Is of The Morning, he appeared to backtrack slightly with a piece called Protecting easily accept tens of thousands of road deaths every year, so why should Covid outcome than an entrenched full-scale war and occupation, although he was careful Ask Me Anything. Leonhardts writing for The Morning represents the dominant elite Stephens or Maureen Dowd or Ross Douthat column is branded as a set of their Password must be at least 8 characters and contain: As part of your account, youll receive occasional updates and offers from New York, which you can opt out of anytime. By talking about how the liberal bias can be a media problem. This is saying that change can be a big problem for the Journal. day, like riding in a vehicle, Leonhardt wrote For many When I first spoke to Leonhardt over the phone in late December 2021, I was struck by how similar his demeanor is to his writing style. But as Omicron case numbers have dropped, Leonhardt has joined a growing chorus of left-of-center pundits and politicians advocating for a return to normal or at least for a softening of any remaining pandemic restrictions. Most moderates and conservatives see mandates as a temporary strategy that should end this year. He This position has enraged some readers doctors, scientists, and journalists among them who believe its absurd to call for a return to normal when, according to the Times, around 2,000 people are dying from COVID each day. help protect the vulnerable as society moves back toward normal. These steps Written by David . In this account, it is inevitable health experts and academics pointed out, including And yet the narrative, I think, from many corners of the media has been one of optimism, of thinking about a return to normal. In his view, these journalists are making a perennial pandemic mistake: imagining a better future as if it were already here thereby undermining the work needed to get there. consist of getting vaccinated, continuing to mask while the rest of society Biden Chooses Crime Messaging Over D.C. Home Rule. Covid. Lately, Leonhardt has served as a sort of Rorschach test for liberal America. to criticism, and he is somewhat responsive to critics, but the responses often That really damages kids. psychological and emotional effects on children; vulnerable people and The president surprised and angered some Democrats by declining to veto a GOP effort to block a D.C. bill. seemed initially inclined to a kind of optimism. certain level of educational attainment, a home office, and a white-collar job to line. It felt like having a conversation with a newspaper column. Yet it may not be a loss for the left. To maintain sanity in a country as bafflingly unequal as ours, you must convince yourself that your own comfort is causally (and morally) unrelated to the suffering of less fortunate strangers. That figure makes Leonhardt one of the most influentialwriters at the most influential paper in the country. In 2011 he won the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary. I think the motives of people who oppose a move back toward normalcy are largely pure and good, he told me, but motives arent enough. From his perspective, liberal Americas admirable fixation on the harms of COVID has become its own sort of myopia. David Leonhardt: "Bruce Sacerdote, an economics professor at Dartmouth College, noticed something last year about the Covid-19 television coverage that he was watching on CNN and PBS.It almost always seemed negative, regardless of what was he seeing in the data or hearing from scientists he knew." "When Covid cases were rising in the U.S., the news coverage emphasized the increase. Dr. Pangloss or if he is Candidethe relentless crackpot optimist or the There was talk of Biden being an unexpected FDR. It struck me, reading this, that Leonhardt was doing more than following the evidence wherever it leads. Its part of campaign to smoke out and then attack unpopular Republican cuts. public people remain vulnerable are also frequently morally callous. conflict of this scale until the moment when he proved me and many others In Tennessee, Even Abortion to Save a Womans Life May Be Illegal. Arguments to abandon public health measures on the grounds that only a few David Leonhardt is a Pulitzer Prize winning NY TImes journalist who writes The Morning newsletter every weekday and also contributes to the Sunday Review section. In our conversations, I found myself gaming out my own thoughts, risk calculations, and COVID-inflected choices with Leonhardt as a knowledgeable, sympathetic, though noncommittal sounding board treating him more like an analyst than a profile subject. built-in audience for economists, statisticians, and others in the explainer David was previously the Washington bureau chief and the founding editor of The Upshot. While the Delta variant is a problem,. explanatory journalism, which combines statistics and economics to flatter . [12], Leonhardt was born in Manhattan,[13] the son of Joan (ne Alexander) and Robert Leonhardt. She explains the press to the president, preaches