Profile
David Lieberman joined The New School in 2017 following a career in journalism where he became one of the nation's leading chroniclers of the transformation of the media business. He helped to navigate Deadline.com through its start-up period as its Executive Editor, where he reported on media finance, public policy and technology and hosted a weekly podcast . For 17 years prior to that he led USA Today's coverage of the media business. He investigated and explained the rise of the internet, and changes in TV, movies, music, publishing, and video games for the Money section where he was Senior Media Reporter and columnist. During that time he ran the USA Today CEO Forum, conducting public interviews with many of the country's most prominent business leaders. Before working at USA Today, David drove the media business coverage at TV Guide, then the nation's largest consumer magazine, and at BusinessWeek when it was the most widely circulated weekly magazine for business news.
Earlier in his career he covered business and the economy for The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour at its launch on public television as the nation's first hour-long nightly newscast. David began his career in Hartford, Connecticut. He won awards for his editorials as a member of the editorial board of the state's largest newspaper, The Hartford Courant. He also helped to launch a nationally recognized alternative weekly: The Hartford Advocate, where he won awards for his investigative reports. His freelance work has appeared in Variety, The New York Times, the Columbia Journalism Review, the Washington Journalism Review, The New Republic, the Media Studies Journal, and The Los Angeles Times.
David contributed an essay on media mergers for an anthology, Conglomerates and the Media, published by The New Press, and in 1996 delivered the annual Carlos McClatchy Memorial Lecture at Stanford University. He spent an academic year studying at the Columbia School of Business as a fellow in the Knight-Bagehot Fellowship in Economics and Business Journalism.
Degrees Held
Columbia University: Certificate in Economics and Business Journalism
University of Michigan: M.A. in American Culture
University of Michigan: M.A. in Journalism
Washington University: B.A. (cum laude)
Recent Publications
“Thinking through the ethics of corporate journalism—before there’s a problem,” Strategy+Business, June 30, 2022
"That same old song is becoming a new value differentiator," Strategy+Business, Nov. 11, 2021
"What the Media’s Most Powerful Execs Were Paid in 2020: Did Pandemic Pay Cuts Have an Impact?" Variety, April 29, 2021
"Media Earnings Q3 2020: Investors Search for Signs of Recovery, Strategies on Streaming," Variety, Oct. 19, 2020
"What the Media's Most Powerful Executives Were Paid in 2019," Variety, May 20, 2020
"Can 'Public Podcasting' Maintain its Lead?" Current, March 31, 2020
"Can Movie Theaters Survive the Coronavirus Crisis?" Variety, March 25, 2020
"Podcasting as Public Media: The Future of U.S. News, Public Affairs, and Educational Podcasts," International Journal of Communication, February 2020
"What the Media's Most Powerful Executives Were Paid in 2018," Variety, May 1, 2019
"Why Bankers Are Back in the Media Business in 2018," Variety, Oct. 2, 2018
"Is the Era of the Superstar Media Executive Over?" Variety, June 18, 2018
"Do Media Chiefs Deserve the Lavish Pay Packages They Rake In?" Variety, May 8, 2018
"To End Sexual Harassment On the Job, End Workplace Bullying," The Los Angeles Times (op-ed), Nov. 16, 2017
Research Interests
Media business, technology, public policy, media ethics, journalism, corporate governance, media strategy, innovation, decision-making
Awards And Honors
2014: Women’s Economic Roundtable, The WERT Prize for essay: “No Place Like Home: Financial Journalists, Local News, and the Search for Relevance”
2001 CableCenter Maxwell Media Award
1999 USA Today Enterprise All-Star Award
1999 TJFR financial journalism Blue Chip Newsroom
1998 TJFR financial journalism Blue Chip Newsroom