Tracy Grant is a senior editor at Encyclopaedia Britannica. She previously served as Britannica's editor in chief, the first woman to hold that title.
Before joining Britannica in 2022, Tracy had a career as a writer and editor at The Miami Herald and The Washington Post. She started at The Post as a copy editor, becoming the newsroom’s first web editor in 1999, overseeing digital coverage in the nascent internet era of events including 9/11, war in Iraq, and the DC sniper attacks. She went on to run features coverage before becoming managing editor for staff development and standards. During her tenure, The Post newsroom doubled to more than 1,000 journalists.
At Britannica, she served as editor in chief for nearly three years, during which time she brought in new editors and learned to marry Britannica’s exacting standards with the demands of publishing in a digital age. As a senior editor, she enjoys writing about politics, sports, journalism, and Jeopardy!
EDUCATION AND EXPERTISE
Tracy graduated with a bachelor’s degree from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism.
She is a regular speaker at journalism conferences, with a particular expertise in diversity hiring, management coaching, and ethical best practices.
IN TRACY’S OWN WORDS …
People ask me a lot about why I left The Washington Post to come to Britannica because they think the missions of a news organization and an encyclopedia would be very different. Actually the missions are very similar; it’s just the approach that differs. Journalists are very good at the who, what, when, where of an event. But too often we find ourselves giving short-shrift to the how and the why. It became clear to me that Britannica was the perfect partner for people who were reading their news feeds and wanting to understand where all the alerts fit in a broader historical context. For example:
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What was the annexation of Crimea all about? Britannica can answer that for you.
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What’s the history behind the U.S.’s relationship with Iran? Britannica has you covered.
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What do all the references in “We Didn’t Start the Fire” mean? We can explain that too (because not everything has to be so serious.)
In a time of misinformation and disinformation, I wanted to work at a place that more than anything offers trusted information. And that’s Britannica.
photo: Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post
