Last night I presented the PRSA-NYC Dan Edelman award to Sam Jacobs, Editor in Chief of TIME. Sam is the youngest editor of the magazine since founder Henry Luce. He is the 19th editor of the magazine, with such distinguished predecessors as Norman Pearlstine and Nancy Gibbs.
The Daniel J. Edelman Award for Social Impact celebrates journalists whose work exemplifies a commitment to truth, public service, and a free press. Dan was a working journalist at the Poughkeepsie News and CBS News before going into PR. Dan read five newspapers every day before going to work, starting with The New York Times, then The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times. He was an inveterate communicator, sending along clips from these papers to our account team members, with commentary about the article and advice on best way forward (these notes were known as Dan-o-grams).
In my introductory remarks, I said that Sam had brought TIME back to its deserved position as a leading voice in global affairs. The first big interview of the new South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, done by Western media, was with TIME. Sam has maintained TIME’s coverage of climate, health and diversity even as the political winds have changed. He has pushed the magazine into new geographies and lines of business, from TIME100 AI to TIME100 Philanthropy and the TIME Earth Awards. I pitched Sam successfully an op-ed from the President of the Church of Latter-Day Saints, Russell Nelson, observations on his 100th birthday.
During last night’s ceremony, I also took the opportunity to highlight the critical role of an independent press corps in a functioning democracy. I said that Sam and other editors in chief must keep their nerves in the face of political pressure. I said that PR people must do their best to provide truthful information to the media. Ours is a symbiotic relationship between PR and media; we rely on the media to enable our work; they depend on us for story ideas and credible spokespeople.
Sam’s acceptance speech was a reminder of the powerful role of media in educating society, through important stories that are exaggerated or overlooked in social media. He spoke about the TIME cover with reverence, the “power of the Red Border” framing a face of a world figure. He also recognized the power of iconic traditions such as the TIME Person of the Year or TIME100.
In the anteroom to the stage, I also had an opportunity to speak with Brian Stelter, who is the media correspondent for CNN. I told him to keep doing his job, to call it as he sees it, to be free to speak the truth to power. He promised to carry on, with a sense of responsibility, for delivering the facts in an objective manner. In the context of establishing boundaries for a free press, these discussions could not have been timelier or more relevant. All of us in the PR business should be helping the media to succeed.
Richard Edelman is CEO.
