Glenn Thrush

Glenn Thrush (born April 6, 1967) is an American journalist, pundit, and author. He is a reporter for The New York Times, formerly a White House correspondent.[1][2] He is also a contributor for MSNBC, and was previously chief political correspondent at Politico and a senior staff writer for Politico Magazine.[3][4][5]

Glenn Thrush
Thrush in 2017
Born (1967-04-06) April 6, 1967
United States
OccupationJournalist, correspondent
LanguageEnglish
Alma materBrooklyn College
GenreJournalism, politics

In November 2017, The New York Times announced that the newspaper was suspending Thrush while the paper investigated allegations of sexually inappropriate behavior reported in Vox.[3][6] As a result of the investigation, The New York Times suspended Thrush until January 2018, after which he was allowed to return to work in a different position than his prior White House beat.[7]

Early life and education

Thrush grew up in Sheepshead Bay, in the borough of Brooklyn, New York, and attended Sheepshead Bay High School, from which he graduated in 1984.[1] His parents owned a Carvel Ice Cream store in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn. Thrush graduated from Brooklyn College, where he majored in political science and Greek classics.[8] Thrush identifies as a secular Jew.[9]

Career

Thrush started his reporting career working for the lower Manhattan weekly newspaper Downtown Express. He was an education and politics reporter for the now defunct Post Herald in Birmingham, Alabama, and later a reporter and editor for the New York policy journal City Limits, where he covered low income housing and child welfare during the administration of Mayor Rudy Giuliani. He joined Bloomberg News to cover the New York City hospital industry in the early 00s, and later worked for Newsday as a City Hall reporter, covering Mayor Michael Bloomberg.[10]

Thrush covered Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign in 2008 for Newsday, and then joined Politico in July 2008. In December 2016, it was reported that Thrush would be joining The New York Times covering the White House starting on January 3, 2017.[11] Thrush was suspended from his position in November 2017 amid allegations of sexual misconduct.[12] In January 2018, he returned to The New York Times after a two-month suspension.[13]

Thrush wrote two e-books about the President Barack Obama's 2012 reelection campaign. Obama's Last Stand was published in August 2012, and The End of the Line: Romney vs. Obama: The 34 days that Decided the Election was published after the election in December 2012.[14][15][16]

Podesta e-mail hack

Thrush came under criticism from the conservative National Review and the left-leaning The Intercept after an email released by Wikileaks (the Podesta emails) showed Thrush sending John Podesta portions of a draft article that dealt with Podesta, asking that he fact-check those portions. Thrush also wrote, "No worries Because I have become a hack I will send u the whole section that pertains to u. Please don't share or tell anyone I did this Tell me if I fucked up anything." Podesta did not ask for any changes, writing back "no problems here".[17][18] It is common that reporters send drafts of articles to subjects prior to publication, asking the subjects to comment and verify the accuracy.[17][18]

Thrush replied on Twitter that "checking if a portion of a story that pertained to him was accurate... I DO THIS WITH EVERYBODY."[18] Politico's vice president of communications, Brad Dayspring, said that "Glenn is one of the top political reporters in the country, in no small part because he understands that it is his job to get inside information, not appear perfect when someone illegally hacks email... I can speak with firsthand knowledge and experience that Glenn checks the validity of often complex reporting with everybody, on both sides of the aisle."[17][18]

Sexual misconduct allegations and suspension
See also: Me Too movement

In November 2017, Vox published an article containing the accounts of four female journalists who said that Thrush engaged in inappropriate sexual behavior toward them.[12] The incidents recounted in the Vox story about Thrush involve four women over a five-year period while he worked at Politico,[19] and the women alleged Thrush groped and kissed them against their will. One woman alleged Thrush engaged in office gossip about her following an unwanted kiss.[20] In a statement published on his Facebook page,[21] Thrush disputed gossiping about the woman. After the publication of the article, The New York Times suspended Thrush, who issued a statement that read in part: "Over the past several years, I have responded to a succession of personal and health crises by drinking heavily. During that period, I have done things that I am ashamed of, actions that have brought great hurt to my family and friends. I have not taken a drink since June 15, 2017, have resumed counseling and will soon begin outpatient treatment for alcoholism. I am working hard to repair the damage I have done." The Times issued a statement saying, "We support his decision to enter a substance-abuse program."[3]

On December 20, 2017, The New York Times reported after an investigation that Thrush was permanently removed from covering the White House and would remain suspended until late January 2018. The Times specified Thrush would be reassigned to a beat about the "social safety net in the age of Trump, particularly HUD and HHS."[22] It's been noted Thrush was moved to a subject that greatly affects women and that covering the social safety net is considered a "punishment" or demotion from covering the White House.[23][24] He was also required to undergo unspecified "training designed to improve his workplace conduct," according to a statement by Times Executive Editor Dean Baquet.[25] The behavioral inquiry interviewed 30 people from inside and outside of the newspaper in Washington and New York and was led by an internal attorney Charlotte Behrendt.[26] Carolyn Ryan, an assistant managing editor at The Times, said of the inquiry, "The people who worked most closely with Glenn in the bureau—men, women, young, old—were supportive of him and did believe that he could contribute and hadn’t seen the kind of behavior that had been described." [27]

