Profile2019-09-25T13:05:20+00:00
Rick Hirsch

Rick Hirsch

Affiliated Faculty
Office BBC AC2, 311C
Rick Hirsch is a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist who worked 42 years as a reporter and editor of the Miami Herald, the last 12 as its managing editor.

After retiring from that role on Dec. 31, 2021, Hirsch joined Florida International University as an NBCUniversal Journalist in Residence, working with student journalists. He also is senior editor for talent development with the McClatchy Company, overseeing recruiting for 30 newsrooms across the United States.

As managing editor at the Herald, Hirsch was responsible for day-to-day oversight of The Herald’s digital and print news content. He played a key role in the news organization’s shift into digital news and video, as well as the launch of its collaboration with WLRN-91.3 FM. He also supervised newsroom training and recruiting.

Prior to diving into digital journalism in 2003, Hirsch served in a variety of editing and reporting roles, including managing editor of the newspaper’s Broward County edition, and city editor. In Miami, he has supervised The Herald’s coverage of local government, public and private schools. He’s played a key role in seven of the Herald’s 23 Pulitzer Prizes, including the Gold Medal for Public Service and the resented awarded Pulitzer for breaking news coverage of the Surfside condominium collapse.

As a reporter, he specialized in government, politics and urban affairs reporting.

Hirsch is past president of the Florida Society of News Editors, a member of the Florida International University Student Media Board, past chair of the University of Florida’s College of Journalism Advisory Council, and a member of the University of Florida College of Journalism Hall of Fame. He’s an organizer of South Florida’s Online News Association group.