Steven Erlanger (born 1952) is an American journalist who has served as a foreign correspondent and editor for The New York Times since 1987. He is widely recognized for his extensive coverage of European affairs, diplomacy, and international security.
Career
Erlanger joined The New York Times in 1987 as a reporter in the Boston bureau. He was subsequently assigned to the Prague bureau (1990–1993), where he covered the Velvet Revolution and the transition of Czechoslovakia. He served as bureau chief in Moscow (1993–1997), reporting on the post-Soviet transition, the Chechen wars, and Russian politics.
From 1997 to 2001, he was the bureau chief in Bangkok, covering Southeast Asia, including the Asian financial crisis and the independence movement in East Timor. He then served as bureau chief in Paris (2001–2005) and Jerusalem (2005–2009), reporting on the Second Intifada, the 2006 Lebanon War, and Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.
From 2009 to 2012, Erlanger was the NATO and European Union correspondent based in Brussels. He later served as the London bureau chief (2012–2017) before returning to Brussels in 2017 as the chief diplomatic correspondent in Europe. In this role, he covers the European Union, NATO, the war in Ukraine, and transatlantic relations.
Notable Coverage
Throughout his career, Erlanger has reported on major geopolitical events, including the dissolution of the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia, the expansion of NATO and the European Union, the wars in the Balkans, the Arab Spring, the Russian annexation of Crimea (2014), and the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. His reporting frequently focuses on the intersection of diplomacy, defense policy, and institutional dynamics within the Western alliance.
Education
Erlanger graduated from Harvard College in 1974. He attended the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
Awards and Recognition
Erlanger was part of The New York Times team that won the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting for coverage of the global war on terror. He has also received the Overseas Press Club Award and the German Marshall Fund's Peter Weitz Prize for transatlantic reporting.
