Matt Labash
Encyclopedia
Matt Labash is an American
journalist
and feature writer currently a senior writer at The Weekly Standard
, where his articles frequently appear.
Labash has written some in-depth coverage pieces exposing such well-known individuals as presidential candidate Al Gore
, who was the Vice President of the United States
at the time of the article. The reporter wrote a colorful, personal detailed story about the residences that Gore owned as a landlord in Tennessee. The article covered in-depth anecdotes and perspectives of some of the tenants who complained of inadequate repair and deteriorating conditions of the homes they were renting from Gore In another piece, Labash uncovered a sweetheart loan that George Stephanopolous obtained .
"Matt Labash of The Weekly Standard is consistently one of the best magazine writers in the country," David Brooks
, editorial columnist for The New York Times
wrote in his December 25, 2007 column. Brooks named Labash as one of the winners of the "Sidney Awards" — the columnist's annual naming of the articles he considers the best of the year. The writer's profile of Roger Stone
played to Labash's strong points, Brooks wrote, because "amoral blackguards bring out his best".
In 2010, a collection of Labash essays from the Standard, Fly Fishing with Darth Vader: and Other Adventures with Evangelical Wrestlers, Political Hitmen, and Jewish Cowboys, was published by Simon and Schuster. The articles ranged from profiles of politicians, ranging from then-Vice Pres.
Richard B. Cheney to former Ohio
Rep.
James Traficant
, and American cities such as Detroit, Michigan
and New Orleans, Louisiana
, to personal opinion-related pieces on such issues as US-Canada relations, physical education
, and Facebook
.
magazine, and The American Spectator
. In 2002, he was named by the Columbia Journalism Review
as one of "Ten Young Writers on the Rise". He graduated from the University of New Mexico
. Labash attended high school in San Antonio, Texas at Gateway Christian School. His father was an officer in the Air Force, and Labash lived some of his childhood years in Germany.
"I've never been a real hard-core political writer," Labash said in a 2003 interview for the JournalismJobs.com Web site. "I sort of live on the fringes and find stories that amuse me. My editors let me do that. [...] I like to find little undiscovered pockets or subjects or interesting people and just ride them into the ground. Things I know other people aren't going to get at."
, after Labash wrote an article in the July 1, 1996 issue of the Standard exposing alleged inconsistencies between the healthy moral lifestyle advocated by Chopra and his real-life dalliances. Included in the exposé were accounts from call girl
s, substantiated by credit card
receipts, allegedly showing Chopra had paid for their services. The article also delved into allegations that a Chopra book plagiarized
the writing of others and that Chopra sold mail-order herbal remedies with high amounts of rodent
hairs. Eventually a settlement involving an undisclosed amount of money was paid to Chopra and the Standard issued a complete retraction on June 1, 1997.
According to an article in The Columbia Journalism Review (CJR), the Standard went to "unusual lengths" to document the accusations against Chopra. But about six months into the litigation, the prostitute recanted her story and was dropped as a defendant. Some court records brought out the fact that Labash had tape recorded some interviewees without telling them, sometimes from his home in Maryland, where surreptitious taping is a felony. In a court brief, one of Chopra's lawyers, William Bradford Reynolds, a Reagan administration Justice Department official, described Labash as a "brash young 25-year-old cub reporter." Libel experts said the information revealed in court records indicated that it would be difficult to prove the Standard had acted with "actual malice" but that juries were unpredictable. The Standard was at the time owned by billionaire Rupert Murdoch
through News Corp.
A heterosexual, he nevertheless keeps on his Weekly Standard office desk a copy of the book Farm Boys: Lives of Gay Men From The Rural Midwest. "I used to have problems with chit-chatty coworkers endlessly pitching camp in my office. Then I started displaying Farm Boys. Now, most of my office chats are away games, with me in control of the schedule. I can't recommend it highly enough."
In late 2007, Labash described his politics and astrology sign: "Politically, I'm not terribly complicated. I regard myself as a fiscal and social conservative with strong libertarian overtones. Turn-ons include low taxes, balanced budgets, and a robust military. Turn-offs include waging unwinnable wars, government intervention, and mean people. Also, I'm a Gemini."
