Dan Froomkin
Encyclopedia
Dan Froomkin is the Senior Washington Correspondent for the Huffington Post. His work is now collected here. He previously wrote a column for the online version of The Washington Post
called White House Watch.
On June 18, 2009 it was reported that his blog would cease to exist and his employment at The Washington Post was terminated. In July, 2009, he was hired by the Huffington Post.
In 1997 he joined washingtonpost.com as a senior producer for politics. From 2001 to 2003, he was editor of washingtonpost.com. His column launched on January 12, 2004. In a career in journalism spanning over 20 years, he has also worked at The Winston-Salem Journal, The Miami Herald
, and The Orange County Register
. He was a Michigan Journalism Fellow and editor of new media for Education Week
.
Froomkin's brother is University of Miami Law Professor Michael Froomkin, a prominent blogger who writes on Florida politics and the law.
-related items from news Web sites, blogs and other sources, in which he "scrutinizes" what people in the White House are doing "with an attitude". Before the end of January 2007, it was entitled White House Briefing.
Deborah Howell
observes that the print newspaper The Washington Post
and the website washingtonpost.com are two different entities; although "The Post Web site is owned by the Washington Post Co....it is not run by the newspaper. It is a separate company called Washington Post-Newsweek Interactive, or WPNI, with offices in Arlington." Whereas "The Post provides the vast majority of the Web site's content...the Web site has its own staff of 65 editorial employees and its own features.... [Moreover,] [t]here are cultural differences between the two newsrooms, which could be expected between a traditional newspaper and the more free-wheeling Web site....The two Posts interact every day. Post reporters and editors often participate in online chats (about 50 hours a week) and there is a Continuous News Desk at The Post in charge of feeding the Web site."
Howell states that
There was some support from reader for Froomkin in editorial correspondence about the matter.
On January 30, 2007, White House Briefing was renamed White House Watch.
hosted by the Nieman Foundation for Journalism
at Harvard University
that, according to his account of it, "seeks to encourage more informed reporting by soliciting probing questions from experts."
In his last column, posted on June 26, 2009, Froomkin wrote:
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
called White House Watch.
On June 18, 2009 it was reported that his blog would cease to exist and his employment at The Washington Post was terminated. In July, 2009, he was hired by the Huffington Post.
Personal history and career
Froomkin was raised in Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
In 1997 he joined washingtonpost.com as a senior producer for politics. From 2001 to 2003, he was editor of washingtonpost.com. His column launched on January 12, 2004. In a career in journalism spanning over 20 years, he has also worked at The Winston-Salem Journal, The Miami Herald
The Miami Herald
The Miami Herald is a daily newspaper owned by The McClatchy Company headquartered on Biscayne Bay in the Omni district of Downtown Miami, Florida, United States...
, and The Orange County Register
The Orange County Register
The Orange County Register is a daily newspaper published in Santa Ana, California. The Register is the flagship publication of Freedom Communications, Inc., which publishes 28 daily newspapers, 23 weekly newspapers, Coast magazine, and several related Internet sites.The Register is notable for its...
. He was a Michigan Journalism Fellow and editor of new media for Education Week
Education Week
Education Week is a United States national newspaper covering K-12 education. It is published by Editorial Projects in Education , a non-profit organization, which is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland...
.
Froomkin's brother is University of Miami Law Professor Michael Froomkin, a prominent blogger who writes on Florida politics and the law.
White House Watch
Froomkin's column White House Watch was a critical daily anthology of White HouseWhite House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
-related items from news Web sites, blogs and other sources, in which he "scrutinizes" what people in the White House are doing "with an attitude". Before the end of January 2007, it was entitled White House Briefing.
From White House Briefing to White House Watch
In her editorial "The Two Washington Posts", published on December 11, 2005, Washington Post OmbudsmanOmbudsman
An ombudsman is a person who acts as a trusted intermediary between an organization and some internal or external constituency while representing not only but mostly the broad scope of constituent interests...
