David Gregory (journalist)

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David Gregory reporting on a Democratic Presidential Candidates Debate from Dartmouth College in 2007.
David Gregory reporting on a Democratic Presidential Candidates Debate from Dartmouth College in 2007.

David Gregory (born August 24, 1970) is currently the NBC News Chief White House Correspondent, a job he has held since February 2001. He is occasionally a guest host on MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews and Meet the Press, in addition to appearing as a commentator on a variety of NBC and MSNBC news programs. He is also the primary male fill-in co-host on Today. Starting March 17, 2008, Gregory has his own show on MSNBC at 6 p.m. on weekdays named Race for the White House. He has been nicknamed "Stretch" by President George W. Bush because of his height, (6'5").[1]

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[edit] Journalism career

Gregory, a Los Angeles native, began his journalism career at the age of 18 as a summer reporter for KGUN-TV in Tucson, Arizona. He also worked for NBC's flagship West Coast affiliate KCRA-TV in Sacramento. Gregory graduated from American University in 1992. He wrote for the school newspaper, The Eagle, while there. He received a degree in International Studies from the School of International Service. Since 2000,[2] Gregory has been married to former federal prosecutor Beth Wilkinson, now general counsel at Fannie Mae. They have three children.

Gregory has been the substitute co-anchor of Weekend Today, filling in for Lester Holt on that program since 2003, and has also filled in on NBC News Weekend Nightly News since 2005. Gregory has filled in for Matt Lauer on the Today show from 2005 to the present. Gregory had been considered to replace Matt Lauer on The Today Show in 2007; however, Lauer has since signed a new contract with NBC. Gregory was also the Anchor of News Chat, Crosstalk NBC, and Newsfront on MSNBC from 1998 to 2000. Gregory also filled the Imus in the Morning time slot on MSNBC after the Don Imus controversy involving the Rutgers Basketball team while MSNBC searched for a permanent host. Gregory served as a guest host in the morning time slot for MSNBC (while also being simulcast on WFAN) for one week in May. The morning radio program was known as Gregory Live. He was also rumored to get the permanent replacement on both WFAN and MSNBC, but the timeslot went to Joe Scarborough's Morning Joe on MSNBC and Boomer Esiason on WFAN.

Prior to his appointment as White House correspondent, Gregory covered the George W. Bush campaign and the Republican primaries for NBC in the 2000 election.

The conservative Media Research Center awarded him Best White House Correspondent for coverage of Bush's first 100 days. Media Research Award

In 2005, Gregory shared an Emmy Award with his colleagues for the network's coverage of President Ronald Reagan's death and funeral the previous summer.

[edit] CIA leak case

During the trial of Scooter Libby on January 29, 2007, former White House spokesman Ari Fleischer, testifying under an immunity agreement, named Gregory as one of two reporters (with John Dickerson of Time) to whom he revealed Valerie Plame's name and CIA identity on July 11, 2003, during a presidential visit to Uganda.[3] The alleged leak occurred three days before Plame's name was published by columnist Robert Novak, tipping off the CIA leak investigation. Gregory had not previously mentioned a possible connection to the leak investigation, which he has frequently covered for NBC.

Following Fleischer's testimony, former Time reporter John Dickerson publicly disputed his account. Writing for Slate magazine in February 2006, nearly a year before Fleischer testified, Dickerson claimed that Fleischer urged him to look into who sent Joe Wilson to Niger but that he did not mention his wife, her name, nor her CIA identity.

Gregory has not publicly discussed his involvement in the case, nor why he did not disclose his involvement while reporting on the CIA leak investigation.

[edit] Press secretary conflicts

Gregory's interaction with President George W. Bush's press secretaries has been contentious at times, garnering media attention in several instances. Conservative commentators have seized these opportunities to point out what they perceive as a left-wing bias on Gregory's part.[4]

[edit] Scott McClellan

At a White House press "gaggle" (an off-camera morning briefing) on February 13, 2006 two days after the accidental shooting of a Houston lawyer by U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, Gregory confronted Scott McClellan, the White House Press Secretary, about the manner in which the press was notified about the incident. (By agreement with the Vice President, the incident was first reported by the Corpus Christi Caller-Times after the owner of the ranch on which the incident took place waited some 14 hours.) This led to the following exchange:

MCCLELLAN: "Hold on. Cameras aren't on right now. You can do this later."
GREGORY: "Don't accuse me of trying to pose to the cameras. Don't be a jerk to me personally when I'm asking you a serious question."
MCCLELLAN: "You don't have to yell."
GREGORY: "I will yell. If you want to use that podium and try to take shots at me personally, which I don't appreciate, then I will raise my voice, because that's wrong."
MCCLELLAN: "Calm down, David."

On February 19, Gregory appeared on NBC News' Meet the Press and apologized for his behavior which he referred to as "unprofessional".

[edit] Tony Snow

On December 7, 2006, Gregory posed a question regarding the Iraq Study Group Report, asking how the President could view the report's content as anything but a "rejection of the President's policy". Snow then responded that Gregory was framing the question in a partisan manner and would not answer. Several media outlets, such as Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, used it as evidence that NBC's coverage was too hard on President Bush.[4] Days later, Snow apologized to Gregory for his part in the incident. Gregory and Snow appear to be on good terms.

[edit] Race for the White House

As of March 10, 2008, David Gregory has been given a new show on MSNBC weekdays at 6pm, replacing Tucker Carlson. The show is called Race for the White House.

[edit] Other talents

There are videos on the internet of him doing impersonations of President George W. Bush during a trip to France and a popular video of him dancing in the background (off camera for most of the time) when Mary J. Blige performed on the Today show in December 2007. Gregory also served as a back-up dancer for presidential advisor and "rapper" Karl Rove during the Washington, D.C. Correspondents Dinner on March 28, 2007.[5]

[edit] Recent articles

[edit] References

  1. ^ NBC's David Gregory Accidentally Reveals His George Bush Impression - Politics on The Huffington Post
  2. ^ New York Times Weddings: Beth Wilkinson, David Gregory
  3. ^ Ari Fleischer testimony liveblogging, January 29, 2007
  4. ^ a b FOXNews.com - Who Is Looking Out for You as Far as Iraq Is Concerned? - Bill O’Reilly | The O’Reilly Factor
  5. ^ 'Rapping' Karl Rove at White House dinner

[edit] External links