Dave Weigel | |
---|---|
Born | |
Nationality | American |
Education | Journalism and political science major |
Alma mater | Northwestern University B.S. (2004) |
Occupation(s) | Journalist, blogger |
Years active | 6 |
Employer | MSNBC ("exclusive contributor") |
Website | daveweigel |
David Weigel (b. September 26, 1981) is an American journalist and political commentator based in Washington, D.C.. He became a contributor for MSNBC in late June 2010.[2][3] From April through June of 2010 he wrote a weblog for The Washington Post website focusing on the conservative and tea party movements and the Republican Party's preparations for the 2010 midterm elections.[4][5] Weigel resigned from the Post following the leak of several emails he had written on a private listserv that were critical of prominent right wing figures and the conservative movement.[6][7] He wrote for the The Washington Independent from November 2008 until early 2010.
He is a contributing editor of the libertarian Reason magazine and was one of their staffer political writers from 2006 to 2008.[8] Weigel also served as an assistant at USA Today 's editorial page and as a reporter for Campaigns & Elections.[8] Weigel's work has appeared in numerous publications including Slate, Time.com, The Guardian, The American Prospect, The American Conservative, The American Spectator, The Washington Monthly, Politico, and The Nation.[9]
Early years and education
Weigel was born and raised in Wilmington, Delaware and attended high school in England, graduating from the American Community School in Cobham, on the London commuter belt, in 2000.[10][1] He received a Bachelor of Science degree in 2004 from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, with a double major in journalism and political science and a minor in history.[11][8] While at college, Weigel wrote for The Daily Northwestern and was editor-in-chief of the campus conservative newspaper Northwestern Chronicle.[1] He described his interests as including politics and far right and far left radicalism.[1] Weigel was mentioned in a 2006 New York Times article about bloggers who roomed together. At that time, he shared a house with fellow Reason.com writer Julian Sanchez that they had dubbed "Casa de Libertarios."[12] He presently lives in the Columbia Heights neighborhood of Washington, DC.[8][9]
Career
Weigel began his professional career as an editorial assistant and researcher for USA Today's editorial page and as a reporter for Campaigns & Elections. He has contributed articles to Slate, The Guardian, The American Prospect, The American Spectator, The Washington Monthly, The American Conservative, Politico, and The Nation. He has appeared on NPR's Fresh Air and MSNBC's The Rachel Maddow Show.[13] Weigel has also blogged for The Economist's "Democracy in America" blog, and guest-blogged for Andrew Sullivan's "Daily Dish" blog.[14]
Weigel wrote for the libertarian online magazine, Reason from 2006 to 2008, covering, among other things, the conservative movement and Ron Paul's 2008 presidential campaign.[4] He remains a contributing editor.[8]
Weigel wrote frequently at the Washington Independent between 2008 and 2010 and was one of the "best sourced" reporters there, according to Michael Calderone of Politico.[4]
He then took a job writing the "Right Now" column on the The Washington Post website focusing on aspects of the conservative movement. Weigel told Politico that "If readers get a deeper understanding of these people, their strategy, and their ideas, then I'm doing my job."[4] The national editor of The Washington Post said Weigel was hired to add a voice to the paper's online politics coverage.[4] Howard Kurtz of the Washington Post said the online columns are supposed to contain a mixture of reporting and opinion.[5]
Weigel was criticized by conservatives for tweets that he made on May 2, 2010 that disparaged news compiler Matt Drudge,[15] and that called opponents of same-sex marriage "bigots". Penny Nance of Concerned Women for America responded that Weigel's "arrogance disqualifies him as a serious journalist assigned to covering conservatives."[16] Politics Daily noted that Washington Post guidelines require Post journalists to "refrain from writing, tweeting or posting anything ... that could be perceived as reflecting political, racial, sexist, religious or other bias or favoritism that could be used to tarnish our journalistic credibility."[16] Weigel apologized on May 3, admitting his bias against people who actively work to ban gay marriage.[17]
Controversy, resignation and new job
In late June 2010, excerpts of several of Weigel's private emails from the center-left JournoList were posted online by the website Fishbowl DC[18] and later by Tucker Carlson's conservative news site, The Daily Caller.[19][6] JournoList had been started in 2007 by Ezra Klein[5] as an invitation-only discussion and debate forum for bloggers and reporters.[7] The excerpts of Weigel's archived emails contained negative remarks about various public figures associated with American conservatism such as Pat Buchanan, Matt Drudge, Newt Gingrich and Rush Limbaugh as well as being critical of the way many news outlets cover the more fringe elements and so-called "grassroots" members of American conservatism.[6] Weigel said all of the emails were sent before he joined the Washington Post.[5] He apologized on line before the second round of email excerpts was published on the Tucker Carlson site, explaining that he had thought the off-the-record listserv environment was a place where he could "talk bluntly to friends".[20] However, the WaPo ombudsman said the apology could not save his job because "the damage was too severe".[21] Jim Geraghty of the National Review Online, hinted at another reason for the dismissal, saying "there was definitely a perception that his blog was designed to make conservatives look bad."[5]
As a result of the leaked emails, Weigel resigned from the Washington Post and Ezra Klein shut down JournoList.[7][22][19] The executive editor of The Washington Post said the paper "can’t have any tolerance for the perception that people are conflicted or bring a bias to their work.”[7] Journalist Marc Ambinder of the Atlantic said Weigel was forced to resign under an "old media", "non-ideological standard that just doesn’t exist".[7] In closing down JournoList, Klein said it had "become a weapon, and insofar as people's careers are now at stake, it has to die."[7] Describing Weigel as "an idiosyncratic libertarian who likes some politicians and media figures, and not others", Klein said that Weigel's "likes and dislikes do not fall neatly across party lines."[22] Remarking that leaked information can show only a partial, cherry picked truth, and that it can be just plain wrong, Klein said that if other emails had been chosen, Weigel could have been made to look like a conservative extremist.[22]
On June 28, Weigel did a segment on Keith Olbermann's show, which was followed by Olbermann's announcement that Weigel had joined MSNBC as a news contributor.[3]
References
- ^ a b c d "Chronicle staff: David Weigel, Bio". Northwestern Chronicle.
