Ezra Klein

Ezra Klein is an American journalist, blogger, and political commentator who co-founded Vox, where he is currently editor-at-large.[1][2] He was previously a blogger and columnist for The Washington Post and an associate editor of The American Prospect.[3] He has served as a contributor to Bloomberg News and MSNBC.

Ezra Klein
Klein in 2020
Born
Irvine, California, U.S.
Alma materUniversity of California, Los Angeles (BA)
Occupation
Employer
TitleEditor-at-Large, Vox
Political partyDemocratic
Spouse(s)
Annie Lowrey (m. 2011)
Children1
RelativesAbel Klein (father)

At The Washington Post, he managed a branded blog, Wonkblog, which featured his writing and the writing of other policy reporters. Issues discussed in the blog included health care and budget policy.[4] He wrote a primer on policy called Wonkbook, which was delivered by e-mail and on his blog each morning.

In January 2014, Klein left The Washington Post and co-founded Vox, a website for explanatory news owned by Vox Media.[5] He served as the editor-in-chief of Vox until September 2017, when he transitioned into his current role.[6] His debut book, Why We're Polarized, was published in January 2020.

Early life and education

Klein was raised in a Jewish family[7] in Irvine, California.[8] Klein is a middle child.[8] His father, Abel Klein, is a mathematics professor at University of California, Irvine, originally from Brazil; his mother is an artist.[8][9] After graduating from University High School, he initially attended the University of California, Santa Cruz but later transferred to the University of California, Los Angeles, from which he graduated in 2005 with a Bachelor of Arts in political science. While at UCSC, he applied to write for City on a Hill Press but was rejected.[10] He said school was never a great fit for him academically or socially.[11]

Career

Klein worked on Howard Dean's primary campaign in Vermont in 2003 and interned for the Washington Monthly in Washington, D.C., in 2004. "The media is as effective and important an agent for change as the legislative bodies, and I think it's where I'm happiest and most effective," Klein said.[12] In 2003, he and Markos Moulitsas were two of the earliest bloggers to report from a political convention, that of the California State Democratic Party.[13] In 2006, Klein was one of several writers pseudonymously flamed by The New Republic writer Lee Siegel (posting as a sock puppet called sprezzatura).[14]

On December 10, 2007, Klein moved his blog full-time to the American Prospect.[15]

Klein's prolific blogging caught the attention of Steve Pearlstein, The Washington Post's veteran business columnist. "I was blown away by how good he was—how much the kid wrote—on so many subjects," Pearlstein said. Pearlstein sent samples of Klein's work to managing editor Raju Narisetti. A few weeks after he heard from Pearlstein, Washington Post foreign correspondent John Pomfret asked Klein to have lunch with him and financial editor Sandy Sugawara. Narisetti hired Klein to be the Post's first pure blogger on politics and economics.[8] On May 18, 2009, he began writing at the newspaper.[16]

In May 2011, when Bloomberg View launched, Klein became a columnist there in addition to his work at The Washington Post and MSNBC.[17]

Klein announced he would be leaving The Washington Post in January 2014, with the intent to start a new media venture with several other veteran journalists.[18] The new media venture was later identified as the politics site Vox.[19] Klein had previously "proposed the creation of an independent, explanatory journalism website—with more than three dozen staffers" and an annual budget of more than US$10 million to remain at The Washington Post. During negotiations, Post publisher Katharine Weymouth and new owner Jeff Bezos did not make a counteroffer.[20]

Klein was editor-in-chief at Vox, now editor-at-large, and formerly wrote for and edited Wonkblog at The Washington Post. He frequently provides political commentary on MSNBC's The Rachel Maddow Show, Hardball with Chris Matthews, and The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell. He is a former contributor to Countdown with Keith Olbermann. On March 14, 2013, The Week magazine reported that Klein was among those being considered to host MSNBC's yet-unnamed 8 p.m. weekday prime-time show that would replace The Ed Show.[21] Ultimately, the time slot was filled with All In with Chris Hayes.