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
and feature writer currently a senior writer at The Weekly Standard
The Weekly Standard
The Weekly Standard is an American neoconservative opinion magazine published 48 times per year. Its founding publisher, News Corporation, debuted the title September 18, 1995. Currently edited by founder William Kristol and Fred Barnes, the Standard has been described as a "redoubt of...
, where his articles frequently appear.
Labash has written some in-depth coverage pieces exposing such well-known individuals as presidential candidate Al Gore
Al Gore
Albert Arnold "Al" Gore, Jr. served as the 45th Vice President of the United States , under President Bill Clinton. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for President in the 2000 U.S. presidential election....
, who was the Vice President of the United States
Vice President of the United States
The Vice President of the United States is the holder of a public office created by the United States Constitution. The Vice President, together with the President of the United States, is indirectly elected by the people, through the Electoral College, to a four-year term...
at the time of the article. The reporter wrote a colorful, personal detailed story about the residences that Gore owned as a landlord in Tennessee. The article covered in-depth anecdotes and perspectives of some of the tenants who complained of inadequate repair and deteriorating conditions of the homes they were renting from Gore In another piece, Labash uncovered a sweetheart loan that George Stephanopolous obtained .
"Matt Labash of The Weekly Standard is consistently one of the best magazine writers in the country," David Brooks
David Brooks
David Brooks may refer to:* David Brooks , American actor and stage director and producer* David Brooks , Australian author of short stories and co-editor for Southerly...
, editorial columnist for The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
wrote in his December 25, 2007 column. Brooks named Labash as one of the winners of the "Sidney Awards" — the columnist's annual naming of the articles he considers the best of the year. The writer's profile of Roger Stone
Roger Stone
Roger J. Stone, Jr. is an American political consultant and lobbyist who specializes in opposition research for the Republican National Committee in the United States....
played to Labash's strong points, Brooks wrote, because "amoral blackguards bring out his best".
In 2010, a collection of Labash essays from the Standard, Fly Fishing with Darth Vader: and Other Adventures with Evangelical Wrestlers, Political Hitmen, and Jewish Cowboys, was published by Simon and Schuster. The articles ranged from profiles of politicians, ranging from then-Vice Pres.
Vice President of the United States
The Vice President of the United States is the holder of a public office created by the United States Constitution. The Vice President, together with the President of the United States, is indirectly elected by the people, through the Electoral College, to a four-year term...
Richard B. Cheney to former Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
Rep.
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
James Traficant
James Traficant
James Anthony Traficant, Jr. is a former Democratic Representative in the United States Congress from Ohio . He represented the 17th Congressional District, which centered on his hometown of Youngstown and included parts of three counties in northeast Ohio's Mahoning Valley...
, and American cities such as Detroit, Michigan
Detroit, Michigan
Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...
and New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...
, to personal opinion-related pieces on such issues as US-Canada relations, physical education
Physical education
Physical education or gymnastics is a course taken during primary and secondary education that encourages psychomotor learning in a play or movement exploration setting....
, and Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
.
Life and career
Before joining the magazine in 1995, Labash worked for the Albuquerque Monthly, WashingtonianWashingtonian (magazine)
Washingtonian is a monthly magazine distributed in the Washington, DC area since 1965. The magazine describes itself as "the magazine Washington lives by." The magazine's core focuses are local feature journalism, guide book-style articles, and real estate advice.-Editorial Content:Washingtonian...
magazine, and The American Spectator
The American Spectator
The American Spectator is a conservative U.S. monthly magazine covering news and politics, edited by R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr. and published by the non-profit American Spectator Foundation. From its founding in 1967 until the late 1980s, the small-circulation magazine featured the writings of authors...
. In 2002, he was named by the Columbia Journalism Review
Columbia Journalism Review
The Columbia Journalism Review is an American magazine for professional journalists published bimonthly by the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism since 1961....
as one of "Ten Young Writers on the Rise". He graduated from the University of New Mexico
University of New Mexico
The University of New Mexico at Albuquerque is a public research university located in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in the United States. It is the state's flagship research institution...