Personal life

Thrush is married to Diane Webber and lives in Kensington, Maryland. They have twin sons.[28]

Thrush has been portrayed by Bobby Moynihan in multiple episodes of Saturday Night Live, interacting with White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer (Melissa McCarthy).[29] Thrush credits the SNL portrayal for raising his profile and that "it probably gets my phone calls answered a little bit more quickly."[10]

References
  1. "Glenn Thrush: Bibliography". Notable Names Database. Retrieved September 18, 2017.
  2. Sommer, Will (May 1, 2017). "MSNBC signs NY Times reporter Glenn Thrush". TheHill. Retrieved May 12, 2017.
  3. Ember, Sydney (November 20, 2017). "Glenn Thrush, New York Times Reporter, Accused of Sexual Misconduct". The New York Times. Retrieved November 20, 2017.
  4. "Glenn Thrush". C-SPAN.
  5. "Huffington, AOL CEO on Shared Vision for Online Content, Ads". NewsHour. PBS. February 7, 2011. Retrieved March 4, 2012.
  6. Terris, Ben (November 20, 2017). "Glenn Thrush, prominent New York Times reporter, suspended after sexual misconduct allegations". The Washington Post.
  7. Ember, Sydney (December 20, 2017). "Glenn Thrush, Suspended Times Reporter, to Resume Work but Won't Cover White House" – via NYTimes.com.
  8. "Full transcript: POLITICO's Glenn Thrush interviews Chuck D". July 20, 2016. Retrieved February 18, 2017.
  9. "Full transcript: POLITICO's Glenn Thrush interviews Ben Carson". Politico. February 23, 2016. Retrieved November 18, 2016.
  10. Adweek, Staff (April 2, 2017). "These 15 Political Power Players in Media Are Keeping It Real in the Age of Fake News". Adweek. Retrieved April 5, 2017.
  11. Calderone, Michael (December 12, 2016). "Politico's Glenn Thrush To Join The New York Times". The Huffington Post. Retrieved December 13, 2016.
  12. McGann, Laura (November 20, 2017). "Exclusive: NYT White House correspondent Glenn Thrush's history of bad judgment around young women journalists". Vox. Retrieved November 20, 2017.
  13. Rowland, Geoffrey (January 29, 2018). "Glenn Thrush to return to NYT D.C. bureau Tuesday". TheHill. Retrieved October 12, 2019.
  14. "'Obama's Last Stand' highlights disagreements". Chicago Sun-Times. August 20, 2012. Retrieved August 22, 2012.
  15. "Book: Obama finds Romney 'weak,' but fears he could win". USA Today. August 20, 2012. Retrieved August 22, 2012.
  16. "About The End of the Line: Romney vs. Obama: the 34 days that decided the election: Playbook 2012 (POLITICO Inside Election 2012)". Penguin Random House. December 2012. Retrieved September 18, 2017.
  17. Concha, Joe (October 17, 2016). "Politico reporter asked Podesta for fact-check". The Hill. Retrieved October 19, 2016.
  18. Smith, Allan (October 17, 2016). "'Don't share or tell anyone I did this': Politico reporter criticized for email to Clinton campaign chair". Business Insider. Retrieved October 27, 2016.
  19. Elahe Izadi; Paul Farhi (December 18, 2020). "The New York Times could not verify ISIS claims in its 'Caliphate' podcast. Now it's returning a prestigious award". The Washington Post. Retrieved January 8, 2021. Glenn Thrush, a former Times White House reporter who was taken off the beat in 2017 after allegations of misconduct arose when he was employed by Politico
  20. "Exclusive: NYT White House correspondent Glenn Thrush's history of bad judgment around young women journalists". Vox. Retrieved February 1, 2018.
  21. https://www.facebook.com/glennthrush?hc_ref=ARQwoycPxXoB7AZs7AbQMDeaxQgzzg1S6pHNdct2CCGN31VHRpqccql_RSnOJ3q-34E&fref=nf&pnref=story
  22. Wemple, Erik (January 29, 2018). "Opinion | Glenn Thrush's new beat: The social safety net in Trump era". Washington Post. Retrieved February 1, 2018.
  23. Peck, Emily; Strachan, Maxwell (December 22, 2017). "Women At The New York Times Feel Neglected, Frustrated As Paper Stands By Glenn Thrush". Huffington Post. Retrieved February 1, 2018.
  24. Chang, Clio. "New York Times Reinstates an Accused Harasser and Insults Poor People at the Same Time". Splinter. Retrieved February 1, 2018.
  25. Communications, NYTimes (December 20, 2017). "The New York Times Statement on Glenn Thrushpic.twitter.com/23oQUE8srR".
  26. Ember, Sydney (December 20, 2017). "Glenn Thrush, Suspended Times Reporter, to Resume Work but Won't Cover White House". The New York Times. Retrieved December 20, 2017.
  27. LaFrance, Adrienne. "The New York Times's Glenn Thrush Dilemma". The Atlantic. Retrieved February 1, 2018.
  28. "Glenn Thrush". Fresh Fiction. Retrieved October 19, 2016.
  29. Watch Sean Spicer Press Conference from Saturday Night Live on NBC.com, retrieved February 12, 2017
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.