Norman Pearlstine
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Norman Pearlstine (born October 4, 1942) is an American editor and media executive. He previously held senior positions at the ''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'', Time Inc, Bloomberg L.P., ''Forbes'' and ''The Wall Street Journal''.


Early life and education

Pearlstine was born and raised in a
Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
family in Collegeville, Pennsylvania, the son of Gladys (née Cohen) and Raymond Pearlstine.Times Herald: "Obituaries for July 11 2007 - Gladys Pearlstine"
July 11, 2007
His mother was chairman of
Montgomery County Community College Montgomery County Community College (MCCC or Montco) is a public community college in Blue Bell in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. MCCC also has two satellite locations, Pottstown Campus and Culinary Arts Institute in Lansdale. It is accredite ...
and his father was an attorney. He has two sisters: one of whom is literary agent Maggie Pearlstine Hattersley (married to British politician
Roy Hattersley Roy Sydney George Hattersley, Baron Hattersley, (born 28 December 1932) is a British Labour Party politician, author and journalist from Sheffield. He was MP for Birmingham Sparkbrook for over 32 years from 1964 to 1997, and served as Depu ...
). He graduated from
The Hill School The Hill School (commonly known as The Hill) is a coeducational preparatory boarding school located on a campus in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, about northwest of Philadelphia. The Hill is part of the Ten Schools Admissions Organization (TSAO). ...
and then received a
Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...
in history from
Haverford College Haverford College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Haverford, Pennsylvania. It was founded as a men's college in 1833 by members of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), began accepting non-Quakers in 1849, and became coeducational ...
.Jewish Business News: "Norman Pearlstine Goes Back In Time"
November 5, 2013
He obtained a J.D. from the
University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...
and did postgraduate work at the law school of
Southern Methodist University , mottoeng = "The truth will make you free" , established = , type = Private research university , accreditation = SACS , academic_affiliations = , religious_affiliation = United Methodist Church , president = R. Gerald Turner , prov ...
.


Career

Pearlstine worked for the ''
Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
'' from 1968 to 1992, except for a two-year period, 1978–1980, when he was an executive editor for Forbes magazine. At the ''Journal'', he was a staff reporter in Dallas, Detroit, and Los Angeles (1968–73); Tokyo bureau chief (1973–76); managing editor of ''The Asian Wall Street Journal'' (1976–78); national editor (1980–81); editor and publisher of ''The Wall Street Journal/Europe'' (1982–83); managing editor (1983–91); and executive editor (1991–92). He was interim president of the
New-York Historical Society The New-York Historical Society is an American history museum and library in New York City, along Central Park West between 76th and 77th Streets, on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The society was founded in 1804 as New York's first museum. ...
from 1992 to 1994. After leaving the ''Wall Street Journal'' he launched ''
SmartMoney ''SmartMoney'' was ''The Wall Street Journal''s magazine of personal business. The finance magazine launched in 1992 by Hearst Corporation and Dow Jones & Company. Its first editor was Norman Pearlstine. In 2010, Hearst sold its stake to Dow Jone ...
'' and was later the general partner of Friday Holdings (along with
Richard Rainwater Richard Edward Rainwater (June 15, 1944 – September 27, 2015) was an American investor and philanthropist. With an estimated net worth of $3 billion, he ranked 211th on the Forbes 400 in 2015. His investing style was described as "analytically ...
,
Barry Diller Barry Charles Diller (born February 2, 1942) is an American businessman. He is Chairman and Senior Executive of IAC and Expedia Group and founded the Fox Broadcasting Company and USA Broadcasting. Diller was inducted into the Television Hall of ...
and
Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...
chief Martin S. Davis), a multimedia investment company, prior to succeeding
Jason McManus Jason Donald McManus (March 3, 1934 – September 19, 2019) was an American journalist who served as Editor-in-Chief of Time Inc. from 1987 to 1994. He died in September 2019. Life and career McManus, a 1956 graduate of Davidson College, became a ...
as editor in chief at ''Time Inc.'' in 1995, the first outsider in the position. He was
editor in chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The highest-ranking editor of a publication may also be titled editor, managing ...
of Time Inc. between January 1, 1995, and December 31, 2005. Pearlstine was a senior adviser to the
Carlyle Group The Carlyle Group is a multinational private equity, alternative asset management and financial services corporation based in the United States with $376 billion of assets under management. It specializes in private equity, real assets, and pri ...
's telecommunications and media group in New York. Pearlstine then joined
Bloomberg L.P. Bloomberg L.P. is a privately held financial, software, data, and media company headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It was co-founded by Michael Bloomberg in 1981, with Thomas Secunda, Duncan MacMillan (Bloomberg), Duncan MacMi ...
in June 2008 as chief content officer, a newly created position. In that role Pearlstine was charged with seeking growth opportunities for Bloomberg's television, radio, magazine, and online products and to make the most of the company's news operations. Pearlstine also was chairman of
Bloomberg Businessweek ''Bloomberg Businessweek'', previously known as ''BusinessWeek'', is an American weekly business magazine published fifty times a year. Since 2009, the magazine is owned by New York City-based Bloomberg L.P. The magazine debuted in New York City ...
, the magazine Bloomberg L.P. acquired from McGraw-Hill in 2009, and as co-chairman of
Bloomberg Government Bloomberg Government is a division of Bloomberg Industry Group that provides data-driven decision tools, news, and analytics in a digital workspace for professionals who influence government action. History Bloomberg Government launched in 2011 a ...
, a web-based subscription service devoted to coverage of the impact of government actions on business, including legislation, regulation, and contracts. In October 2013, Pearlstine returned to
Time Inc. Time Inc. was an American worldwide mass media corporation founded on November 28, 1922, by Henry Luce and Briton Hadden and based in New York City. It owned and published over 100 magazine brands, including its namesake ''Time'', ''Sports Illu ...
as chief content officer, a position similar to the one he held at Bloomberg. In July 2017, he announced that he would be retiring from ''Time Inc.'' On June 18, 2018, Pearlstine was named executive editor of the ''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'' by owner
Patrick Soon-Shiong Patrick Soon-Shiong (born July 29, 1952) is a Chinese-South African transplant surgeon, billionaire businessman, bioscientist, and media proprietor. He is the inventor of the drug Abraxane, which became known for its efficacy against lung, brea ...
. In October 2020, Pearlstine stepped down from his post at the ''Times.''


