Brendan Nyhan

Infobox_Celebrity
name = Brendan Nyhan


caption = Portrait
birth_date = 1978
birth_place = Mountain View, California
death_date =
death_place =
occupation = Writer and Political Scientist
spouse =
footnotes =
children =

Brendan Nyhan (born 1978) is an American liberal to moderate political blogger, author, and political columnist. He was born in Mountain View, California and now lives in Durham, North Carolina.

Biography

Education

Nyhan graduated from Mountain View High School in 1996 and later attended Swarthmore College where he received a degree in political science in 2000. He graduated with high honors. Nyhan is currently a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Political Science at Duke University.

While at Swarthmore, Nyhan and Ben Fritz began the "L-Word: Swarthmore's Journal of Progressive Thought." The periodical was launched in May 1997 and their goal was to provide a forum for the diversity of liberal thought which exists at the college. [ [http://www.sccs.swarthmore.edu/org/l-word/about.html "L Word"] . Information page.] The last issue was in May 1998.

Career background

In 2000, Nyhan served as the Deputy Communications Director for the failed "Edward M. Bernstein for US Senate campaign" in Nevada.

From 2001-2003, Nyhan managed new projects and then marketing and fundraising for Benetech, a Silicon Valley technology nonprofit.

From 2001-2004, Nyhan (with Ben Fritz and Bryan Keefer) co-edited "Spinsanity", a non-partisan watchdog of political spin that was syndicated in "Salon.com" in 2002 on-line and the "Philadelphia Inquirer" in 2004 in print and on the internet. While "Spinsanity" was active the authors logged over four hundred articles. "Spinsanity" closed on January 19, 2005. [ [http://www.spinsanity.org/ Spinsanity Archives] .]

Nyhan co-authored the non-fiction political book "All the President's Spin: George W. Bush, the Media and the Truth" in 2004 along with Fritz and Keefer. According to reviewer John Moe the book "detail [s] how Bush and company, more than any administration in history, cherry pick information that they find helpful, regardless of how representative it is of the overall truth, and then package it with a forceful and persistent presentation that eventually takes on the patina of reality." [Amazon.com. Editorial Review.]

"All the President's Spin" reached the "New York Times" non-fiction paperback bestseller list as #14 in the September 5th edition.

Nyhan has also written for other political and news publications which are on-line such as "American Prospect" (circa 2002), "Time", and others. [ [http://www.prospect.org/web/page.ww?name=View+Author&section=root&id=730 "American Prospect"] . Articles written by Nyhan.] [ [http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1515951,00.html Nyhan, Brendan] . "Time," "Why the Nazi Analogy Is on the Rise," August 31, 2006.]

Controversies

In late 2006 Nyhan was again tapped to write about "media criticism" for the "American Prospect." However, after a few essays/posts he came under attack from the editors for unwarranted criticism of liberal pundits. According to Nyhan, "Sam Rosenfeld, the magazine's online editor, asked that I focus my blogging on conservative targets." Rosenfeld denied that this was the case. Nyhan, due to his background writing about such topics, (e.g. "Spinsanity") refused and decided to terminate his relationship with the "American Prospect" (aka "TAP"). [ [http://time-blog.com/political_bite/2006/09/everybody_has_one_bloggers_and.html Nyhan, Brendan] "Time" on-line, September 20, 2006.]

"TAP" editor Michael Tomasky said that " [t] he Prospect" is hardly averse to criticizing liberal verities" ... but "there were a few posts in succession that struck us as either inaccurate or an effort to draw equivalencies where none existed." Tomasky said that Nyhan had made unfounded allegations for reasons of self-promotion, saying: "The Prospect" has always opposed a 'pox on both houses' posture, and that's what we came to believe [Nyhan was] doing." ["Time", September 20, 2006, ibid.]

Honors and awards

* In 2003 he received an "Award of Distinction" from the "Center on Media and Public Affairs", a conservative media watchdog, for debunking National Education Association (NEA)-9/11 reporting. [ [http://www.eiaonline.com/archives/20030527.htm Education Intelligence Agency] web site.]
* In 2004 Amazon.com chose "All the President's Spin: George W. Bush, the Media and the Truth" as one of the ten best political books of the year. [Amazon.com Best 2004 Political List.]
* Nyhan was selected as a fellow to the 2006-2007 Program for Advanced Research in the Social Sciences (PARISS) by Duke University. [ [http://fds.duke.edu/db/aas/PoliticalScience/currentnews.html Duke Political Science Department] web site.]

Books

* Nyhan, Brendan, "et al" (2004). "All the President's Spin: George W. Bush, the Media and the Truth," Touchstone Publishing, New York. ISBN 0743262514.

References

External links

* [http://www.brendan-nyhan.com/ Brendan Nyhan Political Blog] .
* [http://www.spinsanity.org/ Spinsanity Archives] .
* [http://www.duke.edu/~bjn3/ Nyhan's Duke Web Page] , includes political science papers.
* [http://www.prospect.org/web/page.ww?section=root&name=ViewWeb&articleId=8317 American Prospect] review of "All The President's Spin," August 10, 2004.
* [http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,65090,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_3 Article by] the Associated Press about "Spinsanity," Nyhan quoted frequently.