- ^ http://www.mediaite.com/online/from-washington-post-to-nbcu-dave-weigel-joins-msnbc-as-paid-contributor/
- ^ a b Steve Krakauer (June 28, 2010). "From Washington Post To NBCU: Dave Weigel Joins MSNBC As Paid Contributor". Mediaite. Retrieved June 29, 2010.
- ^ a b c d e Calderone, Michael (March 22, 2010). "WaPo hires Weigel". Politico. Retrieved June 25, 2010.
- ^ a b c d e Kurtz, Howard (June 26, 2010). "Washington Post blogger David Weigel resigns after messages leak". Washington Post. Retrieved June 27, 2010.
- ^ a b c Hagey, Keach (June 25, 2010). "David Weigel resigns". Politico. Retrieved June 25, 2010.
- ^ a b c d e f Washbrook, Cyril (June 27, 2010). "US: WaPo blogger resigns after leak". The Spy Report. Media Spy. Retrieved June 27, 2010.
- ^ a b c d e "Dave Weigel: Contributing Editor". Reason Magazine. Retrieved June 27, 2010.
- ^ a b "About Dave Weigel". DaveWeigel.com. Retrieved June 27, 2010.
- ^ Dave Weigel's Facebook page
- ^ "CV: David Weigel". DaveWeigel.com. Retrieved June 26, 2010.
- ^ Parker, Ashley (March 9, 2008). "Washington Doesn't Sleep Here". The New York Times. Retrieved October 31, 2009.
- ^ "'The Rachel Maddow Show' for Tuesday, July 21" (Transcript). July 21, 2009. Retrieved October 31, 2009.
- ^ Holmes, Elizabeth (August 31, 2006). "No Day at the Beach:Bloggers Struggle With What to Do About Vacation". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved June 27, 2010.
- ^ Harper, Jennifer (May 3, 2010). "Drudge Smudge". Inside the Beltway. The Washington Times. Retrieved June 29, 2010.
- ^ a b Lewis, Matt (2010-05-04). "Washington Post Reporter's 'Bigots' Tweet Criticized by Right". Politics Daily. Retrieved 2010-06-25.
- ^ Weigel, David (May 3, 2010). "Covering same-sex marriage". Right Now. The Washington Post. Retrieved June 25, 2010.
- ^ Rothstein, Betsy (June 24, 2010). "WaPo's Weigel Lets Loose With Scathing E-mails on Liberal Listserv". Fishbowl DC. Retrieved June 28, 2010.
- ^ a b Klein, Ezra (June 25, 2010). "On Journolist, and Dave Weigel". The Washington Post. Retrieved June 27, 2010.
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(help) - ^ Weigel, David. "An apology to my readers". Washington Post. Retrieved June 27, 2010.
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: Text "date-June 24, 2010" ignored (help) - ^ Alexander, Andrew (June 25, 2010). "Blogger loses job; Post loses standing among conservatives". Washington Post. Retrieved June 27, 2010.
- ^ a b c Klein, Ezra (June 25, 2010). "The Pitfalls of Leaks". The Washington Post. Retrieved June 27, 2010.
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External links
- David Weigel: The Remaking Of The Right, (audio), Fresh Air, NPR September 2009.
- Olbermann, Weigel Discuss Tea Bags and Captain America, The Washington Independent, February 13, 2010.
- Why the Right Wanted David Weigel Out, The Atlantic Wire, June 25, 2010.