Editing Josh Marshall

{{Short description|American journalist}}
{{for|the 17th century Kings Master Mason of England|Joshua Marshall (sculptor)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2023}}
{{Infobox person
|name        = Josh Marshall
|image       = Josh Marshall (4502910304) (cropped).jpg
|caption     = Marshall in 2010
|birth_date  = {{birth date and age|1969|2|15}}
|birth_place = [[St. Louis]], [[Missouri]], U.S.
|death_date  = 
|death_place = 
|education   = [[Princeton University]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]])<br>[[Brown University]] ([[Master of Arts|MA]], [[Doctor of Philosophy|PhD]])
|occupation  = [[Journalist]]
|spouse      = Millet Israeli
}}
'''Joshua Micah Jesajan-Dorja Marshall''' (born February 15, 1969) is an American journalist and blogger<ref>{{Cite news| url=http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/money/media/2009-05-17-times-dowd_N.htm | publisher=[[USA Today]] | title='N.Y. Times' columnist used blogger's words | date=May 17, 2009 | access-date=September 13, 2013}}</ref> who founded ''[[Talking Points Memo]].''<ref name="ep-polk-award">{{Cite news | url=http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/search/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003712141 | archive-url=https://archive.today/20080606031159/http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/search/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003712141 | url-status=dead | archive-date=June 6, 2008 | publisher=[[Editor & Publisher]] | title=Slain Editor Bailey Among George Polk Award Winners | last=Strupp | first=Joe | author-link=Joe Strupp | date=February 19, 2008 | access-date=February 19, 2008 }}</ref> A [[Modern liberalism in the United States|liberal]], he presides over a network of [[Left-wing politics|progressive]]-oriented sites that operate under the ''[[TPM Media]]'' banner. In 2008, they averaged 400,000 page views on weekdays<ref name='cjr-josh-marshall-plan'>{{Cite news| url=https://www.cjr.org/feature/the_josh_marshall_plan.php | publisher=[[Columbia Journalism Review]] | title=The (Josh) Marshall Plan | last=Glenn | first=David | date=September–October 2007 | access-date=September 8, 2007 }}</ref> and 750,000 unique visitors per month.<ref name=nytimes-blogger-prize/><ref name="brown-bloggers">{{Cite news| url=http://www.brownalumnimagazine.com/may/june-2007/is-this-thing-on.html | publisher=[[Brown University|Brown]] Alumni Magazine | title=Is This Thing On? | last=Bunch | first=William | date=May–June 2007 | access-date=February 19, 2008 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080227193726/http://www.brownalumnimagazine.com/may/june-2007/is-this-thing-on.html <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date = February 27, 2008}}</ref>

