I’ve never heard of this Joe Klein.
To me, he’s a hack writer and dishonest, to boot. He hits at Palin pretty hard, pretty often.
“I’ve never heard of this Joe Klein.”
On July 17, 1996, seven months after the publication of his best-selling political novel, Primary Colors, Joseph Klein revealed himself as the anonymous author of the book that caused a worldwide frenzy over the identity of the political insider. Drooling over information and frustrated by failed detective work, the press began implementing techniques more scientific than speculation a week before the New Hampshire primaries in 1996. New York magazine hired a Vassar University professor to analyze the novel’s style in hopes of finding a match. Klein’s style was identical despite his previous denial of authorship. In July 1996, a Washington Post article concurred with the results of the style examination when they analyzed handwriting on a corrected manuscript copy and published the results. Soon after, Klein called a press conference and officially declared himself the author (Contemporary Authors database).
Klein was born a United States citizen in New York on September 7, 1946 to Malcolm and Miriam Klein. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1968 with a degree in American civilization and began his journalism career in 1969 as a reporter with the Beverly/Peabody Times in Beverly, Massachusetts (Royce Carlton Incorporated, p. 3). In 1972 Klein expanded to broadcast media as a reporter for WGBH-TV in Boston while he was simultaneously a news editor at the Real Paper in Boston. In 1974 Klein took an associate editor position with Rolling Stone in New York City, where he remained until 1978, serving as the Washington bureau chief from 1974 to 1976. He began free-lance writing for television and magazines in 1978 (Contemporary Authors database). From 1987 to 1992, Klein was a political columnist at New York magazine where he won a number of awards. He began consulting and commentating on American politics for CBS-TV and other various broadcasts in 1992 until July 1997 (Royce Carlton Incorporated, p. 3).
Prior to his current position as a columnist at the New Yorker, since December 1996, Klein was a political reporter and columnist with Newsweek, where his reporting helped the magazine earn a National Magazine Award for Single-Topic Issue on Clinton’s 1992 victory. Klein joined Newsweek in 1992 during Clinton’s campaign and addressed national and international affairs in his column entitled, “Public Lives” (Royce Carlton Incorporated). At the New Yorker, he began as the Washington correspondent, but is now a Writer at Large, addressing events in Washington and abroad.
He currently resides with his second wife and two children in Westchester County, New York. He has two adult sons with his first wife, who he divorced in 1975 (Royce Carlton Incorporated).
Klein has published six books, four non-fiction and two fiction. The non-fiction works, Woody Guthrie: A Life, Payback: Five Marines after Vietnam, Questions from Dad: A Very Cool Way to Communicate with Kids, and The Natural: The Misunderstood Presidency of Bill Clinton, were published in 1980, 1984, 1994, and 2002 respectively. The two fiction novels, Primary Colors and The Running Mate, were published in 1996 and 2000 respectively (Contemporary Authors database).
Many questioned Klein’s status as an ethical and credible journalist after he denied allegations of writing Primary Colors only to admit himself the author just months later. Kevin Smith, a reporter and chair of the ethics committee for the Society of Professional Journalists, said in a New York Times article that it was wrong for Klein to believe he could shed his identity as a journalist and create a work of fiction. Others have associated Klein’s deceit to Janet Cooke, a Washington Post reporter who was striped of a Pulitzer Prize after the paper discovered she invented a child heroin addict who appeared in her story. Smith said, “You should never give up your obligation to deal truthfully with people, whether you are working on a story or in your personal life.” In the same article, Klein responded, “I think I have an obligation to be truthful in all matters that relate to my role as a columnist for Newsweek or as a commentator for CBS and I think that I have been. . .I also had an obligation to [Primary Colors publisher] Random House and to myself and to the integrity of this project” (Contemporary Authors database).