Whitney Matheson (born April 21, 1977 in

Fredericksburg, Virginia Fredericksburg is an Independent city (United States), independent city in Virginia, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 27,982. It is south of Washington, D.C., and north of Richmond, Virginia, R ...

) is a pop culture writer. She was the author of ''Pop Candy'', a popular entertainment

blog A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in Reverse chronology, reverse chronologic ...

which was part of ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (often stylized in all caps) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth in 1980 and launched on September 14, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headq ...

'' from 1999–2014. She also wrote entertainment and pop culture features for the newspaper. Matheson has delivered pop-culture commentary on several television networks, including

VH1 VH1 (originally an initialism for Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network that launched on January 1, 1985, and is currently owned by the MTV Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global's networks division based in New Y ...

, E!, and G4 TV.

Career

Matheson earned a journalism degree from the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee, Knoxville (or The University of Tennessee; UT; UT Knoxville; or colloquially UTK or Tennessee) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee, United St ...

in 1999, and joined ''USA Today'' and created ''Pop Candy'' that same year.Gorman, Allison
"How journalist Whitney Matheson found herself at the forefront of New Media,"
''Middle Tennessee State News'' (July 22, 2015). ''Pop Candy'' began as a weekly online pop-culture column that covered television, movies, comic books, and music. During this period, Matheson also wrote a daily blog, ''Hip Clicks''. As her web audience grew, Matheson merged ''Hip Clicks'' and ''Pop Candy ''in 2005 to form the ''Pop Candy'' blog. During its tenure, ''Pop Candy'' was cited in ''Wired,'' ''Slate'', ''The Rough Guide to Blogging'', and on many other entertainment blogs, including Stereogum, ''Entertainment Weeklys PopWatch, and RollingStone.com. ''

Editor & Publisher ''Editor & Publisher'' (''E&P'') is an American monthly trade news magazine covering the news media industry. Published since 1901, ''Editor & Publisher'' is the self-described "bible of the newspaper industry," with offices in Hendersonville, ...

'' and ''

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'' awarded ''Pop Candy'' an EPpy award for the Best Entertainment Blog in 2008. In 2006, the Weblog Awards honored ''Pop Candy'' as the Best Culture Blog. On September 3, 2014, Matheson confirmed that she had been laid off as part of a ''USA Today'' drawdown. Soon afterwards she was invited by former ''USA Today'' editor-in-chief Ken Paulson to serve as Journalist in Residence at

Middle Tennessee State University Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU or MT) is a Public university, public research university in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Founded in 1911 as a normal school, the university consists of eight Undergraduate education, undergraduate colleges as ...

Murfreesboro, Tennessee Murfreesboro is a city in Rutherford County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. Its population was 165,430 according to the 2023 census estimate, up from 108,755 residents certified in 2010 United States census, 2010. Murfreesboro i ...

. On May 13, 2019, Matheson unveiled her digital

children's book Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. In addition to conventional literary genres, modern children's literature is classified by the intended age of the reade ...

''We Make Comics'', illustrated by Genevieve Kote.Matheson, Whitney
"I Wrote a Kid's Book,"
WhitneyMatheson.com (May 13, 2019).

Personal life

Matheson lives in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

. On her ''Pop Candy'' blog dated April 13, 2012, Matheson announced she and her husband Rhyne Piggott were expecting their first child. Their daughter was born later that year.

References

External links

*
''Pop Candy''

Matheson's Patreon pageOne in a Million Girl
Multimedia profile on Whitney Matheson, complete with video interview. {{DEFAULTSORT:Matheson, Whitney 1977 births American bloggers Living people Journalists from Washington, D.C. USA Today people 21st-century American women writers American women non-fiction writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers American women bloggers