Jill Abramson (AB '76, Harvard), former New York Times Executive Editor; Senior Lecturer, English Department, Harvard University

Hear Professor Jill Abramson’s spellbinding discussion of her distinguished career in journalism. Setting the stage with her first reporting assignment, she describes how Time magazine sparked her interest in journalism by fortuitously calling her while she was working on Nantucket in the summer of ’73. Word was spreading that a jeep driven by a scion of the Kennedy family had flipped, and Time wanted details but a storm prevented reporters from reaching the island. A student with no reporting experience, Abramson delivered, and the world learned that Joseph P. Kennedy 3d had crashed his jeep, paralyzing teenager Pamela Kelley for life. Several years later, after graduating from Harvard, Abramson embarked on a career in journalism defined by integrity, talent and courage. She ultimately held senior editorial positions at The Wall Street Journal and became the first woman Washington Bureau Chief, Managing Editor and Executive Editor of The New York Times. During this podcast, Professor Abramson reflects on the challenge of deciding whether to hold back stories in light of national security interests, the satisfaction of a particular Pulitzer, and the joy of teaching journalism to Harvard, Yale and Princeton students.