On June 30, local time, Soma Golden Behr, senior editor of the New York Times, died in Manhattan at the age of 84. She won a Pulitzer Prize for her reporting on poverty, race and class issues. Bell became the first woman to lead The New York Times' national news department in 1987 and became the third woman to appear at the top of the editorial directory after being promoted to assistant managing editor in 1993. In his book The Times (2003), New York Times reporter Adam Nagourney wrote, "[Bell] is 5 feet 10.5 inches (about 178 centimeters) tall, but her aura can fill almost any room." ”
Focus on social inequality
The news of Gordon Bell's death was reported by her husband, William Bell. Disclosed by William A Behr to The New York Times. According to William, Bell died at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York and the cause of death was breast cancer spread. Born Soma Suzanne Golden on August 27, 1939, in Washington, D.C., Golden Bell was the eldest daughter of surgeons Benjamin Golden and Edith Golden. She received her bachelor's degree from Radcliffe College and her master's degree from Columbia University's School of Journalism. In 1974, she married a social worker and psychoanalyst, William Brown. A. Bell married.
In 1973, after 11 years at BusinessWeek, Bell was hired by The New York Times as an economic reporter. At the time, she was often the only woman in the New York Times editorial board. Steven Greenhouse, a former business and labor reporter for The New York Times, recalled, "When Bell was poached from BusinessWeek, she was already the chief economics writer in Washington. This is a major achievement. ”
In 1977, Bell was appointed to the editorial board of The New York Times. At the time, she was the only woman to write editorials full-time, often on women's issues, gay rights and inequality. In 1987, Golden Bell became the first woman to head The New York Times' national news department, and in 1993, when she was promoted to assistant managing editor, she became the third woman in the newsroom to appear at the top of the editorial list.
After graduating from Radcliffe College with a degree in economics, Bell developed a lifelong interest in the issue of inequality. She has led several feature stories in The New York Times that explore class and racial divisions in the United States. In 2001, she married Gerald M. Gerald M. Boyd co-authored the series "Racial Life in America." The report delved into the situation in the church, the military, the slaughterhouse, and other places, and analyzed the traditional notion of "post-racialization" in the United States at the beginning of the 21st century. The series won The New York Times that year's Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting. Boyd went on to become the first black executive deputy editor of The New York Times. Another feature story led by Bell in 2005, "Classes in America," examines the remarkable inequalities created by social class. Both series were later published as books.
"Rational, contemplative and explosive"
While Bell was a female pioneer who mentored other women in The New York Times newspaper, she didn't consider herself an ideological feminist. In 1991, during her tenure as national news editor, the New York Times was criticized for an article about Senator Edward Bush. Reports of the rape of young women by William Kennedy Smith, nephew of Edward M Kennedy, were harshly criticized. Critics inside and outside the press accused The New York Times of misconduct and humiliation of women victims. At a heated plenary session of the New York Times, Bell defended the article. "I was appalled by the public reaction," she said. And added: "I can't understand every weirdo who reads the New York Times." ”
New York Times reporter Adam Nagoni wrote in the book The Times in 2023: "[Bell] is 5 feet 10.5 inches (about 178 centimeters) tall, and her aura can fill almost any room. She rarely worries that a man will interrupt her speech. This gives her an edge over many other women at The New York Times. Nagoni described Bell as "intellectual, contemplative and explosive."
After retiring from journalism in 2005, Bell became director of the New York Times University Scholarship Program. This program pays for 4 years of college for students who are in difficult circumstances (such as homelessness) but have a high level of performance. After the program's funding was reduced, Bell and partner Melanie Rosen Brooks created a similar stand-alone program, Scholarship Plus, in 2010. The "Scholarship Plus" program is funded by donors and supports 20 students from underprivileged backgrounds each year. The program provides funding so that these students don't have to take out student loans to complete their education, putting them on the same page as their affluent peers.
It's an extension of Bell's focus on inequality. The New York Times University Scholarship Program has funded more than 300 college students since 1999, and the Scholarship Plus program has provided financial aid and support to 132 students, according to Scholarship Plus' website. Ninety-nine percent of the sponsored students are the first in their families to earn a college degree. This will change the trajectory of their families for generations to come. "First-generation college students face the enormous challenge of paying high college fees without taking out large loans and adjusting to life on a campus that lacks racial and socioeconomic diversity," Scholarship Plus wrote on its website. ”
News sources: The New York Times, "Scholarship Plus" official website, some pictures are from the Internet
iWeekly Weekend Pictorial Exclusive Manuscript, please do not reprint without permission