Paul Vitello (born 1950) is an American journalist who has written for a variety of publications. He wrote an award-winning news column for ''

Newsday ''Newsday'' is a daily newspaper in the United States primarily serving Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island, although it is also sold throughout the New York metropolitan area. The slogan of the newspaper is "Newsday, Your Eye on LI" ...

'' from 1982 to 2005. He went on to write for the religion and obituary sections for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' and has taught at

Stony Brook University Stony Brook University (SBU), officially the State University of New York at Stony Brook, is a public university, public research university in Stony Brook, New York, United States, on Long Island. Along with the University at Buffalo, it is on ...

's School of Journalism.

Biography

Vitello was born in Chicago in 1950. He grew up on the

Lower East Side The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets. Historically, it w ...

of Manhattan. He graduated from the

High School of Music & Art The High School of Music & Art, informally known as Music & Art (or M&A), was a public specialized high school located at 443-465 West 135th Street in the borough of Manhattan, New York, from 1936 until 1984. In 1961, Music & Art and the High S ...

(now

LaGuardia High School Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, often referred to simply as LaGuardia or "LaG", is a public high school specializing in teaching visual arts and performing arts, near Lincoln Center in the Lincoln Square ...

) and Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut. Before joining the ''Times'' staff in 2005, he wrote about

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...

life for ''

'' for 23 years. His column received the

Meyer Berger Meyer "Mike" Berger (September 1, 1898 – February 8, 1959) was an American journalist, considered one of the finest newspaper reporters. He was also known for "About New York", a long-running column in ''The New York Times'', and for his cente ...

Award from Columbia University, was named the best newspaper column of the year in New York three times by the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...

, and won ''Newsday''s Publisher's Award four times. He shared in ''Newsday''s 1985 John Hancock Award for excellence in business writing and its 1997

Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Reporting The Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting is a Pulitzer Prize awarded for a distinguished example of breaking news Breaking news, also called late-breaking news, a special report, special coverage, or a news flash, is a current issue ...

for its coverage of the crash of

TWA flight 800 Trans World Airlines Flight 800 (known as TW800 or TWA800) was a regularly scheduled international passenger flight from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City, United States, to Fiumicino Airport in Rome, Italy, with a stopo ...

. His work was featured in the

American Society of Newspaper Editors The American Society of News Editors (ASNE) was a membership organization for editors, producers or directors in charge of journalistic organizations or departments, deans or faculty at university journalism schools, and leaders and faculty of m ...

' ''Best Newspaper Writing 2001: The Nation's Best Journalism,'' published by The Poynter Institute.

On most days, I gather information for a story just as I would as a reporter; but when I write the column, it's the subtext I'm trying to get right.... Subtext is, according to my definition, the part of the story that none of the players ever mentions. It's the election politics in the prosecution of a murder case.... It can be in the way two people look at each other across a courtroom before one testifies against the other. For me, subtext is where the action is in any story.

Vitello began his career reporting for the ''

Kansas City Times The ''Kansas City Times'' was a morning newspaper in Kansas City, Missouri, published from 1867 to 1990. The morning ''Kansas City Times'', under ownership of the afternoon '' Kansas City Star'', won two Pulitzer Prizes and was bigger than its ...

'', the '' Knickerbocker News'' in

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It is located on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River. Albany is the oldes ...

and the

City News Bureau of Chicago City News Bureau of Chicago (CNB), or City Press (1890–2005), was a news bureau that served as one of the first cooperative news agencies in the United States. It was founded in 1890 by the newspapers of Chicago to provide a common source ...

. As a freelance writer in Rome in 1979, he covered news from the Vatican for the

Religion News Service Religion News Service, branded as RNS, is a news agency founded in 1934. It covers religion, ethics, spirituality and moral issues, and publishes news, information, and commentaries on faiths and religious movements to newspapers, magazines, bro ...

. Vitello is featured in the 2016 documentary '' Obit.'', about the complex work of ''The Timess obituary writers.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vitello, Paul 1950 births 20th-century American journalists 21st-century American journalists American columnists American expatriates in Italy American male journalists American writers of Italian descent Journalists from Illinois Kansas City Times people Living people Newsday people Obituary writers People from the Lower East Side Stony Brook University faculty The New York Times journalists Trinity College (Connecticut) alumni Writers from Manhattan