David Martosko

David Martosko
Born David Matthew Martosko
(1970-05-25) May 25, 1970
Parma, Ohio, U.S.
Residence Burke, Virginia
Alma mater
Occupation Journalist

David Martosko is the U.S. political editor at DailyMail.com, the website of the British tabloid newspaper The Daily Mail. He was previously executive editor at The Daily Caller, and a senior strategist at the public affairs firm Berman and Company.[1]

Early life

Martosko was born in Parma, Ohio and attended St. Ignatius High School in Cleveland. He studied at Dartmouth College, graduating with a bachelor's degree in 1991.[2] He later earned a master's degree in orchestral conducting from the Johns Hopkins University's conservatory of music, the Peabody Institute.

Martosko told AdWeek in 2013 that his first journalism job was "summer photo editor and an occasional arts critic" at The Dartmouth, a college newspaper. He also said his other jobs have included "singing telegram deliveryman, opera conductor, church music director, HTML coder, junior advertising art director, digital printing artist, talk radio producer, Senate campaign staffer, PR research director [and] classroom instructor.[3]

Career

Martosko is DailyMail.com's chief U.S. political correspondent and a member of the White House press corps, and covered the 2016 presidential campaigns of Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. He teaches an Online Journalism Workshop at the Leadership Institute in Virginia[4] and was an on-air contributor with Sun News Network in Canada from 2012 to 2015.

Public relations

Martosko was a senior strategist at Berman and Company from 2001 to 2011, serving as research director and spokesman for the Center for Consumer Freedom (later renamed the Center for Organizational Research and Education), a nonprofit organization founded by the firm's president Richard Berman. His work was focused at various times on the animal rights movement, seafood and health, and nutrition.

Martosko testified about the Animal Liberation Front and Earth Liberation Front in a May 18, 2005 hearing of the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, describing them as "domestic terrorists who start fires, detonate bombs, threaten innocent lives and stalk their targets."[5][6] In 2008 the U.S. Department of Homeland Security cited that testimony in a law enforcement bulletin called a "Universal adversary threat assessment," later released by Wikileaks. Martosko acknowledged in March 2013 that his work researching the animal rights movement included posing as an activist on Facebook to gather intelligence.[7] He defended the work in a comment to Mother Jones magazine: "Activists in the animal rights movement have spent decades posing as everything from medical lab workers to farmhands—both online and in person—in order to gather information about their investigative targets."[8] Martosko appeared in a 2004 episode of the documentary TV series "Penn & Teller: Bullshit!" criticizing People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).[9] His research led to the creation of a website hosting the organization's annual state regulatory filings that show it euthanizes a large majority of the dogs and cats in its care.[10]

In November 2010 Martosko chaired a session about health risks from mercury at the International Seafood and Health Conference in Melbourne, Australia.[11] There he promoted a paper that linked U.S. government warnings about tuna with lower IQs among children born to poor women of color, attributing the outcomes to a lack of omega-3 fatty acids in the women's diets while pregnant.[12]

Coverage of Donald Trump

Martosko was part of the DailyMail.com team that exposed accusations of spousal abuse against Rob Porter, the White House staff secretary who was dismissed from his job following a pair of stories in February 2018.[13]

According to Politico, "During the 2016 campaign, [Martosko] was perhaps the most prolific reporter" who covered Trump.[14] He interviewed the future president repeatedly during the campaign.

Trump shouted at him to "sit down" following a question in one 2016 press conference about his position on same-sex marriage.[15] But when Martosko asked Trump during another press conference if he would continue to attack political reporters as president by "calling us 'losers' to our faces,"[16] he replied: "Not all of you. Just many of you – not you, David, actually."[17]

Washington Post political reporter Jenna Johnson called Martosko "Trump's de facto comms director"[18] during the weeks before the 2016 Republican National Convention, but said an hour later that she was "very sorry about the jab."[19]

Hillary Clinton press pool incident

On June 15, 2015, Martosko was the designated print "pool" reporter tasked with following Hillary Clinton around New Hampshire for the day, filing reports for the benefit of other news outlets. Clinton's team refused to let him board the press van.[20]

Martosko followed Clinton's motorcade throughout the day, filing pool reports that described how he was denied access at each stop. One report claimed that at a campaign event, a Secret Service agent denied him access to both Clinton's speech and a bathroom at a YMCA, telling him: "Hit the woods."[21]

Campaign press secretary Nick Merrill responded that Clinton's team would "do our best to find equilibrium and best accommodate interest from as many news outlets as possible, given the space limitations of our events."[22]

The other 13 news organizations participating in the pool, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, Politico, The Wall Street Journal and The Boston Globe, issued a joint statement criticizing the Clinton campaign and saying that "any attempt by the campaign to dictate who is in the pool is unacceptable."[23]

Earlier in the campaign, Clinton campaign Vice Chairwoman Huma Abedin had written to the campaign's senior staff that Martosko was "officially the most intrepid reporter thus far."[24] Abedin's comment came in an email stolen from Clinton campaign Chairman John Podesta, later released by Wikileaks.

