Mark Halperin | |
---|---|
Born | Mark Evan Halperin January 11, 1965 New York City, U.S. |
Education | Harvard University (BA) |
Occupation(s) | Anchor Author Columnist |
Years active | 1988–present |
Notable work | Game Change (2010) Double Down: Game Change 2012 (2013) |
Spouse | Karen Avrich |
Parent | Morton Halperin (father) |
Mark Evan Halperin (born January 11, 1965) [1] is an American journalist, television cable host, political commentator and founder of the interactive media platform 2WAY. Halperin previously had worked as the political director for ABC News, where he also served as the editor of the Washington, D.C., newsletter The Note. In 2010, Halperin joined MSNBC, becoming the senior political analyst and a contributor. Along with John Heilemann, Halperin served as co-managing editor of Bloomberg Politics. [2] Halperin and Heilemann co-wrote Game Change and Double Down: Game Change 2012 , were co-hosts of MSNBC and Bloomberg's With All Due Respect, and produced and co-starred with Mark McKinnon in Showtime's The Circus: Inside the Greatest Political Show on Earth, which followed the presidential candidates behind the scenes of their campaigns in the 2016 United States Presidential Election.
In response to more than a dozen allegations of workplace sexual harassment and sexual assault at his prior position at ABC News, Halperin was fired by both Showtime Networks and NBC News towards the end of October 2017. [3]
Halperin was born to a Jewish family, [4] the son of Morton Halperin, a foreign policy expert and staff member of the National Security Council during the presidential administration of Richard Nixon where he worked for Henry Kissinger; and Ina Weinstein Halperin Young. [5] [6] He was born in New York City but raised in Bethesda, Maryland. [7] [8]
In 1982, before he began his senior year at Walt Whitman High School, he lived with a family in Japan as part of the Youth for Understanding program. [4] He received his B.A. from Harvard University in 1987. [5]
Halperin joined ABC News in 1988. [9]
In 1997, he was named the political director for ABC News. In that capacity, Halperin appeared frequently as a correspondent and political analyst for ABC News television and radio programs. He founded and edited The Note , which appeared daily on ABCNews.com. [10]
In October 2006, Halperin and John F. Harris, published a book together, The Way to Win: Clinton, Bush, Rove, and How to Take the White House in 2008. [11]
Since 2006, Halperin has served as a board member of the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College in Goffstown, New Hampshire. He has been on their public advisory board since it was created in 2008. [12]
In March 2007, Halperin became a political analyst for ABC News and was replaced as political director by David Chalian. In May 2007, he was hired as a political analyst and editor at large for Time magazine. In June 2010, he was hired as a senior political analyst at MSNBC. In 2011, Time released an iPad app called "Mark Halperin 2012" that contains material from Halperin's "The Page" as well as video, photos, breaking news, and Halperin's take on the news. [13]
On June 30, 2011, Halperin was suspended from his duties at MSNBC for "slurring" President Barack Obama on the program Morning Joe , after he said of Obama "I thought he was kind of a dick" for his performance at the previous day's press conference. [14] [15] His suspension was lifted a month later. [16]
In December 2011, Halperin was listed as number 1 in Salon 's 2011 Hack List, his reporting described as "shallow and predictable" as well as "both fixated solely on the horse race and also uniquely bad at analyzing the horse race." [17]
Alex Shephard, writing in The New Republic , criticized his coverage for being "totally fixated" on the horse race and for shallow analysis, and "that he’s wanted to carry Donald Trump's bags for years." [18]
Conversely, Benjamin Wallace-Wells of The New Yorker wrote that Halperin's The Circus is "both an argument for horse-race journalism and a way to see its inner workings, and so to track Heilemann and Halperin in their long traipse across the American interior is to see the media discovering its own vulnerabilities, just as Trump was exploiting them." [19]
The Washington Post's Dana Milbank noted that in June 2016, on his Bloomberg TV show, With All Due Respect, Halperin asserted that "it's not racial" for Trump to attempt to disqualify an Indiana-born federal judge as a "Mexican" because of his ancestry. His reason: "Mexico isn't a race." [20] Halperin went on to acknowledge however, "It's certainly racially tinged." [21]
On November 3rd 2016, NBC's Brian Williams said Halperin had "gone out of his way" to give Trump favorable coverage. "When Donald Trump complains he is not getting favorable coverage in the MSM"—making reference to the mainstream media—"he has not been listening to you this cycle", Williams said to Halperin on Williams' show. "It's a question of looking at the data," said Halperin. "If there's a bit more of a national surge, and if it turns out that his ceiling is higher than the Clinton folks think...I think it's possible he (Trump) could find his way to 270" electoral votes. [22] Less than a week later Trump surprised many people by winning over 300 electoral votes. [23]
On October 26, 2017, CNN reported that five women had accused Halperin of sexual harassment. One woman told the network she was assaulted after visiting Halperin in the early 2000s. "I went up to have a soda and talk and—he just kissed me and grabbed my boobs", the woman said. "I just froze. I didn't know what to do."
