Peter Osnos

Peter Osnos is a journalist turned book editor/publisher. He spent 18 years working at various bureaus for The Washington Post before founding Public Affairs Books. More

Peter Osnos is founder and editor at large of PublicAffairs books and a media fellow at The Century Foundation which distributes this weekly "Platform" column. (An archive of the columns is available at www.tcf.org.) He is vice-chairman of the Columbia Journalism Review and executive director of The Caravan Project, which is also based at The Century Foundation.

Osnos spent 18 years at the Washington Post, where he was variously Indochina bureau chief, Moscow correspondent, foreign editor, national editor and London bureau chief.

He was publisher of Random House's Times Books Division from 1991 to 1996, and was also 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, Barack Obama, Boris Yeltsin, Paul Volcker, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Clark Clifford, Sam Donaldson, Morley Safer, Peggy Noonan, Molly Ivins, Stanley Karnow, Jim Lehrer, Muhammad Yunus, Scott McClellan, Robert McNamara, Natan Sharansky, and journalists from the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, The Atlantic and the Economist.

He served as chair of the Trade Division of the Association of American Publishers Committee, and is an emeritus member of the Board of Directors of Human Rights Watch. He serves on the board of other journalism and human rights organizations and is a member of The Council on Foreign Relations.

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An Egyptian Journalist's Nightmare

An Egyptian Journalist's Nightmare

The ordeal of Yehia Ghanem, who was convicted in Egypt's notorious NGO trial. More »

Optimism Among Book Publishers at BookExpo America

Optimism Among Book Publishers at BookExpo America

An industry in upheaval steadies itself. More »

If You Can't Beat Them, Join Them: Publishing Gets Its Own Hackathon

If You Can't Beat Them, Join Them: Publishing Gets Its Own Hackathon

Translating word-of-mouth book sales to the digital world More »

Decades After the Pentagon Papers, the Press Is Still Under Assault

Decades After the Pentagon Papers, the Press Is Still Under Assault

Recent news that the Department of Justice pulled AP phone records makes a new book by former New York Times general counsel James C. Goodale all the more relevant. More »

Smartphone Paradise Lost

Smartphone Paradise Lost

If you do misplace your smartphone, stay calm. More »

The Incomparable Herblock, Up Close

The Incomparable Herblock, Up Close

A former colleague reflects on working alongside the cartoonist Herb Block, as well as some of the surprising aspects of Block's private life revealed in the new documentary Herblock. More »

With Bookselling in Deep Turmoil, Book Sales Are on the Rise

With Bookselling in Deep Turmoil, Book Sales Are on the Rise

Bookstores are in crisis. Books aren't. More »

Using Moviemaking to Change the World, Both Inside Theaters and Out

Using Moviemaking to Change the World, Both Inside Theaters and Out

These documentaries look to incite action with more than their stories. More »

The Enduring Myth of the 'Free' Internet

The Enduring Myth of the 'Free' Internet

We somehow have come to believe that information is free, but people with Internet access pay substantial sums to get it -- sums many can't afford. More »

Mr. Barofsky Goes to Washington (and Doesn't Like What He Finds)

Mr. Barofsky Goes to Washington (and Doesn't Like What He Finds)

Why this outsider's insider account of the bailout is the best book about the financial crisis yet More »

How Sonia Sotomayor's Memoir Outsold Clarence Thomas's

How Sonia Sotomayor's Memoir Outsold Clarence Thomas's

The charming and intelligent justice has a great story -- one that's been topping bestseller lists for the past month. More »

The Endangered Fate of Barnes & Noble

The Endangered Fate of Barnes & Noble

America's last major book store chain is shuttering locations as it tries to evolve for a digital future. Is this simply a tough transition, or the beginning of the end? More »

The 'Up' Series: The Original, and Best, Reality Television

The 'Up' Series: The Original, and Best, Reality Television

The now-56-year-old kids from Michael Apted's documentary series were the first the reality-TV subjects—and they remain some of the most compelling. More »

The Tribune Company Gets a New Lease On Life

The Tribune Company Gets a New Lease On Life

As it emerges from a hellish bankruptcy, the next phase for the storied news publisher is bound to be better than the last. More »

What Andrew Sullivan's Declaration of Independence Means for Publishing

What Andrew Sullivan's Declaration of Independence Means for Publishing

The Dish's decision to break away from legacy media fulfills a long-time dream of prominent writers to control their means of distribution More »

The Business Genius of The New York Times

The Business Genius of The New York Times

Against all odds, the Gray Lady is still a leader in innovative journalism More »

Finally, a Little Good News About Newspapers

Finally, a Little Good News About Newspapers

They seem to be discovering the keys to survival in an online world. More »

What Will Jeff Zucker Do With CNN?

What Will Jeff Zucker Do With CNN?

Expect him to devise an around-the-clock equivalent of the Today show, with substantial segments of soft "news you can use" and entertainment blended with the news of the day More »

'Isaac's Army': The Polish Jews Who Outsmarted the Nazis

'Isaac's Army': The Polish Jews Who Outsmarted the Nazis

A history within a history of those who were resourceful -- and lucky -- enough to escape. More »

In China, 25 Million People Use Only Their Cell Phones to Read Books

In China, 25 Million People Use Only Their Cell Phones to Read Books

Mobile reading may revive entire genres of literature, such as mid-length novels and poems, which have fallen out of favor. More »

The Biggest Story in Photos

Protests Spread Across Brazil

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