Henry Chu, an accomplished reporter and editor whose work has taken him around the globe, has been selected as the deputy curator of the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University.
In his new role, Chu will oversee a range of programming and publishing initiatives that serve the Nieman Fellows and the broader media world. His responsibilities will include participating in the selection of fellows, growing alumni outreach and increasing engagement across the Harvard campus.
A summa cum laude graduate of Harvard, Chu also studied at the university as a Nieman Fellow during the 2014-2015 academic year.
Commenting on his appointment, Nieman Foundation curator Ann Marie Lipinski said: “Henry has demonstrated a deep commitment to Nieman’s mission and all we do to strengthen journalists and journalism. He brings both joy and intelligence to his work and is a collegial presence on every team he’s served. He excelled as a correspondent, editor and manager and will now use that experience to advance our work at Nieman. We’re excited to welcome him back.”
Chu added: “The Nieman Foundation’s work in supporting and strengthening journalism and journalists around the world is more necessary than ever. I’m looking forward to joining a team that has done such stellar work already and has proven to be such an asset to the industry.”
Chu joins the Nieman staff after a distinguished journalism career spent primarily at the Los Angeles Times. He joined the paper in 1990 after graduating from Harvard and covered a range of beats in Los Angeles, including transportation, education and local politics. He has won awards for his coverage of China and Europe’s migrant crisis and was part of two L.A. Times teams that won Pulitzer Prizes for breaking news coverage.
Beginning in 1998, Chu took on a series of overseas postings for the Times, reporting from more than 30 countries while serving as bureau chief in Beijing, Rio de Janeiro, New Delhi and London. Most recently, he served as the newsroom’s deputy news editor in London, overseeing breaking news coverage and shepherding the homepage in the middle of the Los Angeles night as well as editing correspondents in other parts of the world.
In 2016, Chu left the Times for three years to serve as international editor for Variety based in London. There he directed the publication’s staff and stringers in Europe and Asia reporting on the entertainment industry, including coverage of the impact of political and social issues such as Brexit and the #MeToo movement.
Chu will begin his new job in July.