Deborah Howell
Deborah Howell
Deborah Howell was a long-time newswoman and editor who served for three years as the ombudsman for The Washington Post.Howell is a Board Member In Memoriam at the IWMF ....
observes that the print newspaper The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
and the website washingtonpost.com are two different entities; although "The Post Web site is owned by the Washington Post Co....it is not run by the newspaper. It is a separate company called Washington Post-Newsweek Interactive, or WPNI, with offices in Arlington." Whereas "The Post provides the vast majority of the Web site's content...the Web site has its own staff of 65 editorial employees and its own features.... [Moreover,] [t]here are cultural differences between the two newsrooms, which could be expected between a traditional newspaper and the more free-wheeling Web site....The two Posts interact every day. Post reporters and editors often participate in online chats (about 50 hours a week) and there is a Continuous News Desk at The Post in charge of feeding the Web site."
Howell states that
- John Harris, national political editor at the print Post, said, "The title invites confusion. It dilutes our only asset—our credibility" as objective news reporters. Froomkin writes the kind of column "that we would never allow a White House reporter to write. I wish it could be done with a different title and display."
- Harris is right; some readers do think Froomkin is a White House reporter. But Froomkin works only for the Web site and is very popular—and [Executive Editor of the website Jim] Brady is not going to fool with that, though he is considering changing the column title and supplementing it with a conservative blogger.
- Froomkin said he is "happy to consider other ways to telegraph to people that I'm not a Post White House reporter. I do think that what I'm doing, namely scrutinizing the White House's every move—with an attitude—is in the best traditions of American and Washington Post journalism."
- On the other hand, Chris Cillizza, a washingtonpost.com political reporter, appears in The Post frequently. When he writes for the paper, he works for Harris, who is happy to have him.
There was some support from reader for Froomkin in editorial correspondence about the matter.
On January 30, 2007, White House Briefing was renamed White House Watch.
Nieman Watchdog: Questions the press should ask
Froomkin is also deputy editor of Nieman Watchdog: Questions the press should ask, a blogBlog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
hosted by the Nieman Foundation for Journalism
Nieman Foundation for Journalism
The Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University is the primary journalism institution at Harvard. It was founded in 1938 as the result of a $1 million bequest by Agnes Wahl Nieman, the widow of Lucius W. Nieman, founder of The Milwaukee Journal...
at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
that, according to his account of it, "seeks to encourage more informed reporting by soliciting probing questions from experts."
Firing from the Washington Post
On June 18, 2009, it was reported that Froomkin was being fired by the Washington Post. Froomkin confirmed this in a June 19 entry on White House Watch: "As Washington Post ombudsman Andy Alexander and others reported yesterday, The Washington Post has terminated my contract. So sometime in late June or early July, I'll be writing my last blog post here."In his last column, posted on June 26, 2009, Froomkin wrote:
- When I look back on the Bush years, I think of the lies. There were so many. Lies about the war and lies to cover up the lies about the war. Lies about torture and surveillance. Lies about Valerie Plame. Vice President Dick Cheney's lies, criminally prosecutable but for his chief of staff Scooter Libby's lies. I also think about the extraordinary and fundamentally cancerous expansion of executive power that led to violations of our laws and our principles.
- And while this wasn't as readily apparent until President Obama took office, it's now very clear that the Bush years were all about kicking the can down the road – either ignoring problems or, even worse, creating them and not solving them. This was true of a huge range of issues including the economy, energy, health care, global warming – and of course Iraq and Afghanistan.
- How did the media cover it all? Not well. Reading pretty much everything that was written about Bush on a daily basis, as I did, one could certainly see the major themes emerging. But by and large, mainstream-media journalism missed the real Bush story for way too long. The handful of people who did exceptional investigative reporting during this era really deserve our gratitude: People such as Ron Suskind, Seymour HershSeymour HershSeymour Myron Hersh is an American Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist and author based in Washington, D.C. He is a regular contributor to The New Yorker magazine on military and security matters...
, Jane Mayer, Murray WaasMurray WaasMurray S. Waas is an American freelance investigative journalist known most recently for his coverage of the White House planning for the 2003 invasion of Iraq and ensuing controversies and American political scandals such as the Plame affair...
, Michael Massing, Mark Danner, Barton Gellman and Jo Becker, James Risen and Eric Lichtblau (better late than never), Dana Priest, Walter Pincus, Charlie Savage and Philippe Sands.
External links
- Nieman Watchdog:Questions the press should ask Blog hosted by the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University edited by Dan Froomkin.
- The Washington Post official website.
- White House Watch Dan Froomkin's column and blog hosted by Washingtonpost/Newsweek Interactive.
- About White House Watch.
- Dan Froomkin's personal website.
- Archive of posts at Huffington Post