Dean Wright earned the baccalaureate degree in 1970 and began his journalism career in Canada, working for several newspapers, including the Albertan, the London Free Press, and the Toronto Star. He served as national copy desk chief of the Louisville Courier Journal (1979–86) and as assistant arts and entertainment editor for the San Jose Mercury News (1986–99). The Mercury News was one of the first newspapers to go online. He helped to launch MSNBC.com’s news operations in the 1990s and went to AOL Time Warner, where he helped direct the integration into AOL of editorial content from Time Inc. magazines and worked on the project to transform Netscape’s browser into a media website. He then returned to MSNBC as editor in chief (2003–5), helping to launch MSNBC.com into the number one web news designation by developing the site’s original reporting.
In 2005 Wright was appointed the first senior vice president and managing editor for Reuters Consumer Services and in July 2008 was appointed Reuters’ global editor for ethics, innovation, and news values. At Reuters, he brought the world of blogging closer to mainstream media by forging an alliance with Global Voices Online, an international network of bloggers coordinated through the Berkman Center at Harvard. Reuters provided core funding for Global Voices Online and made material from Global Voices available through its websites.