| Jodi Kantor | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1975 |
| Education | Columbia University |
| Occupation | journalist |
| Spouse(s) | Ron Lieber |
| Notable credit(s) | The New York Times, Slate |
| Agent | Elyse Cheney |
| [www.jodikantor.net Official website] | |
Jodi Kantor (born 1975) is a The New York Times correspondent and author of The Obamas, to be published by Little Brown in January 2012. She has been writing about President and First Lady Barack and Michelle Obama, along with numerous other political figures, since 2007.
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She graduated from Columbia University in 1996 and attended Harvard Law School for one semester, taking a leave to work at Slate, where she became an editor. After corresponding with New York Times columnist Frank Rich about how that paper could improve its arts coverage, she was brought on as editor of the Arts and Leisure section by Howell Raines, executive editor. Kantor was only 27 at the time (her predecessor, John Rockwell, had been in his late 50s when appointed to the post). She is thought to be the youngest person to edit a section of the New York Times. Under the guidance of Rich and others, she remade the section to include a more visual approach, new features and more ambitious reporting. While some criticized Kantor for using some writers with web-only journalism experience and assigning pieces on pop culture,[5],[1] others believed she helped the paper connect with audiences.[2][3]
More recently, Kantor has been covering politics for the Times, most notably the 2008 presidential campaign and Barack Obama's biography. Starting in 2007, she wrote some of the earliest articles about Michelle Obama, the role of the Obama daughters in their father's career, the role of basketball in the president's life, his relationship with Rev. Jeremiah Wright [4] and his career as a constitutional law professor. In autumn of 2009, she co-broke the story of Michelle Obama's slave roots[5] and authored a cover story in the New York Times Magazine about the first marriage, for which she interviewed the president and first lady in the Oval Office.[6] In November 2009, Kantor landed a reported seven-figure book deal to write a book about the president and first lady.[7]
After she broke the news of initial strain between Obama and Reverend Jeremiah Wright in 2007, Wright posted an angry letter to Kantor on his church's website. Her editors subsequently defended her. [1]. Kantor was criticized by the Times public editor Clark Hoyt for using Facebook to find parents of classmates of John and Cindy McCain's 16-year-old daughter Bridget.[8][9]
Kantor is the recipient of a Columbia Young Alumni Achievement Award and she has been named as one of Crain's "40 Under 40" rising stars. She appears frequently on television, including Today and Charlie Rose. She tweets at twitter.com/jodikantor.
Kantor is married to Ron Lieber, "Your Money" columnist for the Times. Though she covers Washington she lives in Brooklyn.