Marshall and his work have been profiled by ''[[The New York Times]]'',<ref name='nytimes-blogger-prize'>{{Cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/25/business/media/25marshall.html | work=[[The New York Times]] | date=February 25, 2008 | title=Blogger, Sans Pajamas, Rakes Muck and a Prize | last=Cohen | first=Noam | author-link=Noam Cohen | access-date=February 25, 2008}}</ref> the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'',<ref name='latimes-blogs-can-top-the-presses'>{{Cite news| url=http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-blogs17mar17,0,4018765,full.story?coll=la-home-headlines | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070318112339/http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-blogs17mar17,0,4018765,full.story?coll=la-home-headlines | url-status=dead | archive-date=March 18, 2007 | work=[[Los Angeles Times]] | title=Blogs can top the presses | last=McDermott | first=Terry | date=March 17, 2007|access-date=May 18, 2007}}</ref> the ''[[Financial Times]]'',<ref name='ft-quick-off-the-blog'>{{Cite news| url=http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/5d59b8d8-3ca7-11dc-b067-0000779fd2ac.html | publisher=[[Financial Times]] | title=Quick off the blog | last=Apple | first=Sam | date=July 28, 2007 | access-date=September 8, 2007}}</ref> ''[[National Public Radio]]'',<ref>{{Cite news| url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9083501 | publisher=[[National Public Radio]] | title=Talking Points Site Kept Attorneys Story Alive | last=Smith | first=Robert | date=March 22, 2007| access-date=May 18, 2007}}</ref> ''[[The New York Times Magazine]]'',<ref>{{Cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/11/magazine/11ideas_section3-3.html | publisher=[[The New York Times Magazine]] | title=Open-Source Reporting | last=Starr | first=Alexandra | date=December 11, 2005 | access-date=May 18, 2007}}</ref> the ''[[Columbia Journalism Review]]'',<ref name='cjr-josh-marshall-plan'/> ''[[Bill Moyers Journal]]'',<ref>{{Cite news| url=https://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/04272007/profile2.html | publisher=[[Public Broadcasting Service|PBS]] | title=Blogging for Truth | last=Moyers | first=Bill | author-link=Bill Moyers | date=April 27, 2007| access-date=May 18, 2007}}</ref> and ''[[GQ]]''.<ref>{{Cite news| url=http://men.style.com/gq/features/landing?id=content_6197 | publisher=[[GQ]] | date=December 2007 | title=Men of the Year 2007 | last=Flynn | first=Sean | access-date=February 20, 2008 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080205082105/http://men.style.com/gq/features/landing?id=content_6197 <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date = February 5, 2008}}</ref><ref name="gq-moty">{{Cite news| url=http://men.style.com/gq/features/landing?id=content_6203 | publisher=[[GQ]] | date=December 2007 | title=MOTY:Give This Man a Pulitzer | last=Flynn | first=Sean | access-date=February 20, 2008 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080209191953/http://men.style.com/gq/features/landing?id=content_6203 <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date = February 9, 2008}}</ref> In 2007, [[Hendrik Hertzberg]], a senior editor at ''[[The New Yorker]]'', compared Marshall to the influential founders of ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine, saying: "Marshall is in the line of the great light-bulb-over-the-head editors. He's like [[Briton Hadden]] or [[Henry Luce]]. He's created something new."<ref name='cjr-josh-marshall-plan'/>

==Early life and career==
Marshall was born in [[St. Louis, Missouri]].<ref name='cjr-josh-marshall-plan'/><ref name='ft-quick-off-the-blog'/> Marshall's father was a professor of marine biology. His mother died when he was young.<ref name="nytimes-fear-and-laptops">{{Cite news |last=Klam |first=Matthew |author-link=Matthew Klam |date=September 26, 2004 |title=Fear and Laptops on the Campaign Trail |publisher=[[The New York Times Magazine]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/26/magazine/26BLOGS.html |access-date=May 18, 2007}}</ref>

He is a graduate of [[the Webb Schools]] of California and [[Princeton University]] and earned a [[PhD]] in American history from [[Brown University]].<ref name="cjr-josh-marshall-plan" /><ref name="ft-quick-off-the-blog" /> In the mid-1990s, Marshall designed websites for law firms and published an online news site about Internet law, which included interviews with prominent scholars such as [[Lawrence Lessig]].<ref name="cjr-josh-marshall-plan" />

Marshall began writing freelance articles about Internet free speech for ''[[The American Prospect]]'' in 1997 and was soon hired as an associate editor.<ref name="cjr-josh-marshall-plan" /> He worked for the ''Prospect'' for three years<ref name="nytimes-fear-and-laptops" /> and in 1999 moved to [[Washington D.C.|D.C.]] to become their Washington editor.<ref name="cjr-josh-marshall-plan" />
He often clashed with the top editors at the ''Prospect'', over both ideology and the direction of the website.<ref name="cjr-josh-marshall-plan" />

==Talking Points Memo==

===History===
[[File:Josh Marshall (506434140).jpg|thumb|Marshall at the Personal Democracy Forum in May 2007]]
Inspired by political bloggers such as [[Mickey Kaus]] and [[Andrew Sullivan]], Marshall started ''Talking Points Memo'' during the 2000 [[Florida election recount]]. "I really liked what seemed to me to be the freedom of expression of this genre of writing," Marshall told the ''Columbia Journalism Review''. "And, obviously, given the issues that I had with the ''Prospect'', that appealed to me a lot."<ref name='cjr-josh-marshall-plan'/>

