Gary Lee is the Executive Editor of two Tulsa-based news publications, Tulsa Flyer and the Oklahoma Eagle. Lee is a veteran reporter and editor who has made impactful contributions to the mainstream media and the Black press. Lee has been a staff writer for Time magazine and a correspondent for the Washington Post. He was deputy chief of Time’s Bureau in Germany and chief of the Washington Post Bureau in Moscow, Russia.

Early in his career, Gary explored “news that does not come out of the typical centers of power.” He has written about the cultures of more than forty U.S. states and ninety countries — from Maine to Hawaii and Afghanistan to Wales. In 2024, the National Association of Black Journalists selected Lee as the annual Journalist of Distinction, one of the organization’s top honors. Lee was twice nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for coverage of Russia. After notable coverage of 9/11, Lee was awarded the Lowell Thomas Award for excellence in travel journalism.

Lee has led the Oklahoma Eagle to win multiple awards, including over two dozen first-place prizes from the Oklahoma Press Association. In 2023, Lee was awarded the Ray Lokey Award, an annual prize given to one of the top writers in Oklahoma.

Lee is a native of Tulsa, Oklahoma. A Russian language and literature scholar, Lee also speaks German, French, and Spanish. Lee also writes and ghostwrites books and is head of Andes International, an organization dedicated to improving equity for immigrants and people of color through training and employment opportunities.

Lee briefed National Press Foundation fellows in April 2026: The Tulsa Local News Initiative: Amplifying the Whole Community.