Michael Schaffer is the recently appointed fourth editor in Washingtonian's 49-year history. Schaffer joined the New Republic in 2012 and played a large role in its redesign and increased online operations. He was editor of Washington City Paper from 2010 to 2012, and has also been a reporter at the Philadelphia Inquirer and U.S. News and World Report. He is the author of One Nation Under Dog, a 2009 book about Americans’ relationships with their canine companions. 

According to Julia Fisher ’09, one of Michael's mentees, “Mike has built his career around producing good, socially important stories told well—which I take to be close to the heart of what GDS instills in its students. He is an admirable mentor who goes out of his way to encourage and foster young talent (I was a beneficiary of his kindness and wisdom), an upstanding Washingtonian, and a journalist who loves the written word and the effect it can have on a city he loves.” 

"Mike has built his career around producing good, socially important stories told well—which I take to be close to the heart of what GDS instills in its students."

Michael graduated from Columbia University with a degree in history. After college, he was as a Fulbright Scholar in Sri Lanka. As a child of foreign service officers, he lived in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.