Consideration to serve as White House Press Secretary

On December 13, 2016, Martosko attended meetings at Trump Tower[25] in New York City, leading to speculation that he might become then-President-Elect Donald Trump's White House Press Secretary. Martosko later confirmed that he had been under consideration, saying he was "honored to be asked for a meeting."[26]

Trump spoke with Martosko about the position again in June 2017. CNN reported that the topic arose during a meeting in the Oval Office where Martosko asked the president to participate in a book project.[27] Martosko withdrew from consideration within days, saying in a public statement that "I have chosen not to take the discussions further."[28]

References

  1. ↑ Burnley, Malcolm (16 February 2017). "The Mystery of David Martosko". Politico.
  2. ↑ "David Martosko '91 | Department of Music". music.dartmouth.edu. Retrieved 2018-04-04.
  3. ↑ "The FishbowlDC Interview With Daily Mail's David Martosko". Retrieved 2018-04-05.
  4. ↑ "Online Journalism School". www.leadershipinstitute.org. Retrieved 2018-04-05.
  5. ↑ "- ECO-TERRORISM SPECIFICALLY EXAMINING THE EARTH LIBERATION FRONT AND THE ANIMAL LIBERATION FRONT". www.gpo.gov. Retrieved 2018-04-05.
  6. ↑ "Wayback Machine" (PDF). 2007-11-29. Retrieved 2018-04-05.
  7. ↑ "Controversial Daily Caller Editor Admitted to Posing As Radical Animal Rights Activist". Mother Jones. Retrieved 2018-04-05.
  8. ↑ "Controversial Daily Caller Editor Admitted to Posing As Radical Animal Rights Activist". Mother Jones. Retrieved 2018-04-05.
  9. ↑ "David Martosko". IMDb. Retrieved 2018-04-05.
  10. ↑ "PETA Kills Animals". PETA Kills Animals. Retrieved 2018-04-05.
  11. ↑ "International Seafood and Health Conference" (PDF). 2018-11-07. Retrieved 2018-04-05.
  12. ↑ "Wayback Machine" (PDF). 2012-06-08. Retrieved 2018-04-05.
  13. ↑ "Hope Hicks' boyfriend Rob Porter resigns after abuse claims". Mail Online. Retrieved 2018-04-05.
  14. ↑ "The Mystery of David Martosko". POLITICO Magazine. Retrieved 2018-04-05.
  15. ↑ "Donald Trump Tells Reporter 'Sit Down' for Asking About Marriage Equality". 2016-03-06. Retrieved 2018-04-05.
  16. ↑ "Reporters grill Donald Trump during testy press conference: 'You seem to be resistant to this kind of scrutiny'". Business Insider. Retrieved 2018-04-05.
  17. ↑ "Trump Presser 7". C-SPAN.org. Retrieved 2018-04-05.
  18. ↑ "Jenna Johnson on Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved 2018-04-05.
  19. ↑ "Jenna Johnson on Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved 2018-04-05.
  20. ↑ "Why the Clinton campaign blocked a Daily Mail reporter from getting on its van". Vox. Retrieved 2018-04-05.
  21. ↑ "Clinton campaign denies access to pool reporter". POLITICO. Retrieved 2018-04-05.
  22. ↑ "Clinton campaign denies access to pool reporter". POLITICO. Retrieved 2018-04-05.
  23. ↑ "Press protests Clinton campaign ban". Retrieved 2018-04-05.
  24. ↑ "Re: Takes the cake.... - WikiLeaks". Retrieved 2018-04-05.
  25. ↑ "Daily Mail U.S. political editor interviewed for Trump position". POLITICO. Retrieved 2018-04-05.
  26. ↑ "The Mystery of David Martosko". POLITICO Magazine. Retrieved 2018-04-05.
  27. ↑ Byers, Dylan. "White House-media relations at breaking point as Spicer searches for replacement". CNNMoney. Retrieved 2018-04-05.
  28. ↑ Greenwood, Max (2017-06-20). "Daily Mail editor pulls out of talks for White House job". TheHill. Retrieved 2018-04-05.
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