Crawford, Craig 1956-

views updated

Crawford, Craig 1956-

PERSONAL:

Born 1956, in Owensboro, KY. Education: Attended American University; Stetson University, B.A., 1978; Stetson College of Law, J.D., 1981.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Washington, DC. Office— Congressional Quarterly, Inc., 1255 22nd St. NW, Washington, DC 20037. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Called to the Florida State Bar. Attorney practicing in Orlando, FL, 1981-84. Orlando Sentinel, Orlando, FL, political reporter and legal columnist, 1985-89, Washington, DC, bureau chief, 1989-97; writer for and publisher of Hotline (online political publication), 1997-2003; Congressional Quarterly, columnist and contributing editor, 2003—. News commentator for networks such as MSNBC, NBC, CBS, CNBC. Has also served as Alabama State Field Director for the John Glenn presidential primary campaign, 1984, and as the Georgia Field Director for the Walter Mondale/Geraldine Ferraro general election campaign, 1984, and Jimmy Carter presidential campaign, 1976.

WRITINGS:

Attack the Messenger: How Politicians Turn You against the Media, Rowman & Littlefield (Lanham, MD), 2006.

Author of weekly column, "White House Trail Mix," for CQ Today.

WORK IN PROGRESS:

A second book for Rowman & Littlefield, scheduled for 2007.

SIDELIGHTS:

Writer, attorney, and journalist Craig Crawford is a prolific public speaker, news commentator, and observer of the Washington political scene. He serves as a White House columnist for the Congressional Quarterly and is a frequent guest commentator on television and radio programs such as Countdown with Keith Olbermann, The Early Show, Imus in the Morning, and CBS's Evening News. Crawford has been involved in journalism for many years, and is the founder of Hotline, an online news source focusing on Washington events and political news. He has worked on major presidential campaigns and ran himself, unsuccessfully, for a state legislative seat in Florida, according to a biographer on the Attack the Messenger Web site. He is an attorney, and although he no longer practices law, he is still licensed in Florida.

As a political insider and a member of the Washington press, Crawford has been in a unique position to observe the conflicts that invariably arise between the government and the media that serves as its watchdog. He maintains that in the last years of the twentieth century and the first few years of the twenty-first, the influence, reputation, and standing of the press has been profoundly diminished under an onslaught of criticism, anger, and ill will by all segments of the government. Attack the Messenger: How Politicians Turn You against the Media is an "impassioned dissection of the rapid devolution of the media's power in today's political environment," commented a Publishers Weekly reviewer. Recent scandals involving plagiarism and fabricated sources have certainly harmed the media's credibility in the eyes of the public, Crawford notes, but there have also been repeated attacks on the press by the government itself, such as aggressive attempts to compel journalists to reveal confidential sources or face imprisonment. These attacks have had a wearying effect, further eroding the public's confidence and distancing the press from its role as overseer and investigator of the government. Further, many in the government have managed to deflect the criticism aimed at them and managed to convince the public that the media is to blame for daring to question, notwithstanding the actual behavior, or misbehavior, of the governmental official under scrutiny.

For Crawford, "the victory of politicians over the press is not only clear, but also deeply alarming," noted reviewer Margaret Sullivan in the Washington Monthly. "American democracy, Crawford argues, depends on a viable press: one that not only aggressively pursues the truth, but is also believed and trusted by the public." Crawford "marshals convincing evidence" in support of his position, noted the Publishers Weekly reviewer. He "often writes engagingly and has his moments of perceptiveness and clarity," Sullivan concluded.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Publishers Weekly, August 15, 2005, review of Attack the Messenger: How Politicians Turn You against the Media, p. 47.

Washington Monthly, October-November, 2005, Margaret Sullivan, "The Elephant in the Room: Craig Crawford Takes Aim at the War against the Media but Missed the Biggest Target," review of Attack the Messenger, p. 54.