Jonathan Alter '79 (Journalist, Author, & Political Pundit)
By D. Dona Le '05
Journalist, author, and political pundit Jonathan Alter ‘79 was already interested in writing as a young boy. He attempted to pen his first book in second grade and also published a personal newspaper that was distributed in his Chicago neighborhood. However, despite working on his high school newspaper, Alter didn’t decide to pursue a career in journalism until after graduating with honors from Harvard College as a History concentrator.
"When I graduated in 1979, I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do. My vague intention was to apply to law school but it slipped my mind,” he jokes, "and I never got around to taking the LSATs.”
Instead, Alter saved enough money to travel around Europe and the Middle East for a few months. Upon his return to the United States, he moved to Washington, DC and stayed with college friends who were working on Capitol Hill. Alter then began freelance writing for a variety of publications.
For instance, he wrote an article for the Federal Aviation Administration magazine and interviewed the first man who ever hijacked an airplane. He was also a writer for an environmental magazine, an advertising magazine, and THE NEW REPUBLIC, which was edited by Harvard alumni Marty Peretz (MA/PhD in Government) and Michael Kinsley ’72.
Kinsley was the editor of THE NEW REPUBLIC and enabled Alter to publish a few articles in both THE NEW REPUBLIC and WASHINGTON MONTHLY.
He was eventually hired by WASHINGTON MONTHLY, which was a small magazine at the time; nonetheless, the modest salary the position offered did not deter Alter.
"You shouldn’t choose your first job based on pay, but based on where it might lead.”
Other Harvard graduates had served as editors and writers for WASHINGTON MONTHLY as well, including James Fallows and Nicholas Lemann, and had gone on to forge successful careers as professional journalists.
According to Alter, "There was no reason to feel that it was a mistake for me to take the job for starvation’s sake. And I didn’t really have any time in the two years I spent there to have any money anyway because I was working so hard—it was a boot camp situation to break cover stories.”
After his two-year stint at the publication, Alter began working for NEWSWEEK under the "legendary Katharine Graham, one of the most important American women of the twentieth century,” he says.
Alter began at NEWSWEEK as the assistant to the editor-in-chief and, after only one year, became the magazine’s media critic. Seven years later, in 1991, he began writing a regular political column for NEWSWEEK, the first of its kind.
In the meantime, Alter’s informal television appearances led to his hiring by NBC NEWS and MSNBC in the summer of 1996. He also worked part-time for MTV, covering political stories, and contributed to the network’s "Choose or Lose” campaign to engage young voters.
"I think being on MSNBC/NBC is part of my role as a journalist,” says Alter, "and for many years, I also did pieces for NBC and the TODAY SHOW and NBC NIGHTLY. Those were works of television journalism. On MSNBC, I mostly do punditry, I analyze the news; that’s what I did in NEWSWEEK and do for Bloomberg now. That’s a form of journalism.”
Alter remained with NEWSWEEK for 28 years as senior editor until his departure last year in April 2011. Now, Alter writes for BLOOMBERG VIEW, a new commentary Web site, and is a correspondent to NBC NEWS. He’s also working on a book about President Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign, which is slated to be released in 2013. His previous books are THE DEFINING MOMENT: FDR'S HUNDRED DAYS and the TRIUMPH OF HOPE (2006) and THE PROMISE: PRESIDENT OBAMA, YEAR ONE (2010).
In addition to his television appearances, Alter employs social networking tools—keeping personal and professional Facebook accounts separate, of course—to reach the public.
"I started tweeting probably years ago at my son’s suggestion. I think it’s important professionally for journalists nowadays because, in part, we have to brand ourselves more than we used to as individuals. The business model of journalism is breaking down and changing very rapidly. But,” Alter adds, "I also think that social media can be a huge time-suck. It’s not a substitute for face-to-face human interaction.”
Alter takes the time to respond to readers who contact him via email, whether they are supportive or critical of his views, as long as those emails are civil.
Despite the fire his opinions may sometimes draw from readers and viewers, Alter loves journalism for the simple reason that "it’s more fun than a lot of other things you could do for a living. You get the license to be nosy and ask people questions that you otherwise wouldn’t have an excuse to ask, to satisfy your curiosity, and to express yourself to more people than your Twitter followers.”
In fact, when asked what characteristics are crucial to a good journalist, Alter responds without hesitation, "Integrity, curiosity, and hard work.”
"I think it’s learning new things every day. Most people kind of learn the same thing, or variations on the same thing, and because my column can be on many different topics, I’m learning something new every day. I get paid to satisfy my curiosity.”
But Alter isn’t only interested in satisfying his personal curiosity. On the contrary, he stresses the importance of civic engagement, of community service, and currently serves on the board of a number of charitable organizations such as Bluecardfund.org and DonorsChoose.org.
"When I was a younger journalist, I thought it was somehow improper for me to be on non-profit boards. To be on any corporate boards was improper, but I decided some years ago that there was nothing wrong with trying to help the world in little ways aside from writing about it.”
Alter’s wife, Emily Lazar, is a producer of the COLBERT REPORT, and he convinced Stephen Colbert to join the board of DonorsChoose as well. His enthusiasm for this non-profit organization, which supports public schools and students across the United States, reflects how vital Alter considers such work to be.
"I actually strongly believe that anybody who has any degree at all has an obligation to get kind of righteous. [They’ve] got to do something public beyond just making money for themselves and achieving for themselves. Otherwise, they will have failed no matter how much money they make or how much worldly success they have. If they haven’t done some public service or used their talents to help nonprofits, to give back in a meaningful way, then their life, their career, their success will not have the meaning that it should.”
Perhaps it is this sense of social responsibility and awareness that enables Alter to voice his opinions about current political, social, and global issues in a compelling manner that resonates with so many individuals.
Follow Jonathan on Twitter @jonathanalter.