Colonel William A. Phillips

Theo Baker (born 2004 or 2005) is an American investigative journalist for The Stanford Daily, the student newspaper of Stanford University.^[1] In 2023, he became the youngest recipient of the George Polk Award for his reporting that led to the resignation of Stanford president Marc Tessier-Lavigne.^[1][2]

Reporting

As a freshman reporter at The Stanford Daily, Baker began publishing stories in November 2022 about accusations that Stanford president Marc Tessier-Lavigne had altered images used in research papers, leading to a formal investigation from the university.^[3][4] Baker learned about the accusations through the scientific review website PubPeer and brought them to scientific integrity expert Elisabeth Bik.^[3] A lawyer representing Tessier-Lavigne sent letters to Baker, describing his reporting as "replete with falsehoods".^[5]

In July 2023, the final university report found that Tessier-Lavigne's research "fell below customary standards of scientific rigor and process" but did not constitute fraud.^[6] Baker subsequently published another story that the investigating panel did not grant some witnesses anonymity, so they were unable to testify because of active non-disclosure agreements.^[3] Tessier-Lavigne announced his resignation as Stanford's president on July 19, 2023, with multiple major news outlets, including The New York Times and The Washington Post, characterizing it as a direct result of The Stanford Daily stories.^[6][7]

In late March 2024, an article by Baker, titled 'The War at Stanford,' was published in The Atlantic.^[8] The article discussed the response of Stanford University to the October 7 Attack, arguing that the attack was not adequately condemned. Similarly, Baker asserted that pro-Palestine students' rhetoric led to antisemitism and created a culture of fear for Jews on campus.^[8] The article also mentioned an instance where a Stanford student allegedly advocated for violence against President Biden,^[9] an action some, like journalist Glenn Greenwald, denounced as a form of doxxing.^[10] The article was criticized by others on the basis of its portrayal of student protestors, alleging a biased narrative ignoring islamophobia and the plight of Palestinians.^[11] Jonathan Chait later published a piece in New York Magazine responding to this criticism, suggesting progressive attacks were motivated by viewpoint outside the mainstream and that critics were espousing "illiberal left-wing thought."^[12]

Awards

In February 2023, The Stanford Daily received one of the 2022 George Polk Awards for its reporting on Tessier-Lavigne, the first time an independent, student-run newspaper has won the award.^[13][14] The Polk Awards gave Baker a "Special Award", making him the youngest ever Polk awardee.^[1][14] He has also received a James Madison Freedom of Information Award from the Northern California Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.^[2]

Personal life

Baker is from the Washington, D.C., area^[3] and is the son of journalists Peter Baker and Susan Glasser.^[15] He is a graduate of Phillips Academy Andover.^[16]

Baker is often portrayed as a "nepo baby", benefitting from the status of his parents in the journalistic world.^[17] He denounced the criticisms, saying while he was fortunate to have good role models, he strived to keep his parent's influence "entirely separate" from his reporting.^[18] Baker told Teen Vogue that he had previously said he would never become a journalist but changed his mind to "feel connected to [his] late grandfather, who passed just two weeks before [he] started at Stanford, and who would always sit down and talk about his time doing student journalism."^[19]

References