Marty Baron. Provided photo
Martin “Marty” Baron, the Washington Post executive editor known for his dogged pursuit of stories that challenge powerful institutions and whose leadership inspired the Oscar-winning film “Spotlight,” will be the guest speaker at Mason’s Spring Commencement.
The university’s 50th annual Commencement will take place at 10 a.m. Saturday, May 20, at EagleBank Arena.
Since Baron, 62, joined the Washington Post in 2013, the paper has won four Pulitzer Prizes—for coverage of secret surveillance by the National Security Agency, food stamps in America, security lapses in the Secret Service and shootings by police officers.
Prior to joining the Washington Post, Baron had been editor of the Boston Globe for more than 11 years, overseeing a staff that won six Pulitzer Prizes, including one in 2003 for Public Service for uncovering clergy sex abuse in the Catholic Church. The Globe’s investigation was the basis for the film “Spotlight,” the 2016 Academy Award winner for Best Picture.
Earlier in his career, Baron worked as an editor at the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times and the Miami Herald. Editor & Publisher magazine named him Editor of the Year in 2001, and the National Press Foundation gave him a similar honor in 2004.
In 2015, an Esquire magazine story asked: “Is Martin Baron the Best News Editor of All Time?” and answered “Most all of his colleagues, present and former, sure seem to think so.”
Baron, a Tampa native, graduated from Lehigh University in 1976 with a BA degree in journalism and an MBA.