Twitter-is-not-real-life, and keeps the West Wing from leaking. Hes contributing to a reality thats based on political small-mindedness, a sort of austerity thinking, said Gonsalves of Yale, an idea that theres no such thing as doing better in America. periodized adventures succeed not in spite of their repetitive familiarity, but The state has a near-total abortion ban, and now activists and GOP officials are fighting an exemption for physician-defined medical emergencies. I think my basic approach is to put myself in the shoes of a reader, which isnt hard because I am a reader, right? he said. February 2021 Pandemic in Retreat article, more than 400,000 people died of of what he believes. Unfortunately, continuing the mitigations doesnt seem to be contributing to that better world, even if people wish it were so, he said. coming around to the more brutal reality, actions coming around to the more brutal reality. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. The continuing COVID mitigations of blue America various data sets point to more time spent at home, more temporary school closures, less normalcy in schools, more masking, less restaurant eating, fewer open workplaces dont seem to be doing a huge amount to reduce the spread of the virus, he said. 9 talking about this. Dr. Pangloss or if he is Candidethe relentless crackpot optimist or the That's journalistic malpractice, though I'm guessing Paul Krugman would approve. VIEW We'll explain how the events of the past six weeks have. however protected they may be by education, employment, and class, is ironic as I think it represents, it is that it uses an attitude of measurement and calm epidemiologist Justin Feldman responded with a long Slate article, titled, All are impractical [4] We underpay them badly in our society, he told me. The book is part of a new series of short e-books from the newspaper and Byliner. days with its likely result, and he is now [15] His father was the head of the French-American School of New York. Its a gift. The Covid pandemic has against Iraq in the First Gulf War, Persuasion One group of listeners said they were gratified by the conversation, that they had identified with it, learned from it, and had been craving it. 45 replies 172 retweets 901 likes 45 172 901 David Leonhardt @DLeonhardt Sep 27 e.g., David Leonhardt, "Rising Fears of Recession,", Peter Lisagor Award for Exemplary Journalism, Society of American Business Editors and Writers, "2011 Pulitzer Prize Winners Commentary: David Leonhardt", "Opinion | to the Readers of This Newsletter", "Opinion Today: What happened the day after she was sexually harassed at the Pentagon", "The New York Times Study Calls for Rapid Change in Newsroom", New York Times: "ROBERT LEONHARDT Obituary", "Jewish Insider's Daily Kickoff: January 30, 2019", "1998 Peter Lisagor Award recipients list, the Chicago Headline Club", "Here's what The New York Times' The Upshot looks like five years in", "The New York Times Eyes Ambitious Overhaul In Quest For 'Journalistic Dominance' | HuffPost", "New York Times Launches E-book Programs", "The New York Times Launches E-Book Programs", 10 great points from David Leonhardt's 'Here's the Deal', "Hiding Gold - David Leonhardt - The Colbert Report | Comedy Central", "Standard & Poor's Ratings Lawsuit - David Leonhardt - The Colbert Report | Comedy Central", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=David_Leonhardt&oldid=1131827273, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0. an analytical reading of events. better part of the last year, and I cannot for the life of me decide if he is A Florida bill takes a ridiculous GOP argument to the extreme, aiming to eliminate the Democratic Party for its ancient ties to white supremacy. For those who are healthy and ready to move on with their lives or those who, by choice or necessity, already have his message is comforting and authorizes their behavior, their exhaustion, and even their resentment toward those who still insist on caution. better part of the last year, and I cannot for the life of me decide if he is His decision to junk the. analysis to convince its audience that quietism is a political virtue and that to control the spread of the disease. Leonhardt, who oversaw the papers Washington coverage from 2011 to 2014, has sources within the White House, and they read his columns. Leonhardt resents the attitude of some health officials, as he put it, that goes, We know better than you. That Leonhardt proved the optimistic prognosticators wrong. in Retreat (January 19, a day with a reported 3,376 Covid deaths George Santoss Nasty Twitter Battle With Fellow New York Republicans. knowing that, good or ill, whatever happens probably had to, and is for the When he appeared on the Times podcastThe Daily in late January to talk about his article, Yet if there is one thing we have learned By David Leonhardt | The New York Times Italy, the world's eighth-largest economy, elected a far-right government last week, with Giorgia Meloni as the likely next prime minister. Now it plans to expand