David Folkenflik
David Folkenflik was described by Geraldo Rivera of Fox News as "a really weak-kneed, backstabbing, sweaty-palmed reporter." Others have been kinder. The Columbia Journalism Review, for example, once gave him a "laurel" for reporting that immediately led the U.S. military to institute safety measures for journalists in Baghdad.
Based in New York City, Folkenflik serves as NPR's media correspondent.
His stories and analyses are broadcast on the network's newsmagazines, such as All Things Considered, Morning Edition, and Here & Now, and are featured on NPR's website and mobile platforms. Folkenflik's reports cast light on the stories of our age, the figures who shape journalism, and the tectonic shifts affecting the news industry. Folkenflik has reported intently on the relationship between the press, politicians, and the general public, as well as the fight over the flow of information in the age of Trump. Folkenflik brought listeners the profile of a Las Vegas columnist who went bankrupt fending off a libel lawsuit from his newspaper's new owner; conducted the first interview with New York Times executive editor Dean Baquet after his appointment; and repeatedly broke news involving the troubled Tronc company, which owns some of the most important regional newspapers in the country. In early 2018, Folkenflik's exposé about the past workplace behavior of the CEO of the Los Angeles Times forced the executive's immediate ouster from that job and helped inspire the sale of the newspaper.
Folkenflik is the author of Murdoch's World: The Last of the Old Media Empires. The Los Angeles Times called Murdoch's World "meaty reading... laced with delicious anecdotes" and the Huffington Post described it as "the gift that keeps on giving." Folkenflik is also editor of Page One: Inside the New York Times and the Future of Journalism. His work has appeared in such publications as the Washington Post, Politico Magazine, Newsweek International, the National Post of Canada, and the Australian Financial Review. Business Insider has called Folkenflik one of the 50 most influential people in American media.
Folkenflik joined NPR in 2004 after more than a decade at the Baltimore Sun, where he covered higher education, national politics, and the media. He started his professional career at the Durham Herald-Sun in North Carolina. Folkenflik served as editor-in-chief at the Cornell Daily Sun and graduated from Cornell with a bachelor's degree in history.
A five-time winner of the Arthur Rowse Award for Press Criticism from the National Press Club, Folkenflik has received numerous other recognitions, including the inaugural 2002 Mongerson Award for Investigative Reporting on the News and top honors from the National Headliners. In 2018, the Society of Professional Journalists recognized Folkenflik with its 2018 Ethics in Journalism Award. In 2017, Penn State University named Folkenflik as the nation's leading media critic with the Bart Richards Award. He also served as the inaugural Irik Sevin Fellow at Cornell. Folkenflik frequently lectures at college campuses and civic organizations across the country and often appears as a media analyst for television and radio programs in the U.S., the U.K., Canada, Australia, and Ireland.
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Analysts and reporters focused on the dip in optimism from the election four years ago. But at virtually no point did they appear to entertain the idea that President Obama may have won voters' trust on a personal level, identified policies that voters found appealing, or notched any worthwhile accomplishments. -
The final presidential debate left many viewers scratching their heads. It's not that the candidates invoked unimportant issues. It's not that the two held so elevated a conversation mere mortals could not understand. It's that they were debating almost entirely in tone rather than content. -
The magazine's editor, Tina Brown, announced that Newsweek will abandon print in 2013. Brown's weekly printed magazine could not compensate for plummeting circulation and advertising amid a 24-7, digitally driven news cycle and will reformulate for a paying audience on tablets and online. -
Pundits fretted that the town hall format for Tuesday's presidential exchange would yield tepid results: undecided voters posing questions with little more than a passing touch from the moderator. The media's storyline quickly shifted, however, from the pressure facing the president after the previous debate to his more energetic performance. -
With guns blazing, Martha Raddatz took over the reins of Thursday's vice presidential debate and never let go. While Vice President Biden and GOP Rep. Paul Ryan engaged in an intense face-off, Raddatz kept the debate moving, ultimately becoming the one uncontested winner of the evening. -
Jim Lehrer was slammed for losing control of last week's presidential debate, and Martha Raddatz is confronting criticism in the lead-up to Thursday's VP battle. But how much control can a moderator exert over ambitious and strong-willed candidates, especially when the stakes are so high? -
There was plenty of media spin and punditry in Wednesday's debate, not just in Denver but on Twitter. The candidates appeared to be lacking in real zingers. Instead, it turns out the real conversation was happening through social media. -
At his new venture, The Blaze, Beck has far fewer audience members soaking in his commentary than he did at Fox News. But the numbers don't tell the whole story. Fox helped amplify Beck's voice, whereas now, Beck projects his message on his own terms.
