Roger Cohen

Roger Cohen is an American journalist and author, and a columnist for The New York Times. He was foreign editor of The New York Times between 2001 and 2004. Previously, Mr. Cohen had been bureau chief of the newspaper’s Berlin bureau, a correspondent in its Paris bureau, the Balkan bureau chief and the newspaper’s European economic correspondent based in Paris. He joined The Times in 1990.

Prior to joining The New York Times, Mr. Cohen was a foreign correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, based in Rome as chief correspondent, covering Italy and the Eastern Mediterranean, and reporting from Cyprus, Greece, Turkey and Lebanon. Later, he opened the Journal’s office in Rio de Janeiro as chief correspondent, covering Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Chile, Peru and Venezuela. From 1979 until 1983, Mr. Cohen was a foreign correspondent for Reuters, based in London, Brussels and then Rome, reporting on the European Community, NATO, Belgium, Italy and the Vatican.

Roger Cohen has written several books including: “Hearts Grown Brutal: Sagas of Sarajevo,” an account of the wars of Yugoslavia’s destruction. Most recently, he wrote "The Girl from Human Street: Ghosts of Memory in a Jewish Family", which was published in January 2015. He also has wide broadcast experience with the Charlie Rose Show, BBC, German radio and TV, AND RAI, among others.

For his work, Roger Cohen had won numerous Prizes including the Peter Weitz Prize from the German Marshall Fund and the Arthur F. Burns Prize from the German Federal Foreign Office. He has been awarded the Joe Alex Morris lectureship for distinguished foreign correspondence by the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University, and served as Ferris Professor of Journalism at Princeton University.

Born in London, England, Mr. Cohen received an M.A. degree in History and French from Oxford University. He speaks French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and German.

Last updated: 2015