Columbia Global Reports

Columbia Global Reports
Columbia Global Reports
Parent companyColumbia University
Founded2015
Country of originUnited States
Headquarters locationNew York City
DistributionPublishers Group West
Publication typesBooks
Nonfiction topicsglobalization, geopolitics
No. of employees3
Official websiteglobalreports.columbia.edu

Columbia Global Reports (CGR) is a non-profit publishing imprint founded in 2015 by Columbia University and led by Nicholas Lemann, the emeritus dean of Columbia's journalism school.[1] Created as part of a wider globalization initiative, it is affiliated with Columbia's Committee on Global Thought.[2][3]

The project was announced in February, 2014. Lemann started the ramp up to production that June by hiring veteran book publicist Camille McDuffie and former Daily Beast editor Jimmy So.[4] Branding and design were done by Strick and Williams, who designed the logo so that "circles evolve through three stages of rotation, referencing the ever-changing nature of our planet."[3]

The first book published by CGR was Shaky Ground: The Strange Saga of the U.S. Mortgage Giants, whose author Bethany McLean had previously written the 2003 expose of Enron The Smartest Guys in the Room.[5] The Washington Post selected Shaky Ground as one of the best nonfiction books of 2015.[6] Other notable authors with books published by CGR include Helen Epstein, Adam Kirsch, Clay Shirky, and Tim Wu.[7]

Its mission is to produce "four to six ambitious works of journalism and analysis a year" on global issues, with each novella-length book available as paperback or e-book.[8] The Columbia Journalism Review describes CGR's business model as "somewhere between a magazine and book publisher," saying, "Unlike most traditional book publishers (but like high-end magazines), Columbia Global Reports fact checks, pays writers’ expenses, and has a total production time, from signed contract to store shelves, that’s measured in months, not years."[5]

CGR has experimented with social media, including hosting a podcast by Nicholas Lemann and participating in Instagram.[9] In 2018, CGR was a finalist in the Shorty Awards for "Social Good," in the category of "News and Media."[10]

According to Publishers Weekly, CGR gets most of its income from consumer sales (its books are distributed by Publishers Group West) but would not break even without support from Columbia and from foundations.[11]

  1. ^ Lemann, Nicholas (November 13, 2020). "Seeing the Book Biz from Both Sides Now". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved January 2, 2021. We began with a charge, and financial support, from Columbia University's president, Lee Bollinger, who was concerned about the severe contraction of the American press at a time when the immediacy of large international challenges was increasing.
  2. ^ "Global Thought Columbia University: Partnerships". Columbia University. 2020. Retrieved January 2, 2021. Directed by Nicholas Lemann, CGR commissions authors to do original on-site reporting around the globe, and aim to combine the immediacy and narrative power of journalism with the intellectual ambition and acuity of scholarship.
  3. ^ a b "Strick&Williams Brings Context To Columbia Global Reports". Graphic Design USA. 2015. Retrieved January 2, 2021. Columbia Global Reports is a new publishing imprint with the goal to produce six slim original paperbacks that combine in-depth journalism with on-site reporting to illuminate underreported issues. Founding Publisher Camille McDuffie turned to Charlotte Strick and Claire Williams Martinez of Strick&Williams to brand the imprint, part of a wider Columbia University initiative on globalization
  4. ^ "Columbia Staffs New Publishing Project". Publishers Weekly. June 5, 2014. Retrieved January 2, 2021. Nicholas Lemann, Dean Emeritus of the Columbia Journalism School, has hired Camille McDuffie as publisher and Jimmy So as editor at Columbia Global Reports, a new publishing project, announced in February, dedicated to coverage and analysis of under-reported global issues.
  5. ^ a b Murtha, Jack (September 22, 2015). "Could a university be the savior longform journalism has been looking for?". Columbia Journalism Review. Retrieved January 2, 2021. The university-funded publisher aims to produce novella-length narratives, sprinkled with analysis, on underreported stories rooted in globalization...Unlike most traditional book publishers (but like high-end magazines), Columbia Global Reports fact checks, pays writers' expenses, and has a total production time, from signed contract to store shelves, that's measured in months, not years
  6. ^ "Notable nonfiction of 2015". The Washington Post. 2015-11-18. Archived from the original on 2023-03-09.
  7. ^ Columbia Global Reports: Books
  8. ^ "Columbia Global Reports: The Mission". Columbia Global Reports. December 7, 2018. Retrieved January 2, 2021. Columbia Global Reports is a publishing imprint that's producing four to six ambitious works of journalism and analysis a year, each on a different underreported story in the world.
  9. ^ "Third annual Social Good awards: Columbia Global Reports: Finalist in News and Media". Shorty Awards. 2018. Retrieved January 2, 2021. By utilizing Instagram Stories and Direct Messages, we have been able to aggregate the global news items that our audience cares about most —Trump, human rights, public health and geopolitics—as a gateway to connect them with our own content, often explorations of the wonkier human stories—from the worldwide rise of populism and medical tourism, to Chinese smartphones and Nigerian Cinema.
  10. ^ "Shorty Social Good Awards Finalists". Shorty Awards. 2018. Retrieved January 2, 2021.
  11. ^ Milliot, Jim (June 14, 2019). "Columbia Global Reports Goes Its Own Way". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved January 2, 2021. Based out of Columbia University and directed by Lemann, dean emeritus of the Columbia Journalism School, the press publishes books that, on average, run 150 pages and come in a 5"-by-7.5" trim size...In addition to sales (including rights sales), CGR relies on support from Columbia and foundation grants.