Jonathan T. Capehart (born July 2, 1967) is an American journalist and television commentator. He writes 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 ...
''
's ''PostPartisan'' blog and is host of ''
The Saturday/Sunday Show with Jonathan Capehart'' on
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 ...
.
Background
Capehart grew up in
Hazlet, New Jersey
Hazlet is a township in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. The township is located near the Raritan Bay within the Raritan Valley region. It is located in the New York Metropolitan Area and is a bedroom community of New York. As of th ...
, and
Newark, New Jersey
Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area.[Saint Benedict's Preparatory School
St. Benedict's Preparatory School is a Catholic college preparatory school in Newark, New Jersey run by the Benedictines.
The school serves boys and girls in kindergarten through twelfth grade on a urban campus. The school has been accredite ...]
.
He received a BA in
political science
Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...
from
Carleton College
Carleton College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Northfield, Minnesota. Founded in 1866, it had 2,105 undergraduate students and 269 faculty members in fall 2016. The 200-acre main campus is between Northfield and the 800-acre Cowling ...
.
Career
Before his work with ''The Washington Post'' and MSNBC, Capehart was a researcher for
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...
's ''
The Today Show
''Today'' (also called ''The Today Show'' or informally, ''NBC News Today'') is an American news and talk morning television show that airs weekdays from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on NBC. The program debuted on January 14, 1952. It was ...
''.
He worked for the ''
New York Daily News
The New York ''Daily News'', officially titled the ''Daily News'', is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, NJ. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in ta ...
'', serving as a member of its
editorial board
The editorial board is a group of experts, usually at a publication, who dictate the tone and direction the publication's editorial policy will take.
Mass media
At a newspaper, the editorial board usually consists of the editorial page editor, a ...
from 1993 to 2000. At the time of his hiring, Capehart was the youngest-ever member of the newspaper's editorial board.
He left the ''Daily News'' in 2000 to work at
Bloomberg News
Bloomberg News (originally Bloomberg Business News) is an international news agency headquartered in New York City and a division of Bloomberg L.P. Content produced by Bloomberg News is disseminated through Bloomberg Terminals, Bloomberg Televi ...
. Capehart advised and wrote speeches for
Michael Bloomberg
Michael Rubens Bloomberg (born February 14, 1942) is an American businessman, politician, philanthropist, and author. He is the majority owner, co-founder and CEO of Bloomberg L.P. He was Mayor of New York City from 2002 to 2013, and was a ca ...
during
his 2001 run for New York City mayor.
[ He returned to the ''New York Daily News'' in 2002, serving as deputy editor of the editorial page until 2004.] Capehart joined the global public relations
Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. P ...
company Hill & Knowlton
Hill+Knowlton Strategies is an American global public relations consulting company, headquartered in New York City, United States, with over 80 offices in more than 40 countries. The company was founded in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1927 by John W. Hil ...
in December 2004 as a Senior Vice President and senior counselor of public affairs.
Capehart joined the staff of ''The Washington Post'' as a journalist and member of its editorial board in 2007. He continues in that capacity and is a contributing commentator for MSNBC. He also hosts the ''Cape Up'' podcast, in which he talks to newsmakers about race, religion, age, gender, and cultural identity in politics.
Capehart began guest hosting the WNYC radio show ''Midday on WNYC'' (formerly ''The Leonard Lopate Show
Leonard Lopate (born September 23, 1940) is an American radio personality. He is the host of the radio talk show ''Leonard Lopate at Large'', broadcast on WBAI, and the former host of the public radio talk show ''The Leonard Lopate Show'', bro ...
'') in 2018.
He hosted the premiere episode of ''The Sunday Show with Jonathan Capehart'' on MSNBC on December 13, 2020. He is also the fill-in host of The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell
''The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell'' is an American weeknight news and political commentary program on MSNBC. The program airs live at 10:00 P.M. Eastern Time Monday-Friday, and is hosted by Lawrence O'Donnell from Mondays to Thursdays and re ...
on Friday edition.