He left his job at the ''Prospect'' early in 2001<ref name='cjr-josh-marshall-plan'/> and continued to blog while writing for ''[[The Washington Monthly]]'', ''[[The Atlantic]]'', ''[[The New Yorker]]'',<ref name="nytimes-fear-and-laptops"/> ''[[Salon.com]]'', and the ''[[New York Post]]''.<ref name='cjr-josh-marshall-plan'/> In 2002, Marshall used ''Talking Points Memo'' to report on [[Trent Lott|Trent Lott's]] [[Trent Lott#Resignation from Senate leadership|controversial comments]] praising [[Strom Thurmond|Strom Thurmond's]] 1948 presidential run as a [[racial segregation|segregationist]].<ref name='latimes-blogs-can-top-the-presses'/> According to [[Harvard Kennedy School]], Marshall was instrumental in fueling the ensuing scandal that eventually led to Trent Lott's resignation as [[Senate Minority Leader]].<ref name="nytimes-fear-and-laptops"/>

As a result of the Lott story, traffic to ''Talking Points Memo'' spiked from 8,000 to 20,000 [[page view]]s a day.<ref name='cjr-josh-marshall-plan'/> In the fall of 2003, as people focused on the failure to find [[Weapon of mass destruction|WMD's]] in [[2003 invasion of Iraq|Iraq]], there was a new surge of traffic to the site; "I remember there being peak days of 60,000-page views, which was really incredible."<ref name=nytimes-blogger-prize/> Marshall started selling ads on his site and by the end of 2004 was earning $10,000 a month,<ref name='cjr-josh-marshall-plan'/> making him one of a handful of what ''The New York Times Magazine'' dubbed "elite bloggers" who earned enough money to make blogging a full-time occupation.<ref name="nytimes-fear-and-laptops"/>

During the 2008 US election campaign, many independent news sites and political blogs saw a wave of "explosive growth".<ref name='comscore-explosive-growth'>{{Cite news
 |url          = http://www.comscore.com/press/release.asp?press=2525
 |publisher    = [[comScore]]
 |title        = Huffington Post and Politico Lead Wave of Explosive Growth at Independent Political Blogs and News Sites this Election Season
 |date         = October 22, 2008
|access-date   = October 26, 2008
|archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20081218000149/http://www.comscore.com/press/release.asp?press=2525
 |archive-date = December 18, 2008
|url-status     = dead
 |df           = mdy-all
}}</ref> ''Talking Points Memo'' experienced the largest surge in traffic,<ref name='wsj-huffpo-beats-drudge'>{{Cite news
| url=https://blogs.wsj.com/biztech/2008/10/23/huffpo-beats-drudge/
| publisher=[[Wall Street Journal]]
| title=HuffPo Beats Drudge
| last=LaVallee
| first=Andrew
| date=October 23, 2008
| access-date=October 31, 2008}}</ref> growing from 32,000 [[unique visitor]]s in September 2007 to 458,000 unique visitors in September 2008,<ref name='mediapost-political-sites'>{{Cite news
 |url         = http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticleHomePage&art_aid=93246
 |publisher   = MediaPost
 |title       = Huffington Post, Politico Top Political Sites
 |last        = Walsh
 |first       = Mark
 |date        = October 23, 2008
|access-date  = October 26, 2008
|url-status     = dead
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20120603125014/http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticleHomePage&art_aid=93246
 |archive-date = June 3, 2012
|df          = mdy-all
}}</ref> a 1,321% year-to-year increase in the size of its audience.<ref name='portfolio-lefty-sites'>{{Cite news
| url=http://www.portfolio.com/views/blogs/mixed-media/2008/10/22/comscore-lefty-sites-making-huge-traffic-gains
| publisher=[[Condé Nast Portfolio]]
| title=ComScore: Lefty Sites Making Huge Traffic Gains
| last=Bercovici
| first=Jeff
| date=October 22, 2008
| access-date=October 26, 2008}}</ref>

===Launching TPM Media===

In 2005, Marshall launched ''[[TPMCafe]]''.<ref>{{Cite news| url=http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0505/10/ip.01.html | publisher=[[CNN]]: [[Judy Woodruff's Inside Politics]] | title=Political Fundraising Trial Gets Underway; Senate Problems with Judicial Nominees Continue | last=Tatton | first=Abbi | author-link=Abbi Tatton | date=May 10, 2005 | access-date=May 18, 2007}}</ref> This site features a collection of blogs about a wide range of domestic and foreign policy issues written by academics, journalists and former public officials among others.

