The American Press Institute announced today that CEO and Executive Director Michael D. Bolden will join the University of California Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism as its eighth dean this summer. UC Berkeley is consistently ranked as the No. 1 public university in the United States and among the top universities in the world.
“The American Press Institute was extremely fortunate to have Michael at the helm for the last three years,” said Barbara Wall, chair of the API Board of Trustees. “Under his impressive leadership, API has played an important role in helping news organizations across the country find new ways to connect with the communities they serve. We are deeply grateful for his contributions and wish him the best as he brings his many talents to his new role as dean of UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism.”
Bolden joined API in February 2022 from the San Francisco Chronicle. During his tenure, API streamlined its mission to focus on four areas key to the success of news organizations: civic discourse and democracy; culture and inclusion; community engagement and trust; and revenue and resilience. It modernized the infrastructure for its Metrics for News data analytics software, which aligns journalism metrics with editorial values and business models, and expanded Source Matters, a tool that automates source tracking to help news organizations build trust with readers.
Since 2022, API has delivered training and strategic coaching to thousands of journalists, advising hundreds of newsrooms on best practices in sustainability and community engagement journalism. Two key initiatives, API’s Local News Summits and Live Events Sprint Program, played a crucial role in strengthening newsroom capacity, fostering collaboration across the industry and facilitating partnerships with non-news experts from many sectors.
Under Bolden’s leadership, API conducted groundbreaking research on the news habits and attitudes of Generation Z and Millennials and examined public preferences for news coverage during the 2024 election cycle with its research partner, NORC at the University of Chicago. API’s election efforts included a partnership on key issues with The Associated Press, grants to dozens of news organizations to improve community engagement and election coverage, and experiments with news organizations on working with creators and trusted messengers, a program that led to the development of API’s guide to working with influencers. API also developed a report on working with non-news experts and developed its Digital Transformation Guide, a capstone project for its management of the Table Stakes Local News Transformation Program. API also collaborated with the International Women’s Media Foundation to combat online harassment and abuse and with the News Revenue Hub to help news organizations develop new revenue and social strategies.
“Michael’s time leading the American Press Institute has inspired meaningful progress and strengthened our mission in important ways,” said Danielle Coffey, President and CEO of the News/Media Alliance, API’s parent organization. “His commitment to advancing journalism, fostering equity, and strengthening the press’s role in our democracy has left a lasting impact on our organization and the industry at large. We are deeply grateful for his vision, integrity, and dedication, and we wish him continued success in his new role as dean.”
Bolden’s vision for the Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism will emphasize the practical nature of the work he led at API, preparing the next generation of journalists to meet the evolving information needs of a complex, diverse society and to lead resilient, collaborative media businesses.
Before joining API, Bolden was one of the masthead editors at the San Francisco Chronicle, where he supervised a range of coverage, including business, housing, immigration, race and equity, technology, transportation, and urban design and development.
Prior to his role at the Chronicle, Bolden was a journalism lecturer at Stanford University and a managing director of the John S. Knight Journalism Fellowships, where he advised media change agents from around the world. He also served as editorial director for the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, a leading funder of journalism and media innovation. For more than a decade, he was an editor at The Washington Post in positions across the newsroom, including helping manage the merger of digital and print operations. Bolden has also been a reporter and editor in Florida and Louisiana. He is a graduate of Stanford University and the University of Alabama.
Bolden’s last day at API is scheduled for mid-July. Samantha Ragland, API’s VP of Journalism Strategy, will serve as the interim executive director when Bolden departs. API’s Board of Trustees will conduct a nationwide search for his replacement.
