Peter L. W. Osnos

 Peter Osnos is emeritus director of Human Rights Watch and is George Soros' publisher. He is also Chief Executive and founder of PublicAffairs Books.

"January 18, 2006—The Century Foundation has named veteran journalist and book publisher Peter Osnos as its first senior fellow for media. Founder and editor-at-large for PublicAffairs Books, Osnos will regularly contribute his analysis of developments in journalism to The Century Foundation’s Web site (www.tcf.org) and in published articles. He plans to focus on such issues as the media’s response to government pressure; the evolving nature of distribution and the pressure those changes create for journalists and managers; as well as the struggle to maintain quality in the face of business demands.

“Today, as much as ever, America needs the best from its media. Yet competitive forces, technological changes, and the special stresses of war and terrorism make the task of finding and reporting the truth especially difficult. In this context, we all need to have a greater understanding of the major changes and issues in the area of communications, and all of their implications.” said Richard C. Leone, president of The Century Foundation. “No one is better qualified to provide insight into how the media works than Peter Osnos.”

"Prior to creating PublicAffairs Books, Peter Osnos was publisher of Random House’s Times Books division from 1991 to 1996 and before that was a vice president and associate publisher of the Random House imprint. Authors he has worked with include President Bill Clinton, former President Jimmy Carter, Rosalyn Carter, Nancy Reagan, former Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill, Boris Yeltsin, Paul Volcker, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Donald Trump, Clark Clifford, Sam Donaldson, Morley Safer, Peggy Noonan, Molly Ivins, Stanley Karnow, Jim Lehrer, William Novak, Vassily Aksyonov, and journalists from the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, Newsweek, and The Economist.

"Before entering book publishing, Osnos spent nearly twenty years at the Washington Post, where he was variously Indochina bureau chief, Moscow correspondent, foreign editor, national editor, and London bureau chief. He has been a commentator and host for National Public Radio and a contributor to publications including Foreign Affairs, The Atlantic, and The New Republic . He served as chair of the trade division of the Association of American Publishers, chair of Human Rights Watch Europe and Central Asia Committee and was a member of the Board of Directors of Human Rights Watch. He is currently the chair of the Institute for War & Peace Reporting. He is a graduate of Brandeis University and the Columbia University School of Journalism." 

"He is currently the Vice-Chairman of The Columbia Journalism Review and Executive Director of The Caravan Project, funded by the MacArthur Foundation and based at TCF. A graduate of Brandeis University and the Columbia University School of Journalism, he lives in Greenwich, Connecticut with his wife, Susan Osnos, who is a consultant for nonprofit organizations." 


 * Founder, PublicAffairs