Marshall expanded his operation again in 2006, launching ''[[TPMmuckraker]]''. The site focuses on political corruption, and was originally staffed by [[Paul Kiel]] and [[Justin Rood]]. Rood has since moved on to ''[[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]]'' and its blog ''[[The Blotter]]''. Kiel has recently been joined by two new staff reporter-bloggers, [[Laura McGann]] and [[Spencer Ackerman]]. ''TPMmuckraker'' has attempted to organize its readers to plow through and read [[document dump]]s by governmental entities engaging in [[cover-up]]s.<ref>{{Cite news| url=http://www.nysun.com/article/50895 | publisher=[[The New York Sun]] | title=New Technique Lets Bloggers Tackle Late-Night News Dumps |  first=Josh | last=Gerstein | date=March 21, 2007 | access-date=June 15, 2007}}</ref>

''TPM Media'' operates out of an office in Manhattan and currently employs seven reporters, including two in [[Washington, D.C.|Washington]].<ref name=nytimes-blogger-prize/>

===U.S. attorney controversy===

{{2006 dismissal of U.S. attorneys controversy small}}
In 2007, Marshall was instrumental in exposing another national controversy — the politically motivated [[2006 dismissal of U.S. attorneys|dismissal of U.S. attorneys]] by the [[Presidency of George W. Bush|Bush administration]].<ref name="ep-polk-award"/> Marshall won [[George Polk Awards|The Polk Award for Legal Reporting]] for his coverage of the story, which "led the news media" and "connected the dots and found a pattern of federal prosecutors being forced from office for failing to do the Bush Administration's bidding."<ref name="ep-polk-award"/> ''[[Columbia Journalism Review]]'' also credited Marshall's news organization for being "almost single-handedly responsible for bringing the story of the fired U.S. Attorneys to a boil."<ref name='cjr-josh-marshall-plan'/> The ensuing scandal resulted in the resignations of several high-level government officials;<ref name='latimes-blogs-can-top-the-presses'/><ref name='ft-quick-off-the-blog'/> the Polk award in particular honored Marshall for his "tenacious investigative reporting" which "sparked interest by the traditional news media and led to the resignation of [[United States Attorney General|Attorney General]] [[Alberto Gonzales]]."<ref name="nytimes-blogger-prize"/>

After a weekend writer noticed that the [[U.S. attorney]] for the Eastern District of [[Arkansas]] was being replaced with a former adviser to [[Karl Rove]],<ref>{{Cite news| url=https://www.cjr.org/behind_the_news/how_talkingpointsmemo_beat_the.php | publisher=[[Columbia Journalism Review]] | title=How TalkingPointsMemo Beat the Big Boys on the U.S. Attorney Story | last=McLeary | first=Paul | date=March 15, 2007 | access-date=September 9, 2007}}</ref> Marshall discovered that U.S. Attorney [[Carol Lam]] was also being asked to resign. Lam had successfully prosecuted [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] [[California]] [[United States House of Representatives|Representative]] [[Duke Cunningham]] on bribery charges and was amid a criminal investigation into a congressional scandal of historic proportions.<ref name='ft-quick-off-the-blog'/> "I was stunned by it," Marshall told the ''[[Financial Times]]''. "Normally, in a case like that, the prosecutor would be untouchable."<ref name='ft-quick-off-the-blog'/>

