KINSELLA, James 1959-

PERSONAL: Born October 10, 1959, in St. Louis, MO; son of Robert and Dolores (Guzy) Kinsella. Education: Haverford College, B.A. (with honors), 1982.

ADDRESSES: Office—Interoute Headquarters, Walbrook Bldg., 195 Marsh Wall, London E14 9SG, England.

CAREER: Pennsylvania Journal-Reporter, Philadelphia, reporter, 1980-82; California Lawyer, San Francisco, reporter, 1982-83; Santa Cruz's Weekly, Santa Cruz, CA, assistant editor, 1983, managing editor, 1983-84; Sacramento, Sacramento, CA, managing editor of news, 1983-85, senior editor, 1984-85; Los Angeles Herald Examiner, Los Angeles, CA, editorial page editor, 1985-89; American Report (Tokyo, Japan), correspondent, beginning 1989; Mercury News, San Jose, CA, assistant foreign and national editor, beginning 1990. Gannett Center for Media Studies, Columbia University, fellow, 1987-88; East-West Center, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Jefferson fellow, 1990; Time Warner's Pathfinder, founding editor; MSNBC.com, general manager, 1996-99; MSNBC on the Net, CEO, 1999-2000; World Online, chairman, 2000-01; Interoute, executive chairman, 2002—; guest on Canadian television program The Editors. University of California, Berkeley, member of interdisciplinary panel on public policy; Greater Los Angeles Partnership for the Homeless, executive volunteer; consultant to Robert Woods Johnson Foundation and New York City Commission on acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS).

AWARDS, HONORS: Award for best editorial page in the state, California Newspaper Publishers Association, 1987; award for best editorial series, California-Nevada Associated Press, 1987; Gustavus Myers Award, Gustavus Myers Center for the Study of Bigotry and Human Rights, 1989, for Covering the Plague: AIDS and the American Media.

WRITINGS:

Covering the Plague: AIDS and the American Media, Rutgers University Press (East Brunswick, NJ), 1990.

Also contributor to books on the media.

SIDELIGHTS: James Kinsella is a celebrated media mogul, having earned a name for himself as the chairman of major media corporations such as Time Warner and MSNBC.com. He has held senior positions at other technology and media organizations such as World Online and Interoute. Kinsella drew on his decades of experience in the media to author and contribute to four books. His most recognized book, Covering the Plague: AIDS and the American Media, looks at the way the AIDS epidemic in the United States has been covered by the American media. Kinsella is often critical of the media, claiming that the AIDS issue can be trivialized, or even ignored, by the mainstream press until it somehow affects the general heterosexual population. A reviewer in Publishers Weekly maintained that Kinsella "shows how the media and medical experts fumbled in the AIDS story." Writing for Library Journal, James E. Van Buskirk noted that "Kinsella's inclusion of a historical time line, extensive notes, and an index contribute to this fascinating exposé's importance for journalism and general interest collections."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Journalism Quarterly, autumn, 1990, James K. Hertog, review of Covering the Plague, pp. 623-624.

Journal of Health, Politics, Policy, and Law, spring, 1991, David C. Colby, review of Covering the Plague: AIDS and the American Media, pp. 176-181.

Library Journal, February 1, 1990, James E. Van Buskirk, review of Covering the Plague, p. 91.

Los Angeles Times Book Review, April 8, 1990, p. 5.

Nature, August 9, 1990, Don C. Des, review of Covering the Plague, p. 521.

New York Times Book Review, May 6, 1990, H. Jack Geiger, review of Covering the Plague, p. 23.

Publishers Weekly, January 19, 1990, Genevieve Stuttaford, review of Covering the Plague, pp. 92-93.

Washington Post Journalism Review, July-August 1990, Timothy Cook, review of Covering the Plague, p. 39.*