Nancy Barnes


Nancy Barnes is an American journalist and newspaper editor. She is currently the senior vice president for news and editorial director of National Public Radio. She is also a member of the Peabody Awards board of directors, which is presented by the Henry W. Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication.

Education

Barnes earned a bachelor's degree in international relations from the University of Virginia and an MBA from the University of North Carolina.

Career

Before joining NPR in November 2018, Bernes was the editor of the Minneapolis Star Tribune from 2003 to 2013, before going to the Houston Chronicle as the editor and executive vice president of news between 2013 and 2018.
In 2013, while Barnes was editor at the Star Tribune the paper won the Pulitzer Prize for local news for reporting on infant deaths at day care facilities. It also won the Gerald Loeb Award for Breaking News and two 2013 Edward R. Murrow Awards for multimedia journalism.
While she led the Chronicle the paper won the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for commentary. It was a Pulitzer finalist in 2017 for reports on the denial of special education to tens of thousands of Texas students, and a 2018 finalist for its reporting on Hurricane Harvey.
At NPR, Barnes succeeded Michael Oreskes after he was fired over sexual harassment allegations. Barnes is the fourteenth person and fourth woman to head NPR's news division since the position was defined in 1979.