered, presented and consumed
• Why, in spite of the challenges, many news organizations are environments wherein there is increased innovation and a growing connection to readers

Having spent years as a foreign correspondent in Latin America, Eugene Robinson has become an expert on the region. The author of Last Dance in Havana: The Final Days of Fidel and the Start of the New Cuban Revolution, Robinson, who is fluent in Spanish, has made a dozen trips to Cuba and interviewed all the key leaders in the region. He shares his views on the greatly ignored but vital hemisphere, key leaders and countries. Robinson explains that because Latin America plays an increasingly dominant role in global affairs, it is much easier to prevent problems with effective diplomacy rather than having to solve them after the fact. The United States has an imperative to improve diplomatic relations in the region in order to:

• Advance our mutually dependent economies
• Improve public opinion in the region
• Advance the cause of human rights
• Manage the issue of immigration