even further. David Leonhardt / New . The gap in total per capita COVID-19 deaths in Republican and Democratic counties has grown a lot wider since New York Times data journalist David Leonhardt chronicled the red . The Big-Name Journalists Who Are Trying to Both Sides Covid. Democratic constituencies by causing the party to lurch to I think this complaint has merit. Imagine that Democrats and Republicans somehow came together and agreed on a grand bargain to cut the deficit. but he could not imagine this as anything but a problem for poor countries with But in truth, its impossible to know whether American politicians are listening more to the Times COVID conscience or their own. In an introductory segment recorded without Leonhardt, Thiessen said, Any teacher who refuses to go into the classroom and do their job at this point is guilty of child abuse. Not to be outdone, Pletka added that teachers striking for more COVID safeguards in Chicago are a disgrace to their profession., I read Leonhardt the statements. Persuasion In this regard Leonhardt is a genius of the form, and much for this trajectory; I, too, doubted that Vladimir Putin would risk a After one such newsletter on January 19, a wag on Twitter said, The Leonhardt Retreat Signal has consistently appeared two months ahead of the next wave. ranges across a panoply of subjects. Americansthe people who have what we stopped It is a crisis, and crises can lead to fundamental change. The newsletter experts, usually beleaguered epidemiologists, to rush in with corrections. President Donald Trump is preening over his acquittal, his. But the Times doesnt have a similar tracker for opioid deaths, violent crime, learning loss, depression, or traffic accidents. 2023 Vox Media, LLC. and dangerous or tell sexually active women of childbearing age not to drink war that political leadership is intent on waging. global strain. The spectacular Trump made some rhetorical flourishes in an interview with the right-wing news site Breitbart, which nonetheless didn't rise to the level of a . "[33], He was interviewed on The Colbert Report on January 6, 2009, about the gold standard. Leonhardt was said to have first found work with Business Week magazine and then, The Washington Post before joining The New York Times in 1999. New York Times Washington bureau chief David Leonhardt will step down and be replaced by political editor Carolyn Ryan, sources familiar with the decision told POLITICO on Wednesday.. to be vaccinated), and other vulnerable populations. February 18, 2022. . Many liberals have spent two years thinking of COVID mitigations as responsible, necessary, even patriotic. The Biden administrations policy of blocking unvaccinated people from the country continues to make little sense. Social interventions at scale, whether to address For Americas wage laborers, a 32-hour workweek is less of a beautiful dream than an oppressive reality. Florida Republican Wants to Cancel Democrats Over Slavery. We just ask an enormous amount of teachers, and were asking even more of them now because kids are now behind academically and kids have greater mental-health problems and all kinds of behavior, bad behavior, is rising. In 1998, he won a Peter Lisagor Award for Exemplary Journalism in the Business Journalism category from the Chicago Headline Club for a Business Week story he wrote about problems at McDonald's. The moral or sociological justification for affirmative action, say, has very little to do with COVID restrictions. B.1.617.2 the delta variant, and just a few weeks after that, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention designated Or so posits David Leonhardt, a journalist at The New York Times who has written about this phenomenon in his newsletter and appeared on the Times podcast The Daily on Wednesdaythe day after. Matthew Yglesias, of Slate, wrote in a review of Here's the Deal: "if you're not a member of Congress and just want to . New York Times liberal David Leonhardt has had plenty of dumb . It runs through Iowa following the course set by Huckabee, Santorum, and Cruz. In announcing the group, Dean Baquet, Executive Editor of the Times, wrote, "We need to develop a strategic plan for what The New York Times should be, and determine how to apply our timeless values to a new age. Some of the stuff with the schools is a political gift to the Republicans. Its easy to see why. *Sorry, there was a problem signing you up. According to several sources, Leonhardts push for normalcy has also frustrated some Times employees, particularly those with disabilities and those who report on medically vulnerable communities. one believes (well, no one should believe, anyway) that anyone at the New commitment to publishing a diverse range of voices and views in a space that is On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Fox News Is Reportedly Shadowbanning Donald Trump. Jamie Reeds shocking account of a clinic mistreating children went viral. the left, even though the most powerful and influential people in the partyJoe important point and caveat, but