David Segal is a

newspaper columnist A columnist is a person who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs. They take the form of a short essay ...

and reporter. He was the author of "The Haggler", a bi-weekly column in the Sunday edition of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

''. Segal has received praise for his writing and reporting skills.

The Haggler

Until June 11, 2017 Segal authored the bi-weekly "The Haggler" column in the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times'', in which he printed and attempted to resolve reader-submitted letters about plights in customer service. His column covered companies such as

Sears Sears, Roebuck and Co. ( ), commonly known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald, with what began a ...

Apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple trees are cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, where its wild ancestor, ' ...

Samsung The Samsung Group (or simply Samsung) ( ko, 삼성 ) is a South Korean multinational manufacturing conglomerate headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea. It comprises numerous affiliated businesses, most of them united under the ...

, and many others. It was generally written in a semi-

third person Third person, or third-person, may refer to: * Third person (grammar), a point of view (in English, ''he'', ''she'', ''it'', and ''they'') ** Illeism, the act of referring to oneself in the third person * Third-person narrative, a perspective in p ...

style, in which he referred to himself as "The Haggler" rather than "I". His interventions were generally successful.

Writing

David Segal has written pieces for ''

'' about technology and business topics including search-engine optimization and SEC-related fraud. He was one of a team of ''New York Times'' reporters who won the 2013

Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting The Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting has been presented since 1998, for a distinguished example of explanatory reporting that illuminates a significant and complex subject, demonstrating mastery of the subject, lucid writing and clear p ...

for a series of 10 articles about the business practices of

and other technology companies. Segal's December 2010 story about a Brooklyn-based online eyeglass seller,

Vitaly Borker Vitaly Borker (born 1975 or 1976 in the former Soviet Union), known by pseudonyms "Tony Russo", "Stanley Bolds" and "Becky S", is an American convicted felon who has twice served federal prison sentences for charges arising from how he ran his on ...

, who manipulated his site's Google search ranking through negative publicity received attention from the media and prompted Google to alter its algorithms. Before joining the ''New York Times'' in 2008, Segal worked for 14 years at ''

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 ...

'', four of them spent as the paper's pop music critic and four others as the paper's Style section correspondent in New York City. At ''The Post'', Segal wrote a profile about a British man who sued

Wilco Wilco is an American alternative rock band based in Chicago, Illinois. The band was formed in 1994 by the remaining members of alternative country group Uncle Tupelo following singer Jay Farrar's departure. Wilco's lineup changed frequently d ...

for using sounds he'd recorded in the band's album ''Yankee Hotel Foxtrot''. This profile was later published in ''Da Capo Best Music Writing 2005''. Segal was an editor at ''

The Washington Monthly ''Washington Monthly'' is a bimonthly, nonprofit magazine of United States politics and government that is based in Washington, D.C. The magazine is known for its annual ranking of American colleges and universities, which serves as an alterna ...

'' in 1993 and 1994 and remains a contributing editor for the magazine. Since 2004, he has also contributed stories to the radio show ''

This American Life ''This American Life'' (''TAL'') is an American monthly hour-long radio program produced in collaboration with Chicago Public Media and hosted by Ira Glass. It is broadcast on numerous public radio stations in the United States and internatio ...

''.

References

External links

David Segal's articles
at ''The New York Times''
David Segal's stories
at "This American Life" * {{DEFAULTSORT:Segal, David The New York Times columnists American reporters and correspondents American columnists Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Pulitzer Prize winners for journalism The Washington Post journalists Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Journalism winners