David D. Kirkpatrick

David D. Kirkpatrick (born 1970) is a reporter for The New York Times. He currently serves as its Cairo bureau chief and a Middle East correspondent.^[1][2]

Biography

He was born in Buffalo, New York, earned a B.A. in history and American studies at Princeton University, graduating magna cum laude, and attended the graduate program in American Studies at Yale.^[3] He started in the media group at The New York Times in June 2000.

Professional career

During the United States presidential election of 2004, he was assigned to invent a "conservative beat" for the New York Times,^[4] with a special focus on religious conservatives. The assignment raised eyebrows among some on the right because of the newspaper's liberal reputation and editorials.^[5]

In addition to the Washington, National, and Media desks of the Times, he has written for the New York Times magazine^[6] as well as New York magazine. ^[7] This included a series exposing plagiarism in non-fiction writing.^[8]

On December 28th 2013, Kirkpatrick published a detailed account of the 2012 Benghazi attack titled: "A Deadly Mix in Benghazi." Based on extensive interviews with Libyan witnesses and American officials, the article concluded that the attack began neither as a spontaneous protest nor an Al Qaeda plot. It was a planned attack carried out by local Islamist militants, and it was inspired in part by an American-made online video ridiculing Islam.

References