David Cay Johnston

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search
David Cay Johnston
Born December 24, 1948 (1948-12-24) (age 60)
San Francisco
Education San Francisco State University (No degree awarded)
Michigan State University (No degree awarded)
University of Chicago (No degree awarded)
Occupation Journalist
Spouse Jennifer Leonard
Notable credit(s) Perfectly Legal

David Cay Johnston (born Dec. 24, 1948) is an investigative journalist and author. Until April 2008, he was a senior tax reporter with The New York Times for 13 years. He now works as an independent author and reporter. On June 23, 2008 Johnston inaugurated “Johnston’s Take,” a regular column that he writes for Tax Analysts, the nonprofit publisher of the weekly trade journal Tax Notes.[1] Johnston also is a Distinguished Visiting Lecturer at Syracuse University College of Law, where he teaches the course History of the Regulation of Trade and Business.[2]

Johnston is the author of best-selling books on tax and economic policy, the most recently published of which is Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense and Stick You With The Bill, about hidden subsidies, rigged markets, and corporate socialism. It follows his earlier book Perfectly Legal: The Covert Campaign to Rig Our Tax System to Benefit the Super Rich--and Cheat Everybody Else, a New York Times bestseller[3] on the U.S. tax system that won the Investigative Reporters and Editors 2003 Book of the Year award.

Johnston's first book, Temples of Chance: How America Inc. Bought Out Murder Inc. to Win Control of the Casino Business is an account of how, in the 1980s, the junk bond kings usurped mob control of the casino industry. The book discusses corruption in the industry and the role of the U.S. government in that corruption.

Johnston received the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for Beat Reporting "for his penetrating and enterprising reporting that exposed loopholes and inequities in the U.S. tax code, which was instrumental in bringing about reforms." He was a finalist in 2003 "for his stories that displayed exquisite command of complicated U.S. tax laws and of how corporations and individuals twist them to their advantage." He was also a finalist in 2000 "for his lucid coverage of problems resulting from the reorganization of the Internal Revenue Service."[4]

Johnston has investigated uncaught murderers, the unfairly imprisoned, Los Angeles Police Department abuses, Barron Hilton, misuse of charitable funds at United Way, news manipulation at WJIM-TV, and Donald Trump's net worth.

In 1968, at age 19, Johnston began his career at the San Jose Mercury News. In 1973 he left the Mercury News to study at the University of Chicago under a five-month fellowship. He then took a position as an investigative reporter at the Detroit Free Press in its Lansing bureau from 1973 to 1976, and later worked as a reporter for the Los Angeles Times from 1976 to 1988. Johnston then worked as a reporter at The Philadelphia Inquirer from 1988 to 1995. He joined The New York Times in February 1995.

Like columnist Steven Pearlstein, Johnston has won praise for his writings even though he has no formal education or training in economics. Johnston studied economics at the University of Chicago graduate school and at six other colleges, earning six years of college credits but no degree because he took upper level and graduate level courses almost exclusively.[5]

Johnston has been critical of news media coverage of the 2008 $700 billion bailout of Wall Street. In a letter to American journalist and blogger Jim Romenesko, Johnston wrote, "In covering the proposed $700 billion bailout of Wall Street don't repeat the failed lapdog practices that so damaged our reputations in the rush to war in Iraq and the adoption of the Patriot Act. Don't assume that Congress must act instantly, as so many news stories state as if it was an immutable fact. Don't assume there is a case just because officials say there is."[6] Johnston has been cited favorably by Glenn Greenwald[7] as well as other bailout critics.[8] On September 26, 2008 Johnston said: "If you look around, you'll notice that banks are still making ordinary loans to ordinary businesses. Your mailbox is still full of proposals to sell you credit cards and extend you debt. The Internet still has ads for these very toxic mortgages that are at the heart of this. They're being advertised all over the Internet."..."And my point is not to argue that there is or is not a crisis, but that journalists need to begin not by questioning around the edges but by going to the core question. Is this the least expensive way to do this? Are there market solutions that might be applied?"[9]

Johnston is married to Jennifer Leonard, [10] [11] who is president and executive director of the Rochester Area Community Foundation. They live in Brighton, New York, a suburb of Rochester. He has eight children and five grandchildren.

[edit] Writings

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ Tax Analysts press release David Cay Johnston, Pulitzer Prize-Winning Reporter, Begins Regular Column
  2. ^ Syracuse University faculty profile
  3. ^ Roth, Bryan (2008), "And the rich get richer", Brighton-Pittsford Community Post (Canandaigua, New York: Messenger-Post): 1–2, January 21, 2008 
  4. ^ Pulitzer Prize for Beat Reporting
  5. ^ Perfectly Legal author bio
  6. ^ Poynter forum post from David Cay Johnston: Journalists, start your skepticism.
  7. ^ Glenn Greenwald Salon Radio interview of David Cay Johnston, Salon, October 1, 2008
  8. ^ Forty-Two: David Cay Johnston on the Bailout; October 1, 2008
  9. ^ On The Media, September 26, 2008
  10. ^ Jennifer Leonard, president, Rochester Area Community Foundation
  11. ^ Jennifer Leonard bio
United States  This article about a United States journalist is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Cay_Johnston"
Personal tools
Languages