Dafna Linzer (born October 21, 1970) is an American journalist who in March 2022 was named executive editor of ''

Politico ''Politico'' (stylized in all caps), known originally as ''The Politico'', is an American, German-owned political journalism newspaper company based in Arlington County, Virginia, that covers politics and policy in the United States and intern ...

''. Since October 2015, she had been

managing editor A managing editor (ME) is a senior member of a publication's management team. Typically, the managing editor reports directly to the editor-in-chief and oversees all aspects of the publication. United States In the United States, a managing edito ...

of politics for

NBC News NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, a division of NBCUniversal, which is, in turn, a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's var ...

and

MSNBC MSNBC (originally the Microsoft National Broadcasting Company) is an American news-based pay television cable channel. It is owned by NBCUniversala subsidiary of Comcast. Headquartered in New York City, it provides news coverage and political ...

, with a role spanning broadcast and digital coverage on both networks for the 2016 election campaign. Linzer was formerly managing editor of MSNBC; senior reporter at

ProPublica ProPublica (), legally Pro Publica, Inc., is a nonprofit organization based in New York City. In 2010, it became the first online news source to win a Pulitzer Prize, for a piece written by one of its journalists''The Guardian'', April 13, 2010P ...

; foreign correspondent for the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

; and national security reporter for ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

''.

Early life

Linzer was born in 1970 and raised in Canada.Dafna Linzer
How I Passed My U.S. Citizenship Test: By Keeping the Right Answers to Myself How I Passed My U.S. Citizenship Test: By Keeping the Right Answers to Myself
ProPublica (February 23, 2011) (co-published with ''Slate'' a

She is of

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

descent.

Career

Linzer was a foreign correspondent for the Associated Press, based in

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

. She then became a national security reporter for ''The Washington Post'', where she covered intelligence and

nonproliferation Nuclear proliferation is the spread of nuclear weapons, fissionable material, and weapons-applicable nuclear technology and information to nations not recognized as " Nuclear Weapon States" by the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Wea ...

, and reported on the futile search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.John Eggerton
Dafna Linzer Named Politics Managing Editor for NBC, MSNBC
''Broadcasting & Cable'' (October 8, 2015).Maggie Steenland
Announcement from Deborah Turness and Phil Griffin
MSNBC/NBC News (October 8, 2015).Dylan Byers
MSNBC.com hires ProPublica's Linzer
(March 18, 2013). In February 2008, the

non-profit journalism Non-profit journalism (abbreviated as NPJ, also known as a not-for-profit journalism or think tank journalism) is the practice of journalism as a non-profit organization instead of a for-profit business. NPJ groups are able to operate and serve the ...

organization ProPublica announced that Linzer (along with

Jeff Gerth Jeff Gerth is a former investigative reporter for ''The New York Times'' who has written lengthy, probing stories that drew both praise and criticism. He won a Pulitzer Prize in 1999 for covering the transfer of American satellite-launch technology ...

) would be joining the project as senior reporters. At ProPublica, Linzer wrote the "Shades of Mercy" series on racial bias in presidential

pardon A pardon is a government decision to allow a person to be relieved of some or all of the legal consequences resulting from a criminal conviction. A pardon may be granted before or after conviction for the crime, depending on the laws of the ju ...

s. The series was a finalist for the Harvard Shorenstein Center's

Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting The Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting is an award for journalists administered by the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard University. The program was launched in 1991, with the goal of exposing examples of ...

.About Us: Dafna Linzer
ProPublica. Linzer also conducted work on the

Guantanamo Bay detention camp The Guantanamo Bay detention camp ( es, Centro de detención de la bahía de Guantánamo) is a United States military prison located within Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, also referred to as Guantánamo, GTMO, and Gitmo (), on the coast of Guant ...

under the Obama presidency, which won a 2010

Overseas Press Club The Overseas Press Club of America (OPC) was founded in 1939 in New York City by a group of foreign correspondents. The wire service reporter Carol Weld was a founding member, as was the war correspondent Peggy Hull. The club seeks to maintain ...