Yet another woman told CNN that Halperin once pressed his penis to her shoulder during the 2004 campaign cycle. "I was obviously completely shocked", she said. "Given I was so young and new, I wasn't sure if that was the sort of thing that was expected of you if you wanted something from a male figure in news."
And another former ABC News woman employee, told CNN that she had been on the road with Halperin when he propositioned her. "I excused myself to go to the bathroom and he was standing there when I opened the door, propositioning [me] to go into the other bathroom to do something", she said. "It freaked me out. I came out of the ladies' room and he was just standing there. Like almost blocking the door."
CNN also reported that three other women described Halperin, "without consent, pressing an erection against their bodies while he was clothed." One woman recalled an incident during which "Halperin had pressed his genitals against her while she was seated in his office." [24]
Halperin apologized for pursuing "relationships with women that I worked with, including some junior to me", but he also denied allegations that he had ever pressed his genitals against one woman and grabbed another woman's breast. He further announced that he would temporarily leave his daily work to "properly deal with this situation." [25] [26]
Later that day, NBC News released a statement saying that in light of the allegations, Halperin would not return as a senior political analyst "until the questions around his past conduct are fully understood." [27] HBO announced it would no longer go forward with a planned miniseries about the presidential election that was based in part on Halperin's then-upcoming book on the 2016 election. The premium cable channel said in a statement, "HBO has no tolerance for sexual harassment within the company or its productions." [28] Penguin Press also canceled the latest installment of the Game Change series Halperin was co-authoring with John Heilemann, which HBO had already canceled plans to adapt. [29]
A day after their first story, CNN ran a second story revealing that the number of women accusing Halperin of misconduct had grown to "at least a dozen". [30] In a lengthy statement published in response to the CNN report, Halperin denied several of the new allegations, including ones that he masturbated in front of anyone or physically assaulted anyone. He apologized to the women he "mistreated" while acknowledging that he recognized he had a problem near the end of his tenure at ABC, received weekly counseling sessions, and ended the behavior; [31] however, a later report from The Daily Beast included an allegation of harassment from 2011. [32]
On October 30, 2017, both NBC and MSNBC terminated Halperin's contract with the networks. [33] [3] On January 3, 2018, Showtime replaced Halperin on The Circus with CBS News anchor Alex Wagner. [34] [35] [36]
According to a May 3, 2019, report in The Daily Beast , Halperin worked on repairing his reputation during the first quarter of 2019 with a goal of returning as a pundit on television and radio. According to the article, Halperin enlisted the help of Michael Smerconish, Mika Brzezinski, and Joe Scarborough on an under-the-radar yet calculated professional rehabilitation campaign. Since the beginning of 2019, Halperin resumed posting on Twitter. Around the same time, Halperin appeared on Sirius XM with Smerconish, where he said he has been working with the Fortune Society, a New York City-based nonprofit organization that provides essential support to the formerly incarcerated. [37]
On August 18, 2019, publisher Regan Arts announced that Halperin had signed a new book deal. The book, entitled How to Beat Trump: America's Top Political Strategists on What It Will Take, was published in early-November 2019. Contributors to the book include David Axelrod, Donna Brazile, and James Carville. Both CNN and NBC declined to promote the book. [38]
After news broke about the upcoming book, there was widespread criticism and outrage, with Gretchen Carlson calling the deal "a slap in the face to all women." Rebecca Katz, a political strategist said on Twitter, "you can beat Trump without supporting the career rehabilitation of Mark Halperin." CNN political commentator Karen Finney called Halperin "a predator" and denounced publisher Regan Arts. Eleanor McManus, who had written of being sexually harassed by Halperin as a 21-year-old, commented: "He leveraged his position as a prominent journalist to prey on women... Giving him a book once again puts him in a position of authority and that is a slap in the face to all the women that he has victimized." [39] [40]
According to a September 9, 2019 report in The Daily Beast , Halperin allegedly made vague threats toward MSNBC president Phil Griffin during a phone call after Griffin refused to approve a possible collaboration with the Morning Joe team earlier in 2019. [41]
In 2019 Halperin launched a daily political blog called "Wide World of News" published digitally on Substack. In 2023, Wide World of News became a paid subscription described as "the inside track on what will happen next and why" in the political arena.
