Edward Wasserman

Edward Wasserman

Faculty – Professor

Office: 140A

Edward Wasserman, professor of journalism, was dean of the Graduate School of Journalism from 2013 to 2020. Before coming to Berkeley he spent a decade as the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation professor of journalism ethics at Washington and Lee University, home of the nation’s first college-level journalism program.

During his seven years as dean, the School raised record philanthropic support, increased its enrollment by nearly 20 percent, established an advisory board of some of the country’s most distinguished journalists, rebuilt the library into a media-enabled conference space, and brought in new leadership to revitalize the Investigative Reporting Program. The School also reintroduced undergraduate journalism training for the first time in 40 years by creating a journalism minor, created an audio journalism track and modernized the audio studios, and established the Berkeley Advanced Media Institute, providing high-level skills training to non-degree students.

Wasserman writes and speaks widely on matters related to media rights and wrongs. His academic specialties include plagiarism, source relations, confidentiality and conflict of interest.

From 2001 to 2016 he wrote a biweekly column for Knight-Ridder and later McClatchy that was distributed nationally and was on the executive board of the Association for Practical and Professional Ethics (APPE). He serves on the boards of the Journal of Media Ethics and the First Amendment Coalition. He has spoken to professional and academic groups throughout the United States and in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, Great Britain, India, the Netherlands, Sweden, Qatar, and China.

Wasserman’s journalism career spanned 30 years. He was CEO and editor in chief of American Lawyer Media’s Miami-based Daily Business Review newspaper chain, executive business editor of The Miami Herald, city editor of The Casper (Wyo.) Star-Tribune, and editorial director of Primedia’s 140-publication Media Central division in New York.

Wasserman received a B.A. cum laude in politics and economics from Yale, a licence in philosophy from the University of Paris I, and a Ph.D. from the London School of Economics, where his thesis was on the politics of innovation in communications technology.

TEACHING SCHEDULE:

Sec. Title Time Location
J100 Foundations of News Gathering (Undergraduate)
Fall 2023
T, TH 2–4pm
001 J100 Foundations of News Gathering (Undergraduate)
Spring 2024
Tu, Thu 2–3:30pm 108 North Gate (Lower News) — 108 North Gate (Lower News)
J136 Media Ethics (Undergraduate)
Fall 2023
W 2–5pm
001 J136 Media Ethics (Undergraduate)
Spring 2024
Wed 2–5pm 108 North Gate (Lower News) — 108 North Gate (Lower News)
001 J200 Reporting the News – The Courts and Society
Fall 2022
M W 9:00 - 12:00 108 North Gate (Lower News) — 108 North Gate (Lower News)
001 J200 Reporting the News – Covering the Economy
Fall 2021
M W 9:00 - 12:00 108 North Gate (Lower News) — 108 North Gate (Lower News)
001 J211 Reporting the News Lab – Courts
Fall 2022
W 9:00 -12:00; (Starts Aug 31) 108 North Gate (Lower News) — 108 North Gate (Lower News)
001 J211 Reporting the News Lab – Covering the Economy
Fall 2021
W 9:00 -12:00
009 J219 Entrepreneurial News – 5 weeks
Spring 2022
W 10:00 - 12:00 209 North Gate (Greenhouse) — 209 North Gate (Greenhouse)
1 J255 Ethics, Law and Public Purpose-Wasserman
Fall 2018
W 9:00-12:00 142 North Gate (LMC) — 142 North Gate (LMC)
001 J255 Ethics, Law and Public Purpose-Wasserman
Fall 2019
W 9:00-12:00 142 North Gate (LMC) — 142 North Gate (LMC)
014 J294 Master’s Project Seminar – Wasserman
Fall 2021
By appt. By appointment — By appointment
019 J294 Master’s Project Seminar – Wasserman
Spring 2022
By appt. By appointment — By appointment
014 J294 Master’s Project Seminar – Wasserman
Fall 2022
By appt. By appointment — By appointment