New York Times editor to discuss ‘Covering the News in a Digital Age’

Sewell Chan, the international news editor in the London office of The New York Times, will speak on campus on Thursday, Jan. 21 as a Poynter Fellow in Journalism.

His talk, “Covering the News in a Digital Age,” will take place at 4 p.m. in the Berkeley College master’s house, 125 High St. The event is free and open to the public.

Sewell Chan’s work for The New York Times covers breaking news in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. He was previously the deputy editor of the Op-Ed page and Sunday Review section from 2011 to 2015.

Prior to joining The New York Times, Chan was a staff writer at The Washington Post, reporting on local government, social services, and education in the District of Columbia, and helping to cover the Iraq war. His investigation into the conditions of the Washington, D.C. Municipal Archives garnered him praise from the Society for American Archivists. Chan also wrote for The Wall Street Journal and The Philadelphia Inquirer.

A native of New York City, Chan graduated from Harvard University in 1998 with a bachelor’s degree in social studies. He later won a Marshall Scholarship and graduated from the University of Oxford in 2000 with a master’s degree in politics. He is a member of the board of incorporators of Harvard Magazine and a former member of the national advisory board of the Poynter Institute.

The Poynter Fellowship in Journalism was established by Nelson Poynter, who received his master’s degree in 1927 from Yale. The fellowship brings to campus journalists from a wide variety of media outlets who have made significant contributions to their field. Among recent Poynter fellows are Paweł Pieniążek, Dean Starkman, and Boniface Mwangi.