Actor and Editor: Spotlight’s Michael Keaton and Walter “Robby” Robinson. Photo: SPOTLIGHT FILM, LLC
The keynote speaker for Uncovering Asia — the Asian Investigative Journalism Conference — will be journalist Walter “Robby” Robinson, who led the Boston Globe Spotlight team’s Pulitzer Prize winning investigation into the Catholic Church sex abuse scandal. In the Academy Award-winning movie “Spotlight,” Robinson’s character was portrayed by actor Michael Keaton.
Robinson has worked at the Globe as reporter and editor since 1972. He is currently the paper’s editor at large.
“There is nothing in life more fun, more rewarding, than digging for the truth and finding stories that the people in power don’t want us to know,” Robinson recently told journalism students. “Doing good journalism is a life worth living.”
Veteran editor and reporter Robinson tweets at @waltervrobinson.
As a reporter, Robinson covered four presidential campaigns and two presidents, and was the paper’s Middle East bureau chief during the first Persian Gulf War. He also served as city editor, metro editor, assistant managing editor for investigations, and editor of the Spotlight Team for seven years. From 2007 to 2014, he was distinguished professor of journalism at Northeastern University.
Robinson’s keynote address will be one of 50 sessions at Uncovering Asia, including panels on digging out hidden facts online, the environment, disaster reporting, business, and how to fund your project; seminars on security and tracking dirty money; data journalism workshops by the best in the business; and much more. Registration is available here. You can follow the conference at #IJAsia16.
