Scott Dodd is the day editor on the National desk at The New York Times, responsible for planning and organizing the daily report of one of the paper's newsiest sections. His role includes assigning and editing breaking news and ensuring a steady stream of strong enterprise stories. He also oversees the desk's coverage of extreme weather and climate change (and, whenever he gets the chance, regional food).
A small-town West Virginia native who lived in New Orleans, Tulsa and Pittsburgh growing up, Scott graduated from Penn State and spent a dozen years reporting for newspapers in Pennsylvania and the Carolinas, on beats including night cops, county government, the Pennsylvania statehouse and urban development.
As a general assignment reporter at The Charlotte Observer, he covered plane crashes, hurricanes, the Olympic Park bomber, the military, NASCAR races and a Super Bowl. His stories won awards for breaking news, investigations, business coverage and sports reporting, and the local alt-weekly wrote that "when the Observer wants to make a good story a great one, it sends out Scott Dodd.”
After a science writing fellowship, Scott explored other aspects of the media business, teaching journalism at Columbia, working for an environmental magazine and editing a digital news outlet. He returned to his newspaper roots in 2018, joining The Times and participating in its coverage of some of the biggest stories of recent years, including the coronavirus, the Capitol riot and the police killing of George Floyd.
A small-town West Virginia native who lived in New Orleans, Tulsa and Pittsburgh growing up, Scott graduated from Penn State and spent a dozen years reporting for newspapers in Pennsylvania and the Carolinas, on beats including night cops, county government, the Pennsylvania statehouse and urban development.
As a general assignment reporter at The Charlotte Observer, he covered plane crashes, hurricanes, the Olympic Park bomber, the military, NASCAR races and a Super Bowl. His stories won awards for breaking news, investigations, business coverage and sports reporting, and the local alt-weekly wrote that "when the Observer wants to make a good story a great one, it sends out Scott Dodd.”
After a science writing fellowship, Scott explored other aspects of the media business, teaching journalism at Columbia, working for an environmental magazine and editing a digital news outlet. He returned to his newspaper roots in 2018, joining The Times and participating in its coverage of some of the biggest stories of recent years, including the coronavirus, the Capitol riot and the police killing of George Floyd.
Photo: Three Rivers Fire in Lincoln National Forest, USDA Forest Service