• by Ray Schultz , July 26, 2023

The American Journalism Project (AJP) today has appointed Jelani Cobb, dean and Henry R. Luce professor of journalism at Columbia Journalism School, to its board of directors. 

Cobb will share his expertise as an award-winning journalist, academic, and advocate for a thriving local press.

The new board member has been a staff writer for The New Yorker since 2012, contributing to the dialogue on race in America. He is also a political analyst for MSNBC.

In addition, Cobb has served as editor and co-editor on such volumes, The Matter of Black Lives, a collection of The New Yorker’s writings on race, and The Essential Kerner Commission Report.

Founded in 2019, AJP is a philanthropy dedicated to local news. To date, it  has raised $134 million to address the local news crisis, and has backed 41 nonprofit news organizations.

“Local news is the cornerstone of our democracy; it plays an essential role in ensuring we have healthy, thriving and engaged communities, and we must advance it for the well-being of our nation,” Cobb says. “The American Journalism Project is on the front line of rebuilding local news, and I’m excited and honored to  play a role in its work.”