Jeff Jacoby (columnist)

Jeff Jacoby (born February 10, 1959) is a conservative syndicated American newspaper columnist.

Career

Jeff Jacoby's column has been published on the op-ed page of the "Boston Globe" since 1994, when he was hired as a counterweight to the paper's liberal columnists; from 1987 to 1994, he was chief editorial writer for the conservative "Boston Herald". Within months of his debut at the "Globe", he was described by the left-leaning "Boston Phoenix" as "the region's pre-eminent spokesman for Conservative Nation," and a columnist who had "quickly established himself as a must-read." Jacoby has also been a commentator on the local NPR affiliate, WBUR, and for several years hosted a talk show on local television. He is also a public speaker who lectures nationwide.

In 1999, he became the first recipient of the Breindel Prize, a $10,000 award (since increased to $20,000) for excellence in opinion journalism awarded by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. In 2004, he received the Thomas Paine Award of the libertarian law firm the Institute for Justice, an award presented to journalists "who dedicate their work to the preservation and championing of individual liberty." [cite web
url=http://www.ij.org/publications/liberty/2004/13_4_04_i.html
title=Boston Globe's Jeff Jacoby Wins IJ's Thomas Paine Award | date=2004-086-01 |publisher=Institute for Justice | author=John E. Kramer |accessdate=2008-06-04]

Before becoming a columnist, Jacoby worked briefly as an attorney with the firm Baker & Hostetler, and as deputy manager of Raymond Shamie's senatorial campaign in 1984. Following Shamie's loss, Jacoby worked for 15 months as an assistant to John Silber, then-president of Boston University.

Suspension Controversy

In 2000, Jacoby was suspended by the Globe for four months without pay for what the paper called his "serious journalistic misconduct" in failing to provide sources for a Fourth of July column on the fate of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. Although the themes and ideas in the column had already appeared in other media outlets, Jacoby neglected to mention that the column's content was not original.

The Globe "avoided calling the column a work of plagiarism," [ [http://www.cltg.org/cltg/cltg2000/00-07-09.htm Boston Globe Columnist and CLT Friend Jeff Jacoby Suspended] ] Globe publisher Richard Gilman said that "We cannot look the other way if any of our columnists, reporters, or writers borrow without attribution from the works of others, even in an attempt to improve upon it." [ [http://www.cltg.org/cltg/cltg2000/00-07-09.htm Boston Globe Columnist and CLT Friend Jeff Jacoby Suspended] ]

The case caused a storm of controversy among conservative commentators, who rushed to pass judgement on a perceived bastion of liberal journalism such as the Globe. On CNN's Reliable Sources, veteran journalists Bernard Kalb and Howard Kurtz concluded that "Jeff Jacoby got shafted by the Boston Globe." [cite web
url=http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0007/22/rs.00.html
title=Reliable Sources: Veepstakes Reaches Fever Pitch; Former Clinton Aide Charges Hillary with Slur; Did the 'Boston Globe' Overreact in Latest Suspension?| date=2000-07-22 |publisher=CNN | author= |accessdate=2008-06-04] Time magazine's Lance Morrow wrote that "Jacoby's offense was no offense." [cite web
url=http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,50288,00.html
title=In Boston, a Foolish Consistency of Little Minds| date=2000-07-19 |publisher=Time | author=Lance Morrow |accessdate=2008-06-04] Many conservative organizations and commentators expressed outrage, saying that Jacoby had been unfairly held to a far stricter standard than other journalists would be. [cite web
url=http://www.mediaresearch.org/BozellColumns/newscolumn/2000/col20000713.asp/
title=Jeff Jacoby's Patriotic Problem | date=2000-07-13 |publisher=Media Research Center | author=L. Brent Bozell III |accessdate=2008-06-04] "The Boston Phoenix", often at odds with Jacoby's views, also rose to Jacoby's defense [cite web |url=http://www.bostonphoenix.com/archive/features/00/07/13/DON_T_QUOTE_ME.html |title=Don't Quote Me -- "Cruel and Unusual" |publisher=The Boston Phoenix |author=Dan Kennedy |accessdate=2008-06-06]

Jacoby called the critical reaction of the Globe ombudsman, Jack Thomas, "disgraceful and nonsensical," and said that even though he "made a mistake" in not including a disclaimer that the material in the column had been reclycled, the column itself was nevertheless "inspirational." [ [http://www.massnews.com/past_issues/other/8_Aug/augja6.htm Fox News Transcript, July 17, 2000] ] Jacoby implied that his services were in high demand elsewhere, telling Fox News' Bill O'Reilly that he had received an offer from another prominent media outlet.

"O'REILLY: Hang in there. You'll be back in journalism, whether it's at the "Globe," you'll be -- and did you get the job offer that we had for you last week at the world, what was it, a world magazine?"

"JACOBY: That one has come in. They haven't made any decisions yet. I'm hopeful that there will be a lot of choices to choose from if, in fact, I don't go back to the "Globe" -- which is what I'm still hoping is going to happen. "

The suspension came two years after the forced resignations of Boston Globe columnists Mike Barnicle and Patricia Smith, who were caught fabricating stories and quotes [ [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1355/is_n6_v94/ai_21246923 Boston Globe columnist resigns after admitting fabricating people and quotes] ] [ [http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/1998/08/19/national/main16277.shtml Mike Barnicle Quits Under Fire, Popular Boston Newspaper Columnist Supected of Fabricating a 1995 Column] ] . Boston University professor Tobe Berkovitz hypothesized that the scandals surrounding those two columnists had influenced the Globe's decision to suspend Jacoby. "Considering the recent track record with problems with columnists at the Globe, I'm not surprised with the action they took," Berkovitz said. [ [http://www.cltg.org/cltg/cltg2000/00-07-09.htm Boston Globe Columnist and CLT Friend Jeff Jacoby Suspended] ]

Jacoby claimed that as the only conservative columnist on the otherwise liberal Boston Globe Op-Ed pages, he was held to a higher standard. "I've been aware from the outset that I have to be extremely aware of my column," he told the Associated Press. [ [http://archive.seacoastonline.com/2000news/7_8_sb1.htm Globe suspends columnist for "misconduct"] ]

In August 2000, Jacoby filed a grievance through his union, The Newspaper Guild. [cite web
url=http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/article_brief/eandp/1/1124524
title=JACOBY TAKES LEGAL ACTION | date=2000-08-21 |publisher=Editor & Publisher | author=Joe Strupp |accessdate=2008-06-04] [cite web
url=http://www.newsguild.org/gr/pdf/010119.pdf
title=Globe columnist now a dues-paying Guilder | date=2001-01-19 |publisher=The Guild Reporter | author= |accessdate=2008-06-04]

Personal life

Born in Cleveland, Jacoby is a graduate of George Washington University and the Boston University School of Law, both with honors. His father, a Holocaust survivor, was born in present-day Slovakia in 1925 and came to the United States in 1948. Jacoby has been married to Laura Weller since 1996. They have two sons, Caleb (b. 1997), and Micah (b. 2003); the latter was adopted from Guatemala in 2004. He is a student of Rabbi Gershon Gewirtz, a prominent Brookline-based orthodox rabbi.

External links

* [https://bostonglobe.com/newsroom/Editorial-Opinion/jacoby.stm Brief bio at the "Globe" website]
* [http://www.jewishworldreview.com/jeff/jacoby_archives.asp "Jewish World Review" columns]
* [http://www.bigeye.com/jjlist.htm Older columns (2002-04) at "The Big Eye"]

References