Boyd, Gerald Michael

▪ 2007

      American journalist (b. Oct. 3, 1950, St. Louis, Mo.—d. Nov. 23, 2006, New York, N.Y.), rose from serving as a political reporter for the New York Times to become in 2001 the newspaper's first black managing editor, but his tenure was rocked by the revelation that a junior reporter whom he was grooming had fabricated facts in a string of stories. A newsroom revolt ensued over his management style and that of executive editor Howell Raines; both were forced to resign. Earlier, Boyd had worked for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch as a White House correspondent. He joined the Washington bureau of the Times in 1983. While serving in New York as deputy editor of the news, he supervised the creation of the 2000 series “How Race Is Lived in America,” which won a Pulitzer Prize. Following his resignation, Boyd penned a weekly column for Universal Press Syndicate, in which he illuminated the decision-making process in the newsroom.

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