By Duke University
Office of News & Communication

DURHAM, N.C. — Sarah Cohen, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter and expert on computer-assisted investigative journalism, has been named to the Knight Professor of the Practice of Journalism and Public Policy.

Cohen, database editor at The Washington Post since 1999, will lead a computational journalism initiative spearheaded by Duke’s DeWitt Wallace Center for Media and Democracy (DWC). The center is focusing its scholarship and teaching on exploring new models for news organizations in the Internet age. DWC is a program of the Sanford Institute of Public Policy, which is slated to become Duke’s 10th school on July 1.

“Watchdog journalism is increasingly at risk in the media marketplace,” said DWC Director James T. Hamilton. “We hope that the Knight Chair will help sustain investigative reporting through the emerging field of computational journalism. This holds the promise of combining traditional public records and database work with new methods and tools adapted from other disciplines to help renew watchdog coverage. Sarah Cohen is the ideal person to fill this chair.”

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