Adam Nagourney (born October 10, 1954) is an American journalist who covers national politics for ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
''. Nagourney is the author of
"The Times“: How the Newspaper of Record Survived Scandal, Scorn, and the Transformation of Journalism," a history of the famous daily newspaper's recent half-century, published in 2023, by the
Crown Publishing Group
The Crown Publishing Group is a subsidiary of Penguin Random House that publishes across several fiction and non-fiction categories. Originally founded in 1933 as a remaindered books wholesaler called Outlet Book Company, the firm expanded int ...
.
Life and career
After joining ''The New York Times'' in 1996, Nagourney was assigned that year to cover the
Republican Party presidential campaign of candidate, U.S. Senator
Bob Dole
Robert Joseph Dole (July 22, 1923 – December 5, 2021) was an American politician and attorney who represented Kansas in the United States Senate from 1969 to 1996. He was the Party leaders of the United States Senate, Republican Leader of th ...
(1923–2021), of
Kansas
Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...
. (who lost to incumbent
Democratic 42nd President
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...
of
Arkansas
Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...
). After that
1996
1996 was designated as:
* International Year for the Eradication of Poverty
Events January
* January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...
election, he became the paper's local metropolitan political correspondent in New York City. He was appointed chief political correspondent six years later in 2002, and covered the
2004
2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO).
Events January
* January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...
re-election campaign of 43rd President
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...
and the subsequent
2008
2008 was designated as:
*International Year of Languages
*International Year of Planet Earth
*International Year of the Potato
*International Year of Sanitation
The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...
election of
Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...
U. S. Senator
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...
as the 44th President of the United States. He became the paper's Los Angeles bureau chief in
Southern California
Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...
in the summer of 2010. A decade later in April 2020, he joined the paper's politics desk, helping to cover the
2020
The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...
presidential campaign for the Times. A year later in April 2021, Nagourney was named the West Coast cultural correspondent. He returned to covering national politics two years later in 2023.
On June 16, 2015, Nagourney was one of three reporters on an article published in ''The New York Times'' titled "Deaths of Irish Students in Berkeley Balcony Collapse Cast Pall on Program". The article described students in the
J-1 visa program as "a source of embarrassment for Ireland". Nagourney said, "Do I think that the program – as well as the problems associated with it – are fair game for a news story? Yes. But there was a more sensitive way to tell the story. I absolutely was not looking to in any way appear to be blaming the victims, or causing pain in this awful time for their families and friends. I feel very distressed at having added to their anguish."
Personal life
Nagourney described growing up in a
Jewish culture
Jewish culture is the culture of the Jewish people, from its formation in ancient times until the current age. Judaism itself is not simply a faith-based religion, but an orthopraxy and Ethnoreligious group, ethnoreligion, pertaining to deed, ...
family of "passionate ''Times'' newspaper readers". His father, Herbert Nagourney, was a publisher who was a vice president at the
Macmillan publishing group, before becoming president of the
New York Times Book Company, (a subsidiary of
The New York Times Company
The New York Times Company is an American mass media corporation that publishes ''The New York Times'' and its associated publications such as ''The New York Times International Edition'' and other media properties. The New York Times Company's ...
). His stepmother, Ann Bramson, was also a publisher of Artisan, a
Workman Publishing Company imprint. His brother, Eric Nagourney, is also a journalist at the same paper of ''The New York Times''.
Nagourney is gay.
Works
* With
Dudley Clendinen. ''Out for Good: The Struggle to Build a Gay Rights Movement in America'' New York: Simon and Schuster, 1999.
* ''
The Times: How the Newspaper of Record Survived Scandal, Scorn, and the Transformation of Journalism'' New York: Crown, 2023.
References
External links
Stories by Nagourney for ''The New York Times''*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nagourney, Adam
1954 births
Living people
American newspaper reporters and correspondents
American gay writers
The New York Times journalists
State University of New York at Purchase alumni
American LGBTQ journalists
20th-century American journalists
American male journalists
21st-century American LGBTQ people