In 2020, Halperin began appearing on Newsmax TV as a contributor and as the host of its weekly Sunday show, Mark Halperin's Focus Group. [42] The series ended after three seasons.
In 2024 Halperin founded and launched a startup interactive video platform called "2Way," where he currently facilitates daily live video conference calls that attract tens of thousands of viewers. The program is described as a virtual town hall, where expert analysis exists side by side with ordinary people who speak on the topics of the day in what is essentially a large zoom call. Halperin moderates.
His guests include former governors, senators, members of congress, political consultants from both parties, activists, and fellow journalists.
Halperin begins most segments by saying the platform seeks to promote 'peace love and understanding' and an ethos of listening and learning despite partisan disagreements. Segments are viewable and archived on 2way.tv, YouTube and X.
Halperin was the first political journalist to predict that President Biden would drop out of the 2024 race. [43]
Halperin resides in New York City with his wife, Karen Avrich, co-author of Sasha and Emma . [2] [44]
The Fox News Channel (FNC), commonly known as Fox News, is an American multinational conservative news and political commentary television channel and website based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is owned by the Fox Corporation. It is the most-watched cable news network in the U.S., and as of 2023 generates approximately 70% of its parent company's pre-tax profit. The channel broadcasts primarily from studios at 1211 Avenue of the Americas in Midtown Manhattan. Fox News provides a service to 86 countries and territories, with international broadcasts featuring Fox Extra segments during advertising breaks.
NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, a division of NBCUniversal, which is, in turn, a wholly owned subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's various operations report to the president of NBC News, Rebecca Blumenstein. The NBCUniversal News Group also comprises MSNBC, the network's 24-hour general news channel, business and consumer news channels CNBC and CNBC World, the Spanish language Noticias Telemundo and United Kingdom–based Sky News.
Christopher John Matthews is an American political commentator, retired talk show host, and author. Matthews hosted his weeknight hour-long talk show, Hardball with Chris Matthews, on America's Talking and later on MSNBC, from 1997 until March 2, 2020. He announced on his final episode that he was retiring, following an accusation that he had made inappropriate comments to a Hardball guest four years earlier.
Mika Emilie Leonia Brzezinski Scarborough is an American talk show host who co-hosts MSNBC's weekday morning broadcast show Morning Joe alongside her husband Joe Scarborough. She was formerly a CBS News correspondent, and was their principal "Ground Zero" reporter during the morning of the September 11 attacks. In 2007, she joined MSNBC as an occasional anchor, and was subsequently chosen as co-host of Morning Joe.
Christopher Charles Cuomo is an American television journalist anchor at NewsNation, based in New York City. He has previously been the ABC News chief law and justice correspondent and the co-anchor for ABC's 20/20, news anchor for Good Morning America from 2006 to 2009, and an anchor at CNN, where he co-hosted its morning show New Day from 2013 through May 2018, before moving to Cuomo Prime Time in June 2018.
Donald Jay Deutsch is an American branding and marketing professional, television personality, and former chairman of advertising firm Deutsch Inc. He joined his father's advertising firm, David Deutsch Associates, in 1983. In 1989, his father handed full control of the agency to Donny.
Morning Joe is an American morning news talk show, which airs weekdays from 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time on the cable news channel MSNBC. It features former US Representative (Independent) Joe Scarborough reporting and discussing the news of the day in a panel format with co-hosts Mika Brzezinski and Willie Geist, who regularly co-hosts from Tuesdays to Fridays, along with recurring and special guests.
Mark David McKinnon is an American political advisor, reform advocate, media columnist, and television producer. He was the chief media advisor to five successful presidential primary and general election campaigns, and is a co-founder of No Labels, an organization dedicated to bipartisanship and political problem solving. He served as vice chairman of Public Strategies, Inc., which was acquired by the international communications consultancy Hill & Knowlton Strategies, and was president of Maverick Media. McKinnon is the co-creator, co-executive producer, and co-host of Showtime's The Circus: Inside the Greatest Political Show on Earth and consulted on the HBO series The Newsroom and Netflix's House of Cards. He was a regular columnist for The Daily Beast and The Daily Telegraph (London).
