‘Confessions,’ Cont’d.
An update to our April 27 cover story: A journalistic flare-up over whether NEWSWEEK played a role in Eliot Spitzer's political rehab.
I wasn't thrilled at the prospect of speaking to Eliot Spitzer after the publication of "Spitzer in Exile," the cover story I wrote on his life since resigning as New York governor last year in the wake of a prostitution scandal. In reporting the article, I'd learned that Spitzer has a politician's intolerance for introspection. How would he feel about my peering inside his soul?
Spitzer had a much more prosaic complaint. In the story, I'd described an afternoon we'd spent jogging together. Spitzer had to stop and walk before we made it around the Central Park Reservoir. His friends had been giving him grief: "What I've been telling them is that you're 20 years younger than me, which you included in your piece. What you didn't include was that you're a competitive runner. So I've been telling them all you're an Olympic-caliber runner." (For the record: not true.)
Journalistic navel gazers had their own issues. They wondered about the role a NEWSWEEK cover would play in Spitzer's political future—whether a news organization that highlights a disgraced politician is aiding and abetting his recovery. On Reliable Sources, media critic Howard Kurtz asked, "Has NEWSWEEK become Spitzer's partner in image rehab?" (There were similar criticisms in the blogosphere.) One of Kurtz's guests said, "This looks like an orchestrated comeback," and probed the possibility that "professional press people" had just handed over Spitzer to me.
The truth is, when I first approached him this past February, he was skeptical; it took hours of interviews before I got enough to merit our cover line, "The Confessions of Eliot Spitzer.' I didn't write about the process because I thought readers would find the story of private citizen Eliot Spitzer far more interesting than they'd find the story of how NEWSWEEK journalist Jonathan Darman got the story. Yes, -NEWSWEEK's piece renews interest in Spitzer, but Spitzer is an inherently interesting figure, and that's why we wanted him on our cover. As I wrote, if Spitzer wants a future in politics, he's got a lot of work ahead of him. Harder work than going running with me.
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Jonathan Darman was named Senior Writer and Political Correspondent in October of 2006. He travels the country profiling candidates for elected office and covering breaking news in national politics.
Prior to his current assignment, Darman was a General Editor in Newsweek's New York headquarters. In that role, he authored or co-authored major profiles of newsmakers in politics and media ranging from former Vice Presidential candidate John Edwards to controversial New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin to 2008 presidential hopeful Gov. Mark Warner. His May 2006 cover story, "The Mystery of Mary Magdalene," separated fact from fiction in the life of Christianity's most fascinating woman. In September of 2005, he spent three weeks covering the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Darman contributed to three Newsweek cover packages on the storm, reporting from the decimated coastline of Biloxi, from an Air Force helicopter hovering over New Orleans and from the private office of Mississippi Governor Hailey Barbour.
Previously, Darman had been an associate editor. In May, 2004 he joined the Campaign 2004 Special Project team as a correspondent. In that position he followed the Kerry/Edwards campaign, reporting from behind-the-scenes for the special issue that Newsweek published two days after Election Day. The special issue won the 2005 National Magazine Award for Single Topic Issue. Public Affairs published "Election 2004: How Bush Won and What You Can Expect in the Future," an expanded version of the campaign narrative, in January 2005. It was a national bestseller.
From February to May 2004, Darman was an associate editor for Newsweek.com where he covered everything from the real estate bubble to reality TV. He also helped conceive and edit GenNext, Newsweek's coverage of youth voters in the 2004 election. Newsweek asked five college journalists to write essays during the campaign and polled voters 18-29 years old each month on campaign issues. Before joining Newsweek as a full-time staffer, Darman held internships in the magazine's Washington and Los Angeles Bureaus and at Newsweek.com.
Darman graduated magna cum laude from Harvard with an A.B. in history and literature. A native of McLean, Virginia, he lives in New York City.
For inquiries, please contact The Daily Beast at editorial@thedailybeast.com.
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