IGNATIUS, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF OF THE HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW, SPEAKS TO THE ST. JAMES’ ARMENIAN CHURCH MEN’S CLUB
Watertown TAB & Press
GateHouse News Service
Jul 01, 2009 @ 09:59 AM
WATERTOWN – .Adi Ignatius, the new editor-in-chief of the Harvard
Business Review, spoke to the St. James’ Armenian Church Men’s Club
dinner meeting on June 1, to a crowd of more than 200.
Formerly the deputy managing editor of Time Magazine, Ignatius became
editor-in-chief of the Harvard Business Review in January. During his
12 years at Time, Ignatius covered business and international issues,
served as editor of Time Asia and managed Time’s special editions,
including the Person of the Year and Time 100 franchises.
Paul Ignatius, Adi Ignatius’ father, was secretary of the U.S. Navy
during the Johnson administration and as such was the highest-ranking
Armenian ever in a White House appointed position. As was the case
with his father, the nontraditional Armenian name of Ignatius led
most people, including Time’s readers, to be unaware of Ignatius’
Armenian roots.
"I am half-Armenian and have always been conscious of my Armenian
roots, although I have never been professionally involved with Armenian
activities or organizations. It was a personal thrill for me, and
certainly a highlight of my life, to accompany my 89-year-old dad to
eastern Anatolia," he said. "My visit in ’06 to Yerevan was certainly
a life-changing event in a wonderful way."
As a student at Haverford College, Ignatius received his bachelor
of arts degree in history in 1981, and then received the Zuckerman
Fellowship to attend Columbia University’s School of International
Public Affairs in 1990.
Commenting on his early career, Ignatius said he studied Chinese while
in college, and during the Carter years, he had the opportunity to
travel and spend time in China. During those days, China had not been
discovered by the tourists and it was difficult getting around.
Turning to the focus of his talk on the future of media, Ignatius
said all of print media is experiencing rapid and consistent decline,
with audiences simply dying away. He said some national publications
will survive, like the Wall Street Journal and New York Times.
"It is local papers like the Boston Globe that are in desperate
straits, and they haven’t been able to figure out how to monetize
their online information," he said.
During the question-and-answer session, Ignatius was asked about
Obama’s failure to use the word "genocide" in the annual presidential
statement on the events of 1915 that the president issues every year.
"I was surprised and disappointed, as I think most of us were,
particularly when you consider that Samantha Powers is his close
foreign policy adviser, and there is no one who knows more about
genocide than she does and is thoroughly familiar with Armenian issues
and the details of the Armenian Genocide. I don’t think he will ever
acknowledge the Armenian Genocide. The best chance for him to do so
was this year."