New York Times reporter Michael Barbaro to visit IU

Journalism students will have an opportunity to see the success of one of their contemporaries this weekend.

New York Times reporter Michael Barbaro will speak at 7 p.m. Sunday in the Edmondson formal lounge in Collins Living-Learning Center.

Barbaro is a 28-year-old graduate of Yale, where he was editor-in-chief of the Yale Daily News.

He interned at The Miami Herald and NBC Nightly News before beginning at The Washington Post. He now works at The New York Times.

In 2005, Barbaro broke a major story regarding Wal-Mart’s attempts to cut employee health care benefits by not hiring unhealthy people, after intercepting an internal memo from the company’s board of directors.

Barbaro’s story on Wal-Mart attracted national attention.

Freshman Raphael Koehler-Derrick said he remembers Barbaro’s Wal-Mart story and thinks the story warrants hearing him talk. Koehler-Derrick said he knows the Wal-Mart issue is a touchy one for many people and has some questions for Barbaro about his work.

“I want to know if he regretted his research and what came of the piece he wrote,” he said.

Ellen Dwyer, director of Collins Living-Learning Center, said Barbaro will focus on investigative journalism, city politics and life as a young journalist.

Dwyer likes the idea of bringing in younger guests to speak with students.

“It seems to be helpful to the students to have people that are much closer to undergraduates’ age, as opposed to well-known journalists,” she said.

Dwyer hopes students get their voices heard because the event is more of an informal talk than a lecture.

“The goal is to be able to leave a lot of time for questions,” she said.

In addition to Barbaro’s talk Sunday, 15 students obtained the opportunity to attend a private seminar with the journalist.

Sophomore Rob Funkhouser said he believes this will be a good opportunity to find out how to create a career like Barbaro’s.

The private seminar will focus on making writing work as a job, Funkhouser said.
“I’m looking forward to asking about what habits to pick up before my career and what I need to work or concentrate on,” he said.