Former Detroit Editor Named Gaylord Visiting Professor

Caesar Andrews, former executive editor of the Detroit Free Press, will be the new Edith Kinney Gaylord Visiting Professor in Journalism Ethics at Arizona State University. Andrews will teach courses in journalism ethics and diversity at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication next spring. As the Gaylord Professor, he also will work individually with students and faculty and headline a major public event at the school. Executive editor of the Detroit Free Press from 2005 to 2008, Andrews also was editor of Gannett News Service with oversight of the Washington bureau and was a member of the original staff of USA Today. “Caesar’s rich background as a national leader on both journalism ethics and diversity issues makes him an ideal Gaylord Professor,” said Cronkite Dean Christopher Callahan. “Our students will benefit tremendously from Caesar’s powerful insights and experiences, providing them a deeper and more nuanced understanding of critical ethical and multicultural issues facing journalists today.” Andrews is the Cronkite School’s fifth Gaylord Visiting Professor. He succeeds Sharon Rosenhause, retired managing editor of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel; N. Christian Anderson III, former publisher of the Orange County Register who is now publisher of the Oregonian; Ellen Soeteber, former editor of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch; and James Crutchfield, former publisher of the Akron Beacon Journal. The professorship is made possible through grants from the Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation of Oklahoma City. “The Gaylord Visiting Professorship helps to instill critical values and ethics in rising practitioners of journalism,” said Foundation CEO and President Robert J. Ross. “Andrews’ past experience as a professional exemplar of these guiding principles makes him a superb choice as the next Gaylord professor at Cronkite.” Andrews was executive editor of the Free Press when the paper published an investigation that led to the federal prosecution and subsequent resignation of Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, who was convicted of perjury in 2008. The coverage won the paper a Pulitzer Prize for local reporting in 2009. Before joining the Free Press, Andrews was editor at Gannett News Service, senior managing editor at Gannett Suburban Newspapers and The Journal News, and states editor and assistant national editor at USA Today. In addition to his newsroom work, Andrews has been active in journalism education, participating in accreditation activities of the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communication and serving on the board of the Student Press Law Center. Earlier this year, Andrews taught at the Donald W. Reynolds School of Journalism at University of Nevada in Reno as a Distinguished Visiting Chair for Ethics and Writing in Journalism. “Ethics are as essential as ever for students preparing for the reinvented world of journalism,” Andrews said. “This is especially true in an environment overloaded with so much information, from so many sources, not all of them reliable.” Andrews added that he looks forward to teaching at the Cronkite School. “Arizona State has a tremendous reputation in journalism education — it’s a leader,” he said. “I am excited about teaching at the Cronkite School and being part of such a highly respected program.” The Gaylord professorship is named in honor of the late Edith Kinney Gaylord, who created the Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation in 1982 to improve the quality of journalism by supporting research and creative projects that promote excellence and foster high ethical standards in journalism. Ms. Gaylord, the daughter of Daily Oklahoman Publisher E.K. Gaylord, launched her journalism career at her father’s newspaper in 1937 after graduating from college. In 1942, she joined The Associated Press in New York. The following year, she went to the AP’s Washington bureau, where she covered the Roosevelt administration and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt during World War II. Andrews will be the fifth former top editor of a major metropolitan newspaper serving on the Cronkite School faculty in the spring semester. He joins full-time faculty members Leonard Downie Jr., executive editor of the Washington Post from 1991 to 2008 and the Weil Family Professor of Journalism at the Cronkite School; Tim McGuire, previously editor and senior vice president of the Minneapolis Star Tribune and now Cronkite’s Frank Russell Chair of Journalism; Rick Rodriguez, former executive editor and senior vice president of the Sacramento Bee and the Carnegie Professor of Journalism; and Linda Austin, former editor of the Lexington Herald-Leader, who is currently executive director of the Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism and professor of practice at the Cronkite School.