Blinded by the Spotlight: Celebrity in American Culture—A Newsmaker Dinner with Landon Y. (Lanny) Jones

Landon Y. (Lanny) Jones has enjoyed a distinguished career in journalism that included an eight-year stint as head editor of People magazine, the most successful magazine in publishing history. He will join Joe Stephens, director of the Program in Journalism, to discuss the rise of modern celebrity culture, from Princess Diana to Donald Trump.

At People magazine Jones met, and edited stories about, many of the biggest celebrities of our time, and grew into a leading authority on the nature of celebrity. He is writing a history of modern celebrity culture.

Jones also was the top editor at Money magazine. While at People, Jones directed the editorial planning and launch of three new magazines. He is the author of three books and, among many claims to fame, personally coined the phrase “baby boomer.” In 2015, he received the Henry R. Luce Award for Lifetime Achievement from Time Inc. Jones edited the Princeton Alumni Weekly in the 1970s, and is a former visiting McGraw Professor of Writing at Princeton.

Professor Stephens is a veteran investigative projects reporter who spent nearly two decades at The Washington Post, and leads the Newsmaker Dinner discussion series.

Fill a plate at the Mathey servery and bring it downstairs to the Firestone Room to join in this revealing discussion.

Please RSVP to journalism@princeton.edu.