In October 2015, Klein, along with Sarah Kliff and Matt Yglesias, launched The Weeds, a Vox podcast of detailed discussions on public policy.[22] Klein also hosts the podcast The Ezra Klein Show.[23] Klein is an executive producer of Vox's Netflix series Explained, which debuted in 2018.[24][25]

In October 2019, Klein, along with other reporters from Vox Media, started the Impeachment, Explained podcast.[26]

Health care debate

In December 2009, Klein wrote an article in The Washington Post, stating that U.S. Senator Joe Lieberman was "willing to cause the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people in order to settle an old electoral score," because Lieberman "was motivated to oppose health care legislation in part out of resentment at liberals for being defeated in the 2006 Connecticut Democratic Primary."[27] Klein based his estimate on an Urban Institute report that estimated that 22,000 people died in 2006 because they lacked health insurance.[28] This article was criticized by Jonah Goldberg of the National Review, who called it a "silly claim."[29] Charles Lane, also of The Washington Post, described Klein's article as an "outrageous smear." But E. J. Dionne, also of The Washington Post, agreed with Klein's claim, saying that "Klein is right that there is not a shred of principle in Lieberman's opposition."[30] Klein later said he regretted the phrasing[31] and his position is that despite universal coverage, the social determinants of health are still powerful predictors that, on average, ensure the lower socioeconomic classes die sooner than those with more income and education.[32][33]

JournoList

In February 2007, Klein created a Google Groups forum called "JournoList" for discussing politics and the news media. The forum's membership was controlled by Klein and limited to "several hundred left-leaning bloggers, political reporters, magazine writers, policy wonks and academics."[34] Posts within JournoList were intended only to be made and read by its members.[35] Klein defended the forum saying that it "[ensures] that folks feel safe giving off-the-cuff analysis and instant reactions." JournoList member, and Time magazine columnist Joe Klein (no relation to Ezra Klein) added that the off-the-record nature of the forum was necessary because "candor is essential and can only be guaranteed by keeping these conversations private."[34]

The existence of JournoList was first publicly revealed in a July 27, 2007, blog post by blogger Mickey Kaus.[36] However, the forum did not attract serious attention until March 17, 2009, when an article published on Politico detailed the nature of the forum and the extent of its membership.[34] The Politico article set off debate within the blogosphere over the ethics of participating in JournoList and raised questions about its purpose. The first public excerpt of a discussion within JournoList was posted by Mickey Kaus on his blog on March 26, 2009.[37]

In addition to Ezra Klein, members of JournoList included, among others, Jeffrey Toobin, Eric Alterman, Paul Krugman, Joe Klein, Matthew Yglesias, and Jonathan Chait.

On June 25, 2010, Ezra Klein announced in his Washington Post blog that he would be terminating the JournoList group. This decision was instigated by fellow blogger Dave Weigel's resignation from the Post following the public exposure of several of his JournoList emails about conservative media figures.[38][39]

Klein had justified excluding conservative Republicans from participation as "not about fostering ideology but preventing a collapse into flame war. The emphasis is on empiricism, not ideology."[40]

Awards

In 2010, he was named Blogger of the Year by The Week magazine and The Sidney Hillman Foundation.[41][42] In 2011, he was named one of the 50 most powerful people in Washington, D.C., by GQ.[43] His blog was also named one of the 25 best financial blogs by Time magazine in 2011.[44] In 2013, Klein won the Online News Association Award for Best Online Commentary.[45] He also won the American Political Science Association's Carey McWilliams Award,[46] for "a major journalistic contribution to our understanding of politics." He appeared as one of 80 men featured in Esquire's 80th anniversary issue[47] and in a feature in T magazine.[48]

Personal life

Klein is married to Annie Lowrey,[49] an economic policy reporter at The Atlantic.[50] The couple lives in Oakland, California,[51] and they have one child, born six weeks preterm in February 2019.[52]

