Eugene Robinson (journalist)

Robinson was born in Orangeburg, South Carolina and attended Orangeburg-Wilkinson High School, where he "was one of a handful of black students on a previously all-white campus."[4]

Before graduating from the University of Michigan in 1974, he was the first African American co-editor-in-chief of The Michigan Daily.[4] During the 1987-1988 academic year, he was a mid-career Nieman Fellow at Harvard University.[5][6]

In 1976, he began his journalism career at the San Francisco Chronicle; his early assignments included the trial of publishing heiress Patty Hearst. He joined The Washington Post in 1980. Working his way up through the ranks, he was first a city hall reporter at the paper. He then became the assistant city editor; a South America correspondent based in Buenos Aires, Argentina; London bureau chief; foreign editor; and, most recently, the assistant managing editor of the paper's Style section. He began writing columns for the opinion page of the paper in 2005, also writes a twice-a-week column on politics and culture, and conducts a weekly online conversation with readers.

Robinson appears frequently as a liberal political analyst[7] on MSNBC cable-TV network's programs such as Morning Joe, PoliticsNation with Al Sharpton, The Rachel Maddow Show, Velshi & Ruhle, Hardball with Chris Matthews, and Andrea Mitchell Reports. In addition, he is often a panelist on NBC's public affairs program Meet the Press.

Robinson was awarded the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Commentary in recognition of his columns that focused on then-Senator Barack Obama in the context of his first presidential campaign.[8]