Mark Schoofs is an American

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...

-winning journalist and was the editor-in-chief of

BuzzFeed News ''BuzzFeed News'' was an American news website published by BuzzFeed beginning in 2011. It ceased posting new hard news content in May 2023. It published a number of high-profile scoops, including the Steele dossier, for which it was strong ...

. He is also a visiting professor at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.

Biography

After graduating

magna cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sout ...

from

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

, Mark Schoofs began his journalistic career in the 1990s with the

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

LGBT newspaper Windy City Times. In 1999, Schoofs spent more than six months on an assignment for

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture publication based in Greenwich Village, New York City, known for being the country's first Alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, ...

in African countries writing an eight-part series of articles on

AIDS The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...

. A year later, he earned the

for his "provocative and enlightening" reporting. Throughout his career, Schoofs also earned the Best Reporting Award from Deadline Club and the New York chapter of the

Society of Professional Journalists The Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), formerly known as Sigma Delta Chi, is the oldest organization representing journalists in the United States. It was established on April 17, 1909, at DePauw University,2009 SPJ Annual Report, lette ...

, Peter Liagor award from Headline Club, and won the Chicago chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists four times. He also has been awarded multiple science journalism awards from the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is a United States–based international nonprofit with the stated mission of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsib ...

. In addition to international reporting, Schoofs specialized in cultural essays, art and music reviews, and foreign correspondence from

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural and socio-economic connotations. Its eastern boundary is marked by the Ural Mountain ...

. His works appeared in ''

The New York Times Magazine ''The New York Times Magazine'' is an American Sunday magazine included with the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times''. It features articles longer than those typically in the newspaper and has attracted many notable contributors. The magazi ...

'', ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'', ''Esquire'', '' the Advocate'', The Paris ''

Courrier International ''Courrier International'' (; ) is a Paris-based French weekly newspaper which translates and publishes excerpts of articles from over 900 international newspapers. It also has a Portuguese and a Japanese edition. ''Courrier Japon'' was launche ...

'', and other magazines. For example, he reported on frauds in the medical industry; became a part of ''The Wall Street Journal'' breaking news team that covered the 9/11 attacks. The joint work from

Ground Zero A hypocenter or hypocentre (), also called ground zero or surface zero, is the point on the Earth's surface directly below a nuclear explosion, meteor air burst, or other mid-air explosion. In seismology, the hypocenter of an earthquake is its p ...

was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting in 2002. Later on, Schoofs worked at

ProPublica ProPublica (), legally Pro Publica, Inc., is a nonprofit investigative journalism organization based in New York City. ProPublica's investigations are conducted by its staff of full-time reporters, and the resulting stories are distributed to ne ...

as an editor of a team of investigative reporters. In 2014, Schoofs joined

, where he founded an investigative reporting unit. Under his leadership, the team of more than 20 reporters earned a George Polk Award, a National Magazine Award, a Scripps Howard Award, two British Journalism Awards, and a London Press Club Award. Besides, his team's work was twice named as a finalist for a

. Schoofs announced in March 2022 that he would resign from BuzzFeed News as editor-in-chief after more cuts to the newsroom were announced. Schoofs was appointed professor of journalism at Yale in 2012. He has been a visiting professor at the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism since 2018. He continued to hold this position when he took over as chief editor of BuzzFeed News in the spring of 2020. BuzzFeed News established an internship program for his students, Schoofs also participated in the creation of the summer practice of the Beacon Project.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schoofs, Mark Living people Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting winners American male journalists 21st-century American journalists American investigative journalists BuzzFeed people The Wall Street Journal people The Village Voice people Yale University alumni Year of birth missing (living people)