Bibliography
  • Why We're Polarized. Avid Reader Press. 2020. ISBN 978-1-4767-0032-8.[53]

References
  1. "The boy in the bubble". Columbia Journalism Review. Retrieved December 6, 2018.
  2. "Here Are The 5 Most Liberal And Conservative Media Twitter Feeds". Business Insider. Retrieved December 6, 2018.
  3. "Ezra Klein". Prospect.org. Retrieved August 8, 2016.
  4. "Down with the GVP!". Washington Post. April 7, 2010. Retrieved January 30, 2011.
  5. Marx, Greg. "Vox.com is going to be a great test of Ezra Klein's critique of journalism". Columbia Journalism Review. Retrieved August 21, 2018.
  6. Stelter, Brian (September 26, 2017). "Lauren Williams named editor in chief of Vox; Ezra Klein to be editor at large". CNNMoney. Retrieved December 6, 2019.
  7. "What Does It Mean To Be Jewish Today? What Do Jews Bring To The World?". Moment Magazine. May 2011. Archived from the original on October 4, 2013. Retrieved February 17, 2014.
  8. Jaffe, Harry (March 4, 2010). "Post Watch: Whiz Kid on the block". The Washingtonian. Retrieved January 30, 2011.
  9. Wallace, Benjamin (January 31, 2014). "Here, Let Ezra Explain". New York Magazine.
  10. Saney, Loully (October 9, 2013). "Q&A: Washington Post reporter and Wonkblog editor Ezra Klein". The Daily Princetonian. Retrieved April 9, 2014.
  11. Pierce, Jacob. "Lessons on Polarization from Journalist Ezra Klein". GoodTimes.SC. Good Times. Retrieved February 21, 2020. Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  12. "A Conversation With Political Blogger Ezra Klein of Pandagon". LAist.com. November 2, 2004. Archived from the original on April 14, 2013. Retrieved January 30, 2011.
  13. Weiss, Joanna (May 10, 2004). "Blogs colliding with traditional media: Convention credentials expected for Web logs". Boston Globe. Archived from the original on February 19, 2007. Retrieved January 12, 2008.
  14. Carr, David (September 11, 2006). "A Comeback Overshadowed by a Blog". New York Times. Retrieved January 12, 2008.
  15. "Ezra Klein: Moving Day". Ezraklein.typepad.com. Retrieved February 17, 2014.
  16. Klein, Ezra. "Ezra Klein - Introduction". Voices.washingtonpost.com. Retrieved February 17, 2014.
  17. Hagey, Keach (April 29, 2011). "Bloomberg View reveals columnists, editorial board". Politico.com. Retrieved August 6, 2011.
  18. McCarthy, Tom (January 21, 2014). "Washington Post's Ezra Klein leaving newspaper to start 'new venture'". TheGuardian.com. Retrieved January 21, 2014.
  19. Carlson, Nicholas (January 27, 2014). "Here's What Everyone Is Too Polite To Say About Ezra Klein, Wonkblog, And Vox". Business Insider. Retrieved January 28, 2014.
  20. Byers, Dylan; Hadas Gold (January 21, 2014). "Why The Washington Post passed on Ezra Klein". Politico. Retrieved January 28, 2014.
  21. "Why MSNBC is demoting Ed Schultz [Updated". The Week. Retrieved February 17, 2014.
  22. Klein, Ezra (October 2, 2015). "The Weeds, Vox's new policy podcast, launches today". Vox. Retrieved January 2, 2017.
  23. Thompson, Matt (November 5, 2016). "A Podcast Listener's Guide to the 2016 Election". The Atlantic. Retrieved August 7, 2018.
  24. "Vox steps out of the news cycle in Netflix series". NBC News. May 23, 2018. Retrieved August 7, 2018.
  25. Benton, Joshua. "Vox's new Netflix series is really good, but it doesn't get us any closer to figuring out what news on streaming platforms looks like". Nieman Lab. Retrieved August 21, 2018.
