Howard Fineman, Colgate class of 1970, and editorial director of the Huffington Post Media Group, delivers the commencement address to the Colgate graduating class of 2011.
Howard Fineman ’70, H’11, speaks at Commencement in 2011. (Photo by Andrew M. Daddio)
Howard Fineman ’70, H’11, one of Colgate’s most well-known alumni in the media field, has been appointed global editorial director at the Huffington Post. Fineman, who was previously an editorial director at the company, will now be in charge of supervising U.S. news coverage as well 13 international editions and others that will come online in the future.
“One of my main goals now,” Fineman said today, “is to better integrate our U.S. and growing worldwide coverage.” The story of his promotion was reported at www.Poynter.org.
As he has throughout his career, Fineman credits the impact of his education at Colgate: “I’m more grateful than ever to have gone on the London History Study Group and to have gotten the kind of preparation that allowed me to win a Watson Traveling Fellowship. Studying in London introduced me to the world and my Watson was my first ticket to extensive travel and writing about other countries and cultures. I’ve been to more than 50 countries now, and recently reported for HuffPost from China. The world is one piece now, and digital media is one reason.”
At Colgate, Fineman was an English major, editor-in-chief of the Maroon, member of Beta Theta Pi, and graduated Phi Beta Kappa. He earned an MS in journalism from Columbia University and a JD from the University of Louisville. His 2008 book, The Thirteen American Arguments, was a national best seller. Read about the book and a Q&A with Fineman in the Colgate Scene online.
In 2011, Colgate awarded Fineman an honorary doctor of humane letters degree, in recognition of his career as a political reporter, editor, author, and commentator, and for his success across traditional and new media platforms. Read Fineman’s commencement address here, in which he urged students to “take the power of technology and temper it with the habits of thinking and the skills of relationship building that you learned here.”
Four years may represent a generation on campus, but Fineman’s comments about the dangers of misinformation spreading on the Internet, are especially relevant today.
Quoting Mark Twain, he said: “A lie can run halfway around the world before truth can even lace up its shoes. Today’s situation is far worse. A lie can cover the globe in a nanosecond and the truth may never be heard.”