National newspapers were slow to pick up the story.<ref name='ft-quick-off-the-blog'/> ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine's Washington bureau chief [[Jay Carney]] accused Marshall of "seeing broad partisan conspiracies where none likely exist."<ref>{{Cite news| url=http://time-blog.com/swampland/2007/01/running_massacre.html | archive-url=https://archive.today/20070502211844/http://time-blog.com/swampland/2007/01/running_massacre.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=May 2, 2007 | publisher=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] magazine | title=Running Massacre? | last=Carney | first=Jay | date=January 17, 2007 | access-date=September 9, 2007}}</ref> By the time ''[[The New York Times]]'' first reported on Lam's firing (on page 17), Marshall and his news sites had already posted 15 articles on the story.<ref name='ft-quick-off-the-blog'/>

Two months after posting his accusatory article, Carney apologized to Marshall. "Josh Marshall at TalkingPointsMemo and everyone else out there whose instincts told them there was something deeply wrong and even sinister about the firings...deserve tremendous credit." Carney went on to write, "I was wrong. Very nice work, and thanks for holding my feet to the fire."<ref>{{Cite news| url=http://time-blog.com/swampland/2007/03/where_credit_is_due.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070315180450/http://time-blog.com/swampland/2007/03/where_credit_is_due.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=March 15, 2007 | publisher=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] magazine | title=Where Credit Is Due | last=Carney | first=Jay | author-link=Jay Carney | date=March 13, 2007 | access-date=September 9, 2007}}</ref>

For doggedly pursuing the story, [[Arianna Huffington]] nominated Joshua Marshall and the ''Talking Points Memo'' team to the [[Time 100]].<ref>{{Cite news| url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1615198,00.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070430102201/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1615198,00.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=April 30, 2007 | publisher=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] magazine | title=The TIME 100 | author=Arianna Huffington | author-link=Arianna Huffington | date=April 26, 2007 | access-date=May 18, 2007}}</ref>

==Personal life==

Marshall married Millet Israeli in March 2005,<ref name='washington-note-wedding'>{{Cite news
 |url=http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/000387.php 
 |publisher=[[The Washington Note]] 
 |title=Saturday Morning Stuff and a Wedding Afternoon: Josh & Millet Get Married 
 |first=Steve 
 |last=Clemons 
 |author-link=Steve Clemons 
 |date=March 19, 2005 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060706075352/http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/000387.php 
 |archive-date=July 6, 2006 |url-status=dead 
}}</ref> and the couple live in New York City with their sons Sam and Daniel.<ref name='josh-marshall-bio'>{{Cite web | url=http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/bio.php | publisher=[[Talking Points Memo]] | title=Talking Points Memo by Joshua Micah Marshall | access-date=September 8, 2007 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929083255/http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/bio.php | archive-date=September 29, 2007 | df=mdy-all }}</ref>

==Prizes and honors==
{{BLP unreferenced section|date=July 2021}}
* [[George Polk Award]] for Legal Reporting, 2007
* ''[[The Week]]'' Opinion Awards, Blogger of the Year, 2003 & 2007
* ''[[GQ]]'' Men of the Year, Muckraker, 2007

==References==

{{Reflist|2}}

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
* [http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/ ''Talking Points Memo'']
** [https://web.archive.org/web/20071011221209/http://talkingpointsmemo.com/joshmarshall.php Marshall's biography] at ''Talking Points Memo''.
* [http://bloggingheads.tv/diavlogs/57 Video discussion/debate with Marshall] and [[David Corn]] on [[Bloggingheads.tv]]
* [http://bloggingheads.tv/diavlogs/94 Video discussion/debate with Marshall] and [[Mickey Kaus]] on [[Bloggingheads.tv]]
*{{C-SPAN|83341}}
**[http://www.c-span.org/video/?303536-1/qa-josh-marshall C-SPAN ''Q&A'' interview with Marshall, February 12, 2012]

{{Authority control}}

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[[Category:1969 births]]
[[Category:American bloggers]]
[[Category:American political writers]]
[[Category:20th-century American Jews]]
[[Category:Brown University alumni]]
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[[Category:Princeton University alumni]]
[[Category:American male journalists]]
[[Category:21st-century American non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:American male bloggers]]
[[Category:21st-century American Jews]]