Howell Raines

Howell Hiram Raines (born February 5, 1943 in Birmingham, Alabama) was Executive Editor of The New York Times from 2001 until his resignation following the Jayson Blair scandal in 2003. He currently writes political commentary for British newspaper The Guardian.

Before The New York Times

Raines earned a bachelor's degree from Birmingham-Southern College in 1964 and later a master's in English from The University of Alabama. The University of Alabama also awarded him an honorary doctorate in 1993. In 1964, Raines began his newspaper career as a reporter for the Tuscaloosa News in Alabama. He also reported for WBRC-TV in Birmingham. After a year as a reporter at the Birmingham News, Raines became political editor of the Atlanta Constitution in 1971. His position at the newspaper lasted until 1976, when he became political editor at the St. Petersburg Times.

At The New York Times

Raines' affiliation with The New York Times began in 1978, when he joined as a national correspondent based in Atlanta. By 1979, Raines was the bureau chief in Atlanta, a position he remained in until 1981, when he became a national political correspondent. By the next year, Raines had been promoted to a White House correspondent for The Times. His ascent within management continued in 1985, when he became deputy Washington editor. In 1987, Raines transferred to London and worked as the newspaper's London bureau chief. The next year, he returned to Washington D.C. to become the Washington bureau chief. In 1992, he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing. His longest lasting assignment within The Times began in 1993, when he left Washington for New York to become the paper's editorial page editor. He was appointed to Executive Editor in September 2001.

Raines was lauded by many for instituting a program to increase diversity and to revive advocacy journalism. Although there was a period in the early unfolding of the Enron story regarding that energy company's corrupt practices when the Times had to play 'catch up' to the Wall Street Journal, the Times did later develop some hard-hitting articles on that subject, a highly praised accomplishment due in part to Raines' insistence on aggressive investigations. Widely cited as a "hard-charging" Executive Editor, Raines was known for his policy of "flooding the zone"- using all The Times' available resources to cover important stories. Paul Krugman, a Times columnist, stated in his book, The Great Unraveling, that it was Raines who made the decision to hire him.

The Jayson Blair scandal allegedly forced his resignation after 20 months as Executive Editor. In a statement published in The Times, Raines denied his part in the scandal, admitting that Blair was promoted at least twice because of his race and the paper's renewed emphasis on diversity had encouraged editors to overlook Blair's fabrications.

After The New York Times

Raines took a look at his tenure as Executive Editor in "My Times", published in the Atlantic Monthly, and again in his memoir coming out this May, The One that Got Away. In it, Raines gives scant attention to The Times, Judith Miller or Jayson Blair, focusing instead on his life post-Times.

Raines appeared as a guest on the television show The Colbert Report on July 24, 2006. He and Colbert's discussion touched on subjects including the release of his new book and the Jayson Blair scandal.

Books

In addition to his work as a journalist, Raines has published several books; My Soul Is Rested and Whiskey Man in 1977 and Fly Fishing Through the Midlife Crisis in 1993. He contributed to Campaign Money, published in 1976.