About the School

Photo/Claire Holt

Leonard Apcar '76

Chief editor for Asia, International Herald Tribune;
former editor in chief, NYTimes.com

I went to Columbia shortly after Watergate, at a time when people really believed that journalism could make a difference. The Graduate School of Journalism used the city as a laboratory. It would send its students to find out about this or that. I received scathing editorial feedback which helped me think more about my writing. Besides the rigorous critques which helped me to write well, I also received inspirational training. Towering figures like Fred Friendly taught me that you should always try to be better than you are. He taught me about the medium of television, and I think that inspired me to think about how to use innovative new media such as the Internet.