  26. "Impeachment, explained". vox.com. Retrieved November 23, 2019.
  27. "Joe Lieberman: Let's not make a deal!". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on July 20, 2010. Retrieved May 3, 2010.
  28. Dorn, Stan. Uninsured and Dying Because of It: Updating the Institute of Medicine Analysis on the Impact of Uninsurance on Mortality. Urban Institute.
  29. Jonah Goldberg (December 15, 2009). "Lieberman Loves Death More than Ezra Klein Loves Life". The Corner. National Review Online. Archived from the original on July 3, 2012. Retrieved July 29, 2010.
  30. "The public option died last summer". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on August 22, 2018. Retrieved May 3, 2010.
  31. Pappu, Sridhar (March 25, 2010). "Washington's Brat Pack Masters Media". The New York Times. Retrieved March 31, 2011.
  32. Carney, Timothy (February 28, 2011) Turns out ObamaCare might not save hundreds of thousands of lives Archived March 4, 2011, at the Wayback Machine, Washington Examiner
  33. Ezra Klein (February 28, 2011). "Health care doesn't keep people healthy -- even in Canada" The Washington Post Accessed July 14, 2011.
  34. Michael Calderone (March 17, 2009). "JournoList: Inside the echo chamber". The Politico. Retrieved March 30, 2009.
  35. "Google Discussiegroepen". Groups.google.com. Retrieved February 17, 2014.
  36. Mickey Kaus (July 27, 2007). "Educating Ezra Klein". Slate. Retrieved March 30, 2009.
  37. Mickey Kaus (March 26, 2009). "JournoList Revealed! Inside the Secret Liberal Media Email Cabal". Slate. Retrieved March 30, 2009.
  38. Klein, Ezra (June 25, 2010). "On Journolist, and Dave Weigel". The Washington Post. Retrieved June 25, 2010.
  39. Keach Hagey, "David Weigel quits – and a debate begins, Politico.com, June 25, 2010. Retrieved June 27, 2010.
  40. "EzraKlein Archive". The American Prospect. Retrieved July 29, 2010.
  41. "Winners of The Week Opinion Awards". Retrieved January 21, 2012.
  42. "Sidney Hillman Foundation 2010 Prizes". Archived from the original on May 15, 2010. Retrieved January 21, 2012.
  43. "The 50 Most Powerful People in Washington". GQ. February 2012. Retrieved January 21, 2012.
  44. "The 25 Best Financial Blogs". Time Magazine. March 7, 2011. Retrieved January 21, 2012.
  45. "2013 Awards - Online News Association". Journalists.org. Retrieved February 17, 2014.
  46. "2013 American Political Science Association Awards" (PDF). Apsanet.org. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 1, 2014. Retrieved February 17, 2014.
  47. "Esquire: October 2013". September 16, 2013.
  48. "Kids These Days". The New York Times. May 31, 2013. Retrieved February 17, 2014.
  49. Stoeffel, Kat (January 15, 2013). "Mazel Tov, Media Power Couple". Observer.com. Retrieved August 21, 2018.
  50. "The Atlantic Names Columnists Ibram X. Kendi, Annie Lowrey, Alex Wagner, and Kevin D. Williamson". The Atlantic. March 22, 2018. Retrieved August 21, 2018.
  51. Johnson, Eric (December 12, 2018). "Full Q&A: Ezra Klein and Kara Swisher on the future of journalism". Vox. Retrieved October 6, 2019.
  52. Ezra Klein and Jane Coaston (February 25, 2019). "Noah Rothman on the "unjustice" of social justice politics". The Ezra Klein Show (Podcast). Vox Media Podcast Network. Event occurs at 00:00:20. Retrieved March 8, 2019.
  53. https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Why-Were-Polarized/Ezra-Klein/9781476700328
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