The Center for Public Integrity announced today that Pulitzer-winning journalist Mei Fong will become its director of communications and strategy, effective February 11.
Fong is an award-winning communicator and writer. As a Wall Street Journal China correspondent, she won multiple awards, including a shared Pulitzer for international reporting. Her first book, on China’s one-child policy, was critically acclaimed and winner of a non-fiction award by the American Society of Journalists and Authors. When tightening censorship led to a scrapping of a Chinese edition of her book, Fong released a free digital version in Chinese, paying for it through an innovative crowd-funding initiative. Her efforts led to her being named a Top 50 influencer on U.S.-China relations by Foreign Policy magazine.
Fong has served as juror for journalism prizes awarded by the Asia Society and the Overseas Press Club and is on the advisory board for the nonprofit 100Reporters. She has appeared on CNN, CBS, ABC and her writings have been published in The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times and The Guardian.
She was a fellow at the D.C.-based think tank New America and taught at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. She is a graduate from the National University of Singapore and holds a master’s degree in international affairs from Columbia University.
“We are pleased to have someone with Mei’s impressive, eclectic background join us on the eve of our 30th anniversary,” said Jim Morris, the Center’s acting CEO. “We’re confident she’s the right choice for this key position and will help us navigate the increasingly complex and competitive nonprofit journalism landscape.”
“As someone who passionately promotes excellent journalism, I could not be more honored to join one of America’s oldest and most respected journalism watchdogs,” Fong said. “From pork-barrel politics to the Panama Papers, the storied Center for Public Integrity has been exposing corruption for almost three decades. I look forward to helping it advance its mission investigating stories in the public interest and holding leadership accountable. We need [the Center] and the work it does now more than ever.”