[2] Wald began his career in journalism with The New York Herald Tribune, where he served as a reporter and foreign correspondent, and eventually rose to become the paper's last managing editor before its demise in 1966.
[4] His colleagues at the Tribune included major figures of the New Journalism movement, such as Jim Bellows, Jimmy Breslin, Gail Sheehy, and Tom Wolfe.
[2] Following the development of the 24-hour news cycle, with networks like CNN (which launched four years after his speech), his remarks received additional attention and were regarded as prescient.
[9] Wald was promoted to senior vice president for editorial quality, nicknamed the "ethics czar" of the network, tasked with reviewing that prospective stories met journalistic standards.
[1][2] Afterward, Wald began teaching at the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, and later became the Fred W. Friendly Professor of Professional Practice in Media Society Emeritus.