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Eric Alterman | The Nation

Eric Alterman

Author Bios

Eric Alterman

Eric Alterman

Columnist

Eric Alterman is a Distinguished Professor of English, Brooklyn College, City University of New York, and Professor of Journalism at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism. He is also "The Liberal Media" columnist for The Nation and a fellow of The Nation Institute, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress in Washington, DC, where he writes and edits the "Think Again" column, a senior fellow (since 1985) at the World Policy Institute. Alterman is also a regular columnist for Moment magazine and a regular contributor to The Daily Beast. He is the author of seven books, including the national bestsellers, What Liberal Media? The Truth About Bias and the News (2003, 2004), and The Book on Bush: How George W. (Mis)leads America (2004). The others include: When Presidents Lie: A History of Official Deception and its Consequences, (2004, 2005); His Sound & Fury: The Making of the Punditocracy (1992, 2000), which won the 1992 George Orwell Award; It Ain't No Sin to be Glad You're Alive: The Promise of Bruce Springsteen (1999, 2001), which won the 1999 Stephen Crane Literary Award and Who Speaks for America? Why Democracy Matters in Foreign Policy, (1998). His most recent book is Why We're Liberals: A Handbook for Restoring America's Most Important Ideals (2008, 2009).

Termed "the most honest and incisive media critic writing today" in the National Catholic Reporter, and author of "the smartest and funniest political journal out there," in the San Francisco Chronicle, Alterman is frequent lecturer and contributor to numerous publications in the US, Europe and Latin America. In recent years, he has also been a columnist for: MSNBC.com, Worth, Rolling StoneMother Jones, and the Sunday Express (London), a history consultant to HBO films and a senior fellow at Media Matters for America. A former Adjunct Professor of Journalism at NYU and Columbia, Alterman received his B.A. in History and Government from Cornell, his M.A. in International Relations from Yale, and his Ph.D. in US History from Stanford. He lives with his family in Manhattan.

Articles

News and Features

The next generation of right-wing journalists are largely apparatchiks.

By refusing to acknowledge Fox News's avowed partisanship, its MSM defenders diminish the work of honest journalists who try to play fair.

Newsrooms' fears of misunderstanding the right leads to outsized coverage and attention.

A monthlong investigation finds plenty of fire to go with the smoke surrounding the university's incredibly vague conflict-of-interest policies.

It's time to do Robert Novak the honor of taking his life's work seriously.

No racial profiling took place with Henry Louis Gates Jr.; it's not the "teachable moment" for which many are so understandably eager.

Notwithstanding comparisons to FDR, BHO has proffered far less audacious proposals than we were led to expect.


I.F. Stone, Secret Agent? Spy? Mole?

Silver Spring, Md.

Still relevant, fifty years later: William Appleman Williams's Tragedy of American Diplomacy.

Blogs

Alterman on Motown and Reed on Tom Waits and the 99 percent.
Eric on how The New Republic's back of the book comes close to redeeming the magazine from the front.
Eric on story collections and film fest picks and Reed on Wall Street's media advantage. 
 Alterman pitches big-ticket holiday items and reads the mail, Reed covers the coverage on Occupy Wall Street. 
Alterman is off, Reed dispenses on bad-news muffins.
Alterman on classic rock and jazz, Reed on cliché's gravitational pull over media.
Eric on a Shakespeare reimagining and Reed on the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell.
 Eric on Bill Keller's Iraq problems and Reed on horserace journalism.
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