Capehart replaced Mark Shields
Mark Stephen Shields (May 25, 1937 – June 18, 2022) was an American political columnist, advisor, and commentator. He worked in leadership positions for many Democratic candidates' electoral campaigns.
Shields provided weekly political anal ...
in the Friday political commentary segment on the ''PBS NewsHour
''PBS NewsHour'' is an American evening television news program broadcast on over 350 PBS
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virg ...
'' starting in January 2021.
On March 30, 2022 Capehart became the associate editor of 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 ...
In February 2023, Capehart's ''The Sunday Show'' was expanded to Saturday as well, becoming ''The Saturday/Sunday Show with Jonathan Capehart'', beginning on February 18, 2023.
Awards and honors
Capehart was a key contributor to a ''New York Daily News'' staff entry that received the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing
The Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing is one of the fourteen American Pulitzer Prizes that are annually awarded for Journalism. It has been awarded since 1917 for distinguished editorial writing, the test of excellence being clearness of style, ...
in 1999. The series of editorials condemned the financial mismanagement of Harlem
Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street (Manhattan), 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and 110th Street (Manhattan), ...
's Apollo Theater
The Apollo Theater is a music hall at 253 West 125th Street between Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard (Seventh Avenue) and Frederick Douglass Boulevard (Eighth Avenue) in the Harlem neighborhood of Upper Manhattan in New York City. It is a not ...
.
He was a 2011 Esteem Honoree, a distinction given to individuals in recognition of efforts in supporting the African American and LGBT
' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity.
The LGBT term is a ...
communities in the areas of entertainment, media, civil rights, business, and art.
In June 2020, in honor of the 50th anniversary of the first LGBTQ Pride parade
A pride parade (also known as pride march, pride event, or pride festival) is an outdoor event celebrating lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer culture, queer (LGBTQ) social and self-acceptance, achievements, LGBT rights by country o ...
, ''Queerty
''Queerty'' is an online magazine and newspaper covering gay-oriented lifestyle and news, founded in 2005 by David Hauslaib. As of June 2015, the site had more than five million monthly unique visitors.
History
''Queerty'' was founded by David ...
'' named him among the fifty heroes "leading the nation toward equality, acceptance, and dignity for all people".
Views
Capehart has analyzed how, in concurrence with the work of Jonathan Metzl
Jonathan Michel Metzl (born December 12, 1964) is an American psychiatrist and author. He is the Frederick B. Rentschler II Professor of Sociology and Psychiatry at Vanderbilt University, where he is also Director of the Center for Medicine, Heal ...
, white identity White identity is the objective or subjective state of perceiving oneself as a white person and as relating to being white. White identity has been researched in data and polling, historically and in social sciences. There are however polarized pos ...
affects state-based policy making in the US, such as gun rights
The right to keep and bear arms (often referred to as the right to bear arms) is a right for people to possess weapons (arms) for the preservation of life, liberty, and property. The purpose of gun rights is for self-defense, including securi ...
in Missouri and health care in Tennessee
Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...
.
Personal life
In May 2016, Capehart became engaged to his boyfriend of over five years, Nick Schmit, who was the assistant chief of protocol at the State Department. Capehart and Schmit were married by former U.S. attorney general Eric Holder
Eric Himpton Holder Jr. (born January 21, 1951) is an American lawyer who served as the 82nd Attorney General of the United States from 2009 to 2015. Holder, serving in the administration of President Barack Obama, was the first African America ...
on January 7, 2017.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Capehart, Jonathan
1967 births
Living people
African-American journalists
American bloggers
Carleton College alumni
New York Daily News people
American LGBT writers
LGBT African Americans
MSNBC people
Writers from Newark, New Jersey
The Washington Post journalists
LGBT people from New Jersey
St. Benedict's Preparatory School alumni
21st-century American non-fiction writers
American male bloggers
PBS people
American LGBT broadcasters