Profile

Peter Laufer is the James Wallace Chair Professor in Journalism at the School of Journalism and Communication.

An award-winning journalist and scholar, he has studied, teaches and reports from throughout the world. Author of a couple of dozen books, Laufer’s writing focuses on borders, migration, identity, and animal rights. He chased butterflies for his book The Dangerous World of Butterflies, turtles for his book Dreaming in Turtle and his reportage on the relationships of humans with other animals includes the books Forbidden Creatures and No Anmals Were Harmed. His other works include the exposé Organic: A Journalist’s Quest to Discover the Truth behind Food Labeling and the several documentaries he reported, wrote, and produced as an NBC News Correspondent on topics ranging from the crises facing Vietnam War veterans to illiteracy and hunger in America, and a study of Americans incarcerated overseas that won the George Polk Award. Laufer adroitly combines his scholarly and professional work; he served as editor of the University of Oregon anthology Interviewing: The Oregon Method and as author of Slow News: A Manifesto for the Critical News Consumer he is a founder of the Slow News Movement. A longtime talk radio maestro, Laufer has served as news and program director of WRC Radio in Washington, D.C., was founding program director of Newstalk 93.6 in Berlin, and has acted as management consultant to several international news broadcasting projects, including National Geographic, Washington Monthly, and Mother Jones radio programs. His monograph "Thank you for taking my call" is an exploration of epistolary artifacts from talk radio. He is the founding co-Director of the University of Oregon-UNESCO Institute for Conflict-sensitive Reporting and Intercultural Dialogue..

Laufer’s writing focuses on borders, migration, identity, and animal rights. The working title of his current study of walls across time and cultures is Up Against the Wall (Expletive). 

For more, visit his website.