Dan Balz

Last updated
Daniel J. Balz
Dan balz 1910.JPG
Balz at the 2014 Gaithersburg Book Festival
Born1946
Freeport, Illinois, U.S.
Education University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign (BA, MA)
OccupationJournalist
Employer The Washington Post

Daniel Balz is an American journalist who worked for the The Washington Post from 1978 to 2025. During his career at the Post, Balz served as the Texas-based Southwest correspondent, White House correspondent, Political Editor, and National Editor.

Contents

Balz periodically appears as a panelist on the news shows Meet the Press and Washington Week .

In April 2011 the White House Correspondents' Association honored Balz with the prestigious Merriman Smith Award for excellence in presidential coverage under deadline pressure.

Early life and education

Balz was born in Freeport, Illinois. A 1964 graduate of Freeport High School, he received bachelor's and master's degrees in communications from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign and served in the United States Army from 1968 to 1971. [1]

Career

External videos
Nuvola apps kaboodle.svg Booknotes interview with Balz on Storming the Gates, February 18, 1996, C-SPAN

Balz is co-author, with Ronald Brownstein of the Los Angeles Times , of the 1996 book Storming the Gates: Protest Politics and the Republican Revival. [2] In 1999, Balz received the American Political Science Association award for political coverage. [3]

Balz's latest work, co-written with Pulitzer Prize winner Haynes Johnson in 2009, is The Battle for America 2008: The Story of an Extraordinary Election. [4] [5] [6] Based on two years of reporting, it includes exclusive interviews with then-candidates Barack Obama and John McCain and many of their top advisers during the campaign and election. [1]

After college graduation, prior to entering military service, Balz worked for the Freeport Journal Standard covering the 1968 Democratic National Convention and contemporaneous riots. [7] Before coming to The Washington Post, he worked as a reporter and deputy editor for National Journal [1] and as a reporter for The Philadelphia Inquirer .

Personal life

He is married to Nancy Johnson Balz and they have one son. [8] [9]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Dan Balz, National Correspondent for The Washington Post, Keynotes the 2009 Reuben Baumgartner Issues Forum". Highland Community College. August 26, 2009. Archived from the original on 2012-02-25. Retrieved 2012-06-23.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  2. ↑ "Storming the Gates: Interview on C-SPAN". Booknotes. February 18, 1996. Archived from the original on September 28, 2012. Retrieved 2012-06-23.
  3. ↑ "Carey McWilliams Award Winners". American Political Science Association. 1999. Retrieved 2012-06-23.
  4. ↑ Balz, Dan; Johnson, Haynes (August 2, 2009). "A Political Odyssey: How Obama's Team Forged a Path That Surprised Everyone, Even the Candidate". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2012-06-23.
  5. ↑ Burns, Alexander (August 4, 2009). "Inside 'The Battle for America 2008'". Politico. Retrieved 2012-06-23.
  6. ↑ "'Top Line' Spotlight: 'The Battle for America 2008'". ABCNews.com . ABC News. August 7, 2009. Retrieved 2012-06-23.
  7. ↑ "What One Journalist Remembers from the 1968 Convention Riots". Washington Post. Retrieved 24 August 2018.
  8. ↑ Archived January 14, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  9. ↑ Dickerson, Carole (August 18, 2009). "You read it here first!". The Journal-Standard. Archived from the original on 2011-09-30. Retrieved 2012-06-23.
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