Media leaders join CPJ board of directors

19 Jul 2011

NEW YORK: Five distinguished leaders of new and traditional media worldwide have joined the board of directors of the Committee to Protect Journalists. The new members - John Carroll, Arianna Huffington, Jonathan Klein, Mhamed Krichen, and Jacob Weisberg - join a roster of remarkable journalists and news executives playing a vital role in CPJ's fight for press freedom.

Media leaders join CPJ board of directors

"I am delighted to welcome these distinguished individuals whose proven leadership and experience strengthen the collective wisdom of our board," CPJ chairman Sandra Mims Rowe said. "As CPJ tackles increasingly diverse and complex attacks on the press, their contributions will surely prove invaluable."

John S. Carroll has been editor of the Los Angeles Times, Baltimore Sun, and the Lexington Herald-Leader. He is currently writing a narrative non-fiction book and working on not-for-profit ventures involving journalism and education. Read full bio.

Arianna Huffington is president and editor-in-chief of AOL Huffington Post Media Group, a nationally syndicated columnist, and author of 13 books. In 2005, she launched The Huffington Post, a news and blog site that quickly became one of the most widely read and cited online media brands. In 2006 and 2011, she was named to Time magazine's list of the world's 100 most influential people. Read full bio.

Jonathan Klein, co-founder and chief executive officer of Getty Images, launched the company in 1995 and has served as chief executive since its inception. Under his direction, Getty Images has become a leading creator and distributor of imagery, footage, music, and digital media worldwide. Read full bio.

Mhamed Krichen is a Doha-based anchor and program host for Al-Jazeera. Having joined the news channel at its inception in 1996, he was a member of Al-Jazeera's editorial board from 2004 to 2010, and has run training courses for Al-Jazeera Training and Media Development Centre since its establishment in 2004. For the last decade, he has been a weekly political columnist with the London-based Al-Quds al-Arabi. Read full bio.

Jacob Weisberg is chairman of The Slate Group, a unit of The Washington Post Company devoted to developing a family of Internet-based publications through start-ups and acquisitions. His regular opinion column is published by Slate, where he previously served as editor. Read full bio.

The newly elected board members will serve five-year terms. Paul Steiger, editor-in-chief and CEO of ProPublica, whose term as CPJ chairman ended in June, will join the organisation's advisory board. Anchors Dan Rather and David Marash, whose CPJ board membership dates to 1981 and 1982 respectively, have also moved to the advisory board.