Robert Cox Bio

Robert Cox is the Founder and President of the Media Bloggers Association, the largest association of bloggers and citizen journalists in the world. The Media Bloggers Association is a nonpartisan organization dedicated to promoting, protecting and educating its members, supporting the development of blogging or citizen journalism as a distinct form of media and helping to extend the power of the press, with all the rights and responsibilities that entails, to every citizen.

Under Cox's leadership the MBA has grown into a major force in the development of citizen media with a membership that includes many of the leading bloggers in the world. Cox and thirty co-founders formed the Media Bloggers Association in 2004 which today has more than 1,000 members (and growing) and spans the six continents.

Cox is perhaps most well known for orchestrating two of the most successful "blogstorms" ever - his successful year long campaign to change The New York Times Columnist Correction Policy for Op-Ed columnists such as Maureen Dowd and Tom Friedman and the Maine Blogger case where he developed and led a withering media campaign that compelled the State of Maine to order one if its contractors to drop a multi-million dollar Federal lawsuit against an MBA member. Cox regularly takes the lead role in defending MBA members from legal harassment by managing coordinated blog/media campaigns. The MBA also supports its members via pro bono attorneys who contribute their time to the MBA Legal Defense Initiative.

In 2004, Cox received international recognition for his work organizing the MBA's Tsunami Video Hosting Initiative through which the MBA served up millions of streams of video of the Christmas Tsunami shot by bloggers around the world in partnership with major web content providers such as Mirror Image and The Washington Post.

In 2005, Cox organized BlogNashville, the largest gathering of bloggers at the time - 400 bloggers attending dozens of events, spread over three days on two university campuses. Events included panel discussions, roundtables, education and training, parties, dinners and a daylong "BloggerCon" style conference on the last day. BlogNashville was featured on all three American cable news networks and received international media attention.

Cox's work on behalf of bloggers in Nepal, including the creation of the Radio Free Nepal blog was recognized by Reporters without Borders & Deutsche Welles with a nomination for its Freedom Blog Award as one of the top blogs defending free expression in Asia.

Cox has led the way in gaining access and privileges for bloggers normally reserved for members of the traditional press as well content distribution deals.

In 2006, he obtained approval for bloggers to be credentialed as media by the U.S. Judiciary. In 2007, 22 bloggers were credentialed through the MBA for the "Scooter" Libby Trial at the U.S. District Court in Washington, DC. Since. Later that same year the MBA managed blogger credentialing for two U.S. presidential debates (the Democrats at Howard University in DC; the Republicans at Morgan State University in Baltimore). Since then the MBA has developed blogger credentialing programs for numerous credentialing authorities as well as blogger access deals for movie screening with film companies, review copy programs with book publishers and other "access" deals.

Cox packaged blogger coverage of the Libby Trial for the Associated Press which distributed MBA member content to over 750 news web sites across the United States. Cox put together similar content packages for PBS for two presidential debates. Cox currently oversees The Ruckus, a group blog of more than three dozen MBA members produced in partnership with Washington Post Newsweek Interactive and published on Newsweek.com

Cox is a recognized thought-leader in the world of citizen media and a sought-after panelist, lecturer and corporate speaker. His work in obtaining media credentials for bloggers to cover the "Scooter" Libby Trial earned him a prominent placement in the "We Media" exhibit at the newly-opened Newseum in Washington, DC. He often appears to discuss journalism and new media in the context of blogging and citizen journalism. As a corporate speaker, he often shares insights based on his "blogstorm" experiences with business and trade associations, corporations, brand marketing companies and consumer products companies seeking to understand threats and opportunities in the blogosphere.

Cox has made speaking appearances at the Knight Center for Specialized Journalism, the National Press Club, the John F. Kennedy School at Harvard University, the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School, the First Amendment Center, the National Archives, the University of North Carolina's School of Journalism and Mass Communications, the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland, the University of Pennsylvania, the Knight Center, USA TODAY University, Johnson & Johnson Consumer Products, Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceuticals, USC Annenberg School for Communication and many other leading non-profit organizations, universities, and corporations. He has addressed the Society for Professional Journalists Annual Conventions in Chicago and DC as well as various local SPJ chapters, the Radio Television News Director Association/NAB Convention in Las Vegas and various local RTNDA events. He has appeared on numerous radio and television shows including MSNBC, Fox News, CNBC, BBC, NPR and CBS Radio and has been featured in stories in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The New York Daily News, Online Journalism Review, PBS.org and many other news publications.

Cox has written numerous Op-Eds and articles for publications including Newsweek, The San Francisco Chronicle, Congressional Quarterly, The Washington Examiner, and The Fort Worth Star-Telegram where his article "The best test of truth" for the paper's "American Voices Series" which was nominated for the American Bar Association's Silver Gavel Award in 2006.

Cox sits on a number of citizen media advisory boards including NewAssignment.net, Newstrust, Center for Media and Public Policy at The Heritage Foundation and others. In 2006, Cox helped developed the Poynter Institute's Guide to Ethics in Online Journalism and served on the sub-committee for User-Generated Content which issued its final report in 2007.

Cox, who first began blogging in 2002, gained notoriety as a blogger in 2004 when the New York Times sought to shut down his blog, The National Debate, over his parody of The Times' columnist correction policy. In what was one of the earliest "free speech" cases involving a blog, Cox prevailed and applied his experience to what later became the Media Bloggers Association.

Prior to attending business school at the University of Chicago, Cox worked on Wall Street. Since graduating from the Chicago GSB, Cox has provided strategy-consulting services to leading companies in North America, Europe and Asia. Cox spent three years creating and running a venture-financed startup Internet business and continues to consult to technology start-ups and serve on their corporate boards.

Cox received his B.A. from the University of Notre Dame and his M.B.A. from the University of Chicago's Graduate School of Business. He currently resides in New Rochelle, NY with his wife, an Associate Professor at Columbia University, and their four children.