BLOOMINGTON – Former Washington Post Executive Editor Marty Baron will headline the Arnolt Center for Investigative Journalism Symposium Feb. 26.

Baron will deliver the keynote address at 6 p.m. in Presidents Hall. His speech will conclude an afternoon-long symposium featuring award-winning journalists from the Associated Press, Bloomberg News, The Washington Post, The New York Times, ESPN, The Athletic and WTHR.

Martin Baron

Baron retired at the end of February 2021, after eight-plus years as executive editor of The Washington Post. News staffs under his leadership have won 18 Pulitzer Prizes. The Post won 11 Pulitzers for coverage during his tenure that included the assault on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 and investigations of the National Security Agency and the presidential campaign of Donald Trump.

While he was top editor of The Boston Globe, it won six Pulitzer Prizes, including for its investigation into the Catholic Church’s concealment of clergy sex abuse. That coverage was portrayed in the Academy Award-winning movie “Spotlight.”

His book, “Collision of Power: Trump, Bezos, and The Washington Post” was released in October 2023.

The afternoon panels will include:

1 p.m.: Welcome

• Kathleen Johnston, Arnolt Center director

1:15 – 2:30 p.m.: “Off the Field: Exposing Truths in Sports”

• Mark Fainaru-Wada, ESPN
• Will Hobson, Washington Post
• Carson Kessler, The Athletic
• Moderator: Mike Wells, Indiana University

2:45 – 4 p.m.: “Investing in Truth: How Innovation Keeps Investigative Journalism Alive”

• Nancy Lane, independent journalist
• Ron Nixon, AP
• Sona Patel, New York Times
• Moderator: Gerry Lanosga, Indiana University

4:15 – 5:30 p.m.: “Justice in Focus: Investigating Crime, Power, and Accountability”

• Susan Batt, WTHR
• Caren Bohan, independent journalist
• Jimmy Jenkins, Bloomberg News
• Moderator: Sara Sidner, CNN

6 – 7 p.m.: Keynote

• Marty Baron

The panels and keynote address are free and open to all students, faculty, staff, Indiana journalists and the general public, but attendees are asked to preregister.

Full program details and speakers’ biographies are available on the Arnolt Center’s website.

The nonprofit, nonpartisan Arnolt Center conducts multimedia investigative reporting on issues of importance to the residents of Indiana, including matters that reach beyond the state’s borders. The center’s work is available at no cost to local, regional and national news outlets and seeks to supplement their reporting at a time when many are losing newsroom staff.

Initially funded by a $6 million gift from alumnus Michael Arnolt, the center is editorially independent from Indiana University and The Media School.