ProPublica’s Steiger, N.Y. Times’ Cooper, Fox News’ Ailes and Bloomberg’s Winkler highlight UNC J-school spring speaker lineup

The UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media will present some of the nation’s most influential media figures in investigative journalism, politics, cable and business news in a slate of public lectures this spring.

Paul Steiger, editor-in-chief, CEO and president of ProPublica, will deliver the Reed Sarratt Distinguished Lecture on Monday, Feb. 20.

Helene Cooper, White House correspondent for The New York Times, will give the Nelson Benton Lecture on Tuesday, March 20.

Roger Ailes, chairman and CEO of Fox News, will give the Roy H. Park Distinguished Lecture on Thursday, April 12.

Matthew Winkler, editor-in-chief of Bloomberg News, will also present a public lecture as part of the school’s teaching partnership with Bloomberg. The date of his talk is to be determined.

Steiger was the managing editor of The Wall Street Journal from 1991 to 2007 before launching ProPublica, a nonprofit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest. During his tenure at the Journal, newsroom staff were awarded 16 Pulitzer Prizes. ProPublica reporters received Pulitzer Prizes in May 2010 and 2011. The Reed Sarratt Distinguished Lecture is named for the former longtime executive director of the Southern Newspaper Publishers Association. Sarratt was a Charlotte, N.C., native and a 1937 UNC graduate.

Cooper, a UNC journalism graduate, worked for 12 years at The Wall Street Journal before joining The New York Times editorial page and serving as The Times’ diplomatic correspondent, then becoming White House correspondent. She is a native of Monrovia, Liberia, and is the author of The New York Times bestseller, “The House at Sugar Beach: In Search of a Lost African Childhood.” The Nelson Benton Lecture Series honors the Emmy Award-winning CBS News reporter and anchor who began his broadcasting career at radio station WSOC in Charlotte, N.C., after earning his UNC degree in 1949.

Ailes has been the chairman and CEO of Fox News since 1996. Prior to joining Fox, he was the president of CNBC. Under his leadership, CNBC became the fastest growing major cable network in America. Since joining Fox News, Ailes created Fox’s first weekly public affairs show, “Fox News Sunday” and oversaw the successful launch of Fox News Channel. The Roy H. Park Distinguished Lecture Series honors the founder, chairman and chief executive officer of Park Communications, which became an expansive multimedia company with broadcast and print properties throughout the U.S.

Winkler founded the global news service Bloomberg News with Michael Bloomberg in 1990. Bloomberg has since grown into a news organization with more than 2,300 editors, reporters and multimedia professionals working in 146 bureaus in 72 countries. Winkler co-authored “Bloomberg by Bloomberg” and authored “The Bloomberg Way: A Guide for Reporters and Editors.”

More details will follow for each of these special events and more. For updates, follow the school on Twitter @UNCJSchool.