David Folkenflik
Correspondent, Media, Arts Information Unit
Geraldo Rivera of the Fox News Channel once described David Folkenflik as "a really weak-kneed, backstabbing, sweaty-palmed reporter." Others have been kinder. The Columbia Journalism Review, for example, gave him a "laurel" for his reporting that immediately led the U.S. military to institute safety measures for journalists in Baghdad.
Folkenflik is NPR's media correspondent and he is based in New York City. His stories are broadcast on NPR's newsmagazines, including Morning Edition, All Things Considered, and Day to Day. He also appears regularly on the "Media Circus" segment on Talk of the Nation.
Folkenflik seeks stories that haven't been widely told, such as the multimedia innovations of a small Kansas company and the decision by the owners of a crusading Alabama paper to make it not-for-profit. In addition, Folkenflik has broken stories about the business problems of Tribune Co., as well as attempts by leaders of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the Voice of America to inject politics into news programs. And he profiled ESPN guru John Sawatsky, who devised the network's interviewing technique, and the hyperkinetic Jim Cramer of CNBC, who revealed his struggle with bipolar disorder.
Before joining NPR in 2004, Folkenflik spent more than a decade at the Baltimore Sun, where he covered higher education, Congress, and the media. He started at the Durham (N.C.) Herald-Sun. In 1991, Folkenflik received a bachelor's degree in history from Cornell University, where he served as editor-in-chief of The Cornell Daily Sun.
In 2007, the National Press Club gave Folkenflik two Arthur Rowse Awards for Press Criticism; in 2002, Folkenflik won the inaugural Mongerson Award for Investigative Reporting on the News, presented by the Center for Media and Public Affairs and the University of Virginia's Center for Governmental Studies.
Folkenflik's work has also been recognized with top honors from the National Headliners Club and the Society of Professional Journalists. He was the first Irik Sevin Visiting Fellow at Cornell and speaks frequently at colleges across the country. And he's served as a media analyst on such television programs as CNN's Reliable Sources, ABC News' Nightline, Fox News' O'Reilly Factor, and MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann.
Folkenflik grew up in Laguna Beach, Calif., and his parents are on the faculty of the University of California, Irvine. Folkenflik lives in New York City with his border collie, Oscar. For the record, despite Rivera's allegations, Folkenflik's palms are not all that sweaty.