Personal

Pearlstine has been married four times. During college, he married Charlene Pearlstine; they divorced while he was in law school. In 1973, he married Adele Wilson, a schoolteacher. In 1988, he married
Nancy Friday Nancy Colbert Friday (August 27, 1933 – November 5, 2017) was an American author who wrote on the topics of female sexuality and liberation. Her writings argue that women have often been reared under an ideal of womanhood, which was outdated an ...
; they divorced in 2005. In 2005, he married Jane Boon, an industrial engineer and the author of the novel ''Edge Play''.


Recognition

In January 2005, the American Society of Magazine Editors named Pearlstine the recipient of its Lifetime Achievement Award and inducted him into the Magazine Editors’ Hall of Fame. He was honored with the Gerald Loeb Lifetime Achievement Award for Distinguished Business and Financial Journalism in 2000. He received the National Press Foundation's Editor of the Year Award in 1989. Pearlstine is expected to receive 2019 Medal for Lifetime Achievement in Journalism from the Poynter Institute during their annual Bowtie Ball on November 2, 2019. Pearlstine is on the boards of the
Tribeca Film Institute The Tribeca Film Institute (TFI) is a year-round non-profit arts organization founded by Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal, and Craig Hatkoff, based in New York. The Tribeca Film Institute was created in 2003 in the wake of September 11, 2001. TFI ta ...
and the
Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs The Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs is an interdisciplinary research center at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. Its mission is to promote a just and peaceful world through research, teaching, and public engagement ...
. He is a member of the advisory board of the
Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at the City University of New York The Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at the City University of New York is a public graduate journalism school located in New York City. One of the 24 institutions comprising the City University of New York, or CUNY, the school opened ...
and is co-chairman of the Center on Communication Leadership and Policy at the
USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism The USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism comprises a School of Communication and a School of Journalism at the University of Southern California (USC). Starting July 2017, the school’s Dean is Willow Bay, succeeding Ernest J. ...
. He was on the boards of the
Carnegie Corporation The Carnegie Corporation of New York is a philanthropic fund established by Andrew Carnegie in 1911 to support education programs across the United States, and later the world. Carnegie Corporation has endowed or otherwise helped to establis ...
, and the
Committee to Protect Journalists The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is an American independent non-profit, non-governmental organization, based in New York City, New York, with correspondents around the world. CPJ promotes press freedom and defends the rights of journa ...
. He is also a member of the
Council on Foreign Relations The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is an American think tank A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, mi ...
. From 2006 to 2011, Pearlstine was president and CEO of the
American Academy in Berlin The American Academy in Berlin is a private, independent, nonpartisan research and cultural institution in Berlin dedicated to sustaining and enhancing the long-term intellectual, cultural, and political ties between the United States and Germany ...
. Pearlstine was briefly part of the controversy surrounding Matthew Cooper when, after the United States Supreme Court refused to review adverse lower court decisions, he gave Cooper's notes to the independent prosecutor investigating the outing of
Valerie Plame Valerie Elise Plame (born August 13, 1963) is an American writer, spy novelist, and former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officer. As the subject of the 2003 Plame affair, also known as the CIA leak scandal, Plame's identity as a CIA officer ...
as a covert agent of the CIA. From this experience, Pearlstine wrote a book entitled ''Off the Record: The Press, the Government, and the War over Anonymous Sources'' for
Farrar, Straus and Giroux Farrar, Straus and Giroux (FSG) is an American book publishing company, founded in 1946 by Roger Williams Straus Jr. and John C. Farrar. FSG is known for publishing literary books, and its authors have won numerous awards, including Pulitzer ...
.


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pearlstine, Norman Living people 1942 births Haverford College alumni University of Pennsylvania Law School alumni American magazine editors American media executives Jewish American writers Bloomberg L.P. people The Carlyle Group people Writers from Philadelphia The Wall Street Journal people Time (magazine) people Los Angeles Times people New-York Historical Society Journalists from Pennsylvania The Hill School alumni Jewish American journalists 21st-century American newspaper editors Gerald Loeb Lifetime Achievement Award winners 21st-century American Jews