. Labash attended high school in San Antonio, Texas at Gateway Christian School. His father was an officer in the Air Force, and Labash lived some of his childhood years in Germany.
"I've never been a real hard-core political writer," Labash said in a 2003 interview for the JournalismJobs.com Web site. "I sort of live on the fringes and find stories that amuse me. My editors let me do that. [...] I like to find little undiscovered pockets or subjects or interesting people and just ride them into the ground. Things I know other people aren't going to get at."
Sued for libel by Deepak Chopra
Labash was sued by new age guru, author, and spiritual-advisor-to-celebrities Deepak ChopraDeepak Chopra
Deepak Chopra is an Indian medical doctor, public speaker, and writer on subjects such as spirituality, Ayurveda and mind-body medicine. Chopra began his career as an endocrinologist and later shifted his focus to alternative medicine. Chopra now runs his own medical center, with a focus on...
, after Labash wrote an article in the July 1, 1996 issue of the Standard exposing alleged inconsistencies between the healthy moral lifestyle advocated by Chopra and his real-life dalliances. Included in the exposé were accounts from call girl
Call girl
A call girl or female escort is a sex worker who is not visible to the general public; nor does she usually work in an institution like a brothel, although she may be employed by an escort agency...
s, substantiated by credit card
Credit card
A credit card is a small plastic card issued to users as a system of payment. It allows its holder to buy goods and services based on the holder's promise to pay for these goods and services...
receipts, allegedly showing Chopra had paid for their services. The article also delved into allegations that a Chopra book plagiarized
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is defined in dictionaries as the "wrongful appropriation," "close imitation," or "purloining and publication" of another author's "language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions," and the representation of them as one's own original work, but the notion remains problematic with nebulous...
the writing of others and that Chopra sold mail-order herbal remedies with high amounts of rodent
Rodent
Rodentia is an order of mammals also known as rodents, characterised by two continuously growing incisors in the upper and lower jaws which must be kept short by gnawing....
hairs. Eventually a settlement involving an undisclosed amount of money was paid to Chopra and the Standard issued a complete retraction on June 1, 1997.
According to an article in The Columbia Journalism Review (CJR), the Standard went to "unusual lengths" to document the accusations against Chopra. But about six months into the litigation, the prostitute recanted her story and was dropped as a defendant. Some court records brought out the fact that Labash had tape recorded some interviewees without telling them, sometimes from his home in Maryland, where surreptitious taping is a felony. In a court brief, one of Chopra's lawyers, William Bradford Reynolds, a Reagan administration Justice Department official, described Labash as a "brash young 25-year-old cub reporter." Libel experts said the information revealed in court records indicated that it would be difficult to prove the Standard had acted with "actual malice" but that juries were unpredictable. The Standard was at the time owned by billionaire Rupert Murdoch
Rupert Murdoch
Keith Rupert Murdoch, AC, KSG is an Australian-American business magnate. He is the founder and Chairman and CEO of , the world's second-largest media conglomerate....
through News Corp.
Distinctive personal characteristics
Labash describes himself as "someone who fly-fishes with a fanaticism bordering on mental illness", and asserts that, "I don't believe in reincarnation, but if I did, I'd hope to come back in my next life as a spooky brown trout, so that when I came back in the life following that one, I'd have a better idea of how to catch myself."A heterosexual, he nevertheless keeps on his Weekly Standard office desk a copy of the book Farm Boys: Lives of Gay Men From The Rural Midwest. "I used to have problems with chit-chatty coworkers endlessly pitching camp in my office. Then I started displaying Farm Boys. Now, most of my office chats are away games, with me in control of the schedule. I can't recommend it highly enough."
In late 2007, Labash described his politics and astrology sign: "Politically, I'm not terribly complicated. I regard myself as a fiscal and social conservative with strong libertarian overtones. Turn-ons include low taxes, balanced budgets, and a robust military. Turn-offs include waging unwinnable wars, government intervention, and mean people. Also, I'm a Gemini."
External links
- http://theweeklystandard.com/ The Weekly Standard Web site
- http://www.journalismjobs.com/matt_labash.cfm Interview with Matt Labash, JournalismJobs.com, May 2003