Quick Facts
Biography
Kevin Merida is an American journalist and author. He is ESPN Senior VP and editor-in-chief at the ESPN sports blog The Undefeated.
Personal life and education
Kevin Merida was born in Wichita, Kansas. He was raised in the Washington, D.C. area. He attended Crossland High School. He graduated from Boston University. After graduating, he attended the University of California, Berkeley's "Summer Program for Minority Journalists." Merida is married to Donna Britt. In 2012, The Huffington Post named the couple one of the "Black Voices Power Couples" of the year.
Career
Merida has worked as a writer and editor at the Dallas Morning News and the Milwaukee Journal. At those newspapers, he wrote about crime and society. He started working at The Washington Post in 1993. At The Washington Post, Merida covered primarily US politics, including news related to the White House and the United States Congress. He also authored a series on African American men in the United States, called "Being a Black Man," which was featured in the newspaper. In 2008, Merida became Assistant Managing Editor at The Washington Post for the paper's United States national news department. He was named managing editor, "responsible for news and features coverage as well as the Universal News Desk," on February 4, 2013.
Merida's journalistic and research focus generally involves biographies about "difficult subjects," as described by the Houston Institute for Race & Justice. He has covered biographical subjects like Strom Thurmond, Bob Dole, George W. Bush, and Newt Gingrich.
Merida co-authored 'Supreme Discomfort: The Divided Soul of Clarence Thomas, about Clarence Thomas, with Michael A. Fletcher.
Awards
- 1990, Pulitzer Prize finalist
- 2000, Journalist of the Year, National Association of Black Journalists
- 2006, Vernon Jarrett Award for Journalistic Excellence