Stephen Edward Schmidt is an American political and corporate strategist. He is best known for working on Republican political campaigns, including those of President George W. Bush, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Arizona Senator John McCain during his 2008 presidential campaign.
Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime is a book by political journalists John Heilemann and Mark Halperin about the 2008 United States presidential election. Released on January 11, 2010, it was also published in the United Kingdom under the title Race of a Lifetime: How Obama Won the White House. The book is based on interviews with more than 300 people involved in the campaign. It discusses factors including Democratic Party presidential candidate John Edwards' extramarital affair, the relationship between Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama and his vice presidential running mate Joe Biden, the failure of Republican Party candidate Rudy Giuliani's presidential campaign and Sarah Palin's vice presidential candidacy.
John Arthur Heilemann is an American journalist and national affairs analyst for NBC News and MSNBC. With Mark Halperin, he co-authored Game Change (2010) and Double Down (2013), books about presidential campaigning. Heilemann has formerly been a staff writer for New York, Wired, and The Economist.
Alexandra Swe Wagner is an American television host. She is the host of Alex Wagner Tonight on MSNBC and the author of FutureFace: A Family Mystery, an Epic Quest, and the Secret to Belonging. She was a contributor for CBS News and is a contributing editor at The Atlantic. In 2022, she hosted the first season of Netflix's The Mole reboot. Previously, she was the anchor of the daytime program Now with Alex Wagner (2011–2015) on MSNBC and the co-host of The Circus on Showtime. From November 2016 until March 2018, she was a TV co-anchor on CBS This Morning Saturday. She has also been a senior editor at The Atlantic magazine since April 2016.
Ari Naftali Melber is an American attorney and Emmy-winning journalist who is the Chief Legal Correspondent for MSNBC and host of The Beat with Ari Melber.
Double Down: Game Change 2012 is a book written by political journalists John Heilemann and Mark Halperin about the 2012 United States presidential election, in which Barack Obama was re-elected as President of the United States, defeating Mitt Romney. The book, published by Penguin Press, is a behind-the-scenes narrative of the Obama and Romney campaigns. It is the sequel to Game Change, which chronicled the 2008 United States presidential election. Double Down was released on November 5, 2013.
Jennifer M. Palmieri is an American political advisor and media personality who served as White House Director of Communications from 2013 to 2015 and Director of Communications for the Hillary Clinton 2016 presidential campaign. Palmieri was the co-host of the political documentary series The Circus on Showtime from 2021 to 2023.
With All Due Respect is an American television series broadcast by Bloomberg Television, featuring Mark Halperin and John Heilemann. On October 6, 2014, the series began airing weekdays at 5 pm ET on Bloomberg Television, with repeats at 8 pm ET. The show re-aired weekdays at 6 pm ET on MSNBC. Each weekday, Halperin and Heilemann took an irreverent look at the presidential race, including their own observations and those of guest reporters and political figures.
Kasie Sue Hunt is an American political correspondent for CNN, and host of CNN This Morning with Kasie Hunt. From 2013 to 2021, she was NBC News' Capitol Hill correspondent, covering Congress across all NBC News and MSNBC platforms, and was the host of MSNBC's Way Too Early with Kasie Hunt and Kasie DC.
The Circus is an American documentary television series initially following the 2016 presidential race, the Trump administration, the 2020 United States presidential election, and then the Biden administration. It was produced by Left/Right Productions, a North Road company, for Showtime.
David A. Fahrenthold is an American journalist who writes for The New York Times. Previously he wrote for The Washington Post. He has also served as a political analyst for NBC News and MSNBC. In 2017, he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting for his coverage of Donald Trump and his alleged charitable givings, including the 2016 United States presidential election.
Trumped: Inside the Greatest Political Upset of All Time is a 2017 American documentary film that chronicles the presidential campaign of Donald Trump, leading up to his electoral victory in November 2016. The film was directed by Ted Bourne, Mary Robertson, and Banks Tarver, and was created from footage that was shot for the Showtime television documentary series, The Circus: Inside the Greatest Political Show on Earth, starring Mark Halperin, John Heilemann, and Mark McKinnon; the three also appear in the film.