Bhatia is one of the most decorated journalists in the US.
By Raif Karerat
WASHINGTON, DC: Peter Bhatia, the first journalist of South Asian descent to lead a major daily newspaper in the U.S., has been appointed by Arizona State University as director of the Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism at Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.
Bhatia is well known within press circles as the former editor of Oregonian/Oregon Media Group in Portland from 2010 to 2014 and is currently a Cronkite visiting professor.
During his tenure in Oregon, Bhatia was named the 2008 Editor of the Year by Editor & Publisher Magazine, and he has led newsrooms that have won no less than 9 Pulitzer Prizes, according to the Phoenix Business Journal. Six of the Pulitzers were won by his team at The Oregonian.
“As one of our era’s great editors, Peter brings a wealth of extraordinary skills, values and experiences to the Reynolds Center. We are thrilled to have him onboard,” said Cronkite School Dean Christopher Callahan. “We also are appreciative of the tremendous work this past year by Micki Maynard, who laid the groundwork for success at the Reynolds Center.”
No stranger to the west coast, Bhatia is a native of Pullman, Washington, and a graduate of Stanford University with a bachelor’s degree in history, according to Arizona State University. He was inducted into the South Asian Journalists Association Hall of Fame in 2007 and received the Asian American Journalists Association Pioneer in Journalism Award in 2004. He also is a member of the South Asian Journalists Association, the Asian American Journalists Association, Investigative Reporters and Editors, and the Society of Professional Journalists.
Bhatia joined the Cronkite School in summer 2014 as the Edith Kinney Gaylord Visiting Professor in Journalism Ethics. He is taking up the seat vacated by Micheline Maynard, a former New York Times senior business correspondent, who is leaving her current position for family reasons, released ASU News.