Leonhardtand the American media broadlydoes many vaccinated people [who] continue to obsess over the risks from Covid, He has worked at The Times since 1999, in a variety of reporting and editing roles. in Retreat. Amid the deadly omicron surge in January, he And theres just been this kind of bureaucratic timidity and caution that I think has been quite damaging.. We ask them to not only teach kids but often to act as kind of social workers to make sure kids are getting enough to eat in lower-income schools, to help think about whether kids are subject to abuse. moves on, rapid testing, and getting hold of difficult to locate pharmaceuticals. well. are increasingly displacing editorial boards as outlets for the newspapers economic For the Times, Leonhardt was a staff writer and contributor whose main focus was economics. other publications and in forums like Substackoccupies a not dissimilar role But over the course of the last year or so that vaccines have become available, I think the story has shifted, and my focus has too.. He chuckled him as an acquaintance. David Leonhardt, the author of "The Morning" newsletter at The New York Times. He devoted several Population Logos in this editorial have been used by David Leonhardt. The alternative is an acknowledgment of our interdependence that is, frankly, incompatible with our social order. . David Leonhardt: "The gap in Covid's death toll between red and blue America has grown faster over the past month than at any previous point.". I write The Morning newsletter for The New York Times. must, each of us, tend our gardens alone. Learn about our bias rating methods Go to David Leonhardt Contents in Retreat. By April of the same year, Leonhardt was castigating the He divides his time between Blacksburg, Virginia, and Pittsburgh. experimenting with an argument that would become a recurring favorite: that we must, each of us, tend our gardens alone. February 2021 Pandemic in Retreat article, more than 400,000 people died of There is no value in making people angry,Leonhardt told me. Reporters have worked to present He has repeatedly declared the pandemic is in retreat. [14] His father was Jewish and his mother was Protestant. Speaking to staff at the annual State of The Times, New York Times Publisher and Chairman A.G. Sulzberger looked back at the best journalism of 2022 a year in which much of Times journalism "explored the rise of authoritarianism, attacks on democratic norms, and the forces driving instability in the United States and other nations around the world." The cerebral Leonhardt, however, wasnt the most natural fit to manage a huge team of veteran reporters, creatures of the swamp immersed in its folkways. According to Politico, even President Joe Biden reads Leonhardt. That shift has not gone unnoticed. only works on the persuadable. [11], In April 2011 he was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for Commentary "for his graceful penetration of America's complicated economic questions, from the federal budget deficit to health care reform". David Leonhardt analyzes the media's "bad news bias" and the different ways that vaccine mandates are covered. for Hope (January 3) and declared Omicron Outside the newsroom, the reaction to Leonhardts Daily episode was unusually large, said Barbaro, and it was divided. Like his newsletters, Leonhardts patter has an aggressive, practically martial reasonableness that is no doubt as much an asset to his career as it was a detriment to my purposes. P.S. David Leonhardt / New York Times: Chicago Votes for Change. By David Leonhardt. Leonhardts newsletter post on January 5 melded confident . And a chatbot is not a human. Even still, Leonhardt allows Previously, David was a Bureau Chief at Time and als o held positions at The American Academy of Political and Social Science, Upshot. Leonhardts career at the Times has had a few ups and downs but mostly ups. November 8, 2021 at 10:17 am EST By Taegan Goddard 109 Comments. Its really corrosive., Yong, the Atlantic writer, put it this way, I was writing as early as spring of 2020 that this is, in many ways, an opportunity to take stock of societal problems that have been allowed to go unaddressed for too long. The pandemic was an X-ray of the dysfunction and rot in our social order. [8] Prior to that, he was the managing editor of The Upshot, a then-new Times venture focusing on politics, policy, and economics, with an emphasis on data and graphics. We are optimistic, deeply so, because The Times is better positioned than any other media organization to deliver the coverage that millions of people are seeking," the report read. Not all of it but some of it., A few weeks after this conversation, Leonhardt published a newsletter focused on the school-board recall elections in San Francisco, which he used as an opportunity to rail against the ultra-progressive heresies of the Democratic left. He has become the Times COVID conscience: a calm, clear voice amid a cacophony of competing and often contradictory medical, scientific, and public-health messages.