Journalism professor’s book named best in nation

SUNY New Paltz journalism professor Robert Miraldi’s biography of a famous American investigative reporter has been named the best journalism biography in the nation.

The announcement of the Ann Sperber Biography Award, made recently by Fordham University, which administers the prestigious prize, praises Miraldi’s biography, “Seymour Hersh: Scoop Artist,”  as “a probing and provocative investigation of this country’s premier investigative journalist.”

The biography chronicles the work of Hersh from the late 1950s to the present day as he wrote story after story that made national headlines, caused controversy and changed America public policy. Hersh won the Pulitzer Prize for his exposé of the massacre of hundreds of civilians in the village of My Lai in Vietnam in 1968. He then, in 2004, revealed the story of the torture of Iraqis in a prison at Abu Ghraib. Hersh is the author of eight controversial and best-selling books and has won virtually every major award in journalism.

Miraldi joins a distinguished list of biographers who have won the Sperber Award for books on subjects ranging from Walter Cronkite to William Randolph Hearst to Henry Luce, all major figures in American journalism.

“I worked on this Hersh biography for nearly a decade,” said Miraldi. “So it is gratifying to receive this award and see my Hersh work in with some wonderful other biographies. Hersh is perhaps America’s greatest investigative reporter, and his work deserves this recognition.”

Miraldi added, “The book has a dimension beyond Hersh’s work. He is an iconic figure — irreverent, brash, indefatigable, headstrong, arrogant, and passionate. He is really a great American character.”

Miraldi, a professor at New Paltz since 1982, holds a Ph.D. in American studies and a master’s degree in journalism.

He will receive the award on Wednesday, Nov. 19 at Fordham’s Manhattan campus.