Award and an honorable mention for the

Silver Gavel Award The Silver Gavel Award (also known as the ABA Silver Gavel Awards for Media and The Arts) is an annual award the American Bar Association gives to honor outstanding work by those who help improve comprehension of jurisprudence in the United State ...

s of the

American Bar Association The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. Founded in 1878, the ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of acad ...

. In 2013, Linzer joined MSNBC as managing editor of MSNBC digital. In October 2015, Linzer was named to the newly created position of managing editor of politics for NBC News and MSNBC, dividing her time between Washington and New York. In this post, Linzer oversees the political desk and reports to NBC News president

Deborah Turness Deborah Mary Turness (born 4 March 1967) is an English journalist, former CEO of ITN, and current CEO of BBC News. Prior to this she held two positions in NBC News International where she was president of NBC News (2013–2017) and later Pr ...

and MSNBC president

Phil Griffin Philip T. Griffin (born November 27, 1956) is an American television executive, who from 2008 to 2021 served as president of MSNBC, a United States cable news channel. Early life The youngest of four children, Griffin grew up in Chappaqua, Ne ...

. In March 2019, Linzer was criticized in a Twitter thread by journalist

Yashar Ali Yashar Ali (born Yashar Ali Hedayat; fa, یاشار علی هدایت ; November 23, 1979) is an American journalist who has contributed to ''HuffPost'', NBC News, and ''New York'' magazine. In 2019, Ali was included in Time Magazine’s list o ...

for what he called "inappropriate and unethical" conduct. Ali claimed that Linzer had bullied him on behalf of the

Democratic National Committee The Democratic National Committee (DNC) is the governing body of the United States Democratic Party. The committee coordinates strategy to support Democratic Party candidates throughout the country for local, state, and national office, as well a ...

to delay a story for publication. He wrote, "I realized that @DafnaLinzer, the head of all political coverage for

and

wasn't calling to advocate for her network, she was calling to advocate the DNC's position. She wanted me to wait so they could call state party leaders".

Personal life

Linzer's partner is

Barton Gellman Barton David Gellman (born 1960) is an American author and journalist known for his reports on September 11 attacks, on Dick Cheney's vice presidency and on the global surveillance disclosure. Beginning in June 2013, he authored ''The Washington P ...

, who is also a writer and journalist.Eric Umansky
Talking with the Washington Post's Barton Gellman
ProPublica (September 23, 2008). She became a

naturalized Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-citizen of a country may acquire citizenship or nationality of that country. It may be done automatically by a statute, i.e., without any effort on the part of the in ...

U.S. citizen Citizenship of the United States is a legal status that entails Americans with specific rights, duties, protections, and benefits in the United States. It serves as a foundation of fundamental rights derived from and protected by the Constituti ...

in January 2011. Linzer has noted a number of accepted answers to the U.S.

citizenship test A citizenship test is an examination, written or oral, required to achieve citizenship in a country. Debate The requirements of a citizenship test is a method to control immigration. Examples * Australian citizenship test * Canadian Citizenshi ...

are erroneous or incomplete.

References

External links

Video (with mp3 available) of conversation with Linzer
and

Mark Danner Mark David Danner (born November 10, 1958) is an American writer, journalist, and educator. He is a former staff writer for ''The New Yorker'' and frequent contributor to ''The New York Review of Books''. Danner specializes in U.S. foreign affa ...

Bloggingheads.tv Bloggingheads.tv (sometimes abbreviated "bhtv") is a political, world events, philosophy, and science video blog discussion site in which the participants take part in an active back and forth conversation via webcam which is then broadcast on ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Linzer, Dafna 1970 births American women journalists American political writers The Washington Post people Associated Press reporters MSNBC people NBCUniversal people Living people Jewish American journalists Naturalized citizens of the United States