Jeffrey Goldberg | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Goldberg in 2013 | |
| Born | Jeffrey Mark Goldberg 1965 (age 60–61) Brooklyn, New York, U.S. |
| Citizenship |
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| Education | University of Pennsylvania |
| Occupations |
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| Title | Editor-in-chief ofThe Atlantic[1] |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 3 |
| Awards | National Magazine Award,Overseas Press Club's Joe & Laurie Dine Award |
Jeffrey Mark Goldberg (born 1965) is an American journalist who is the editor-in-chief ofThe Atlantic. During his nine years atThe Atlantic before becoming editor, Goldberg became known for his coverage of foreign affairs. He moderated thePBS programWashington Week (rebranded asWashington Week with The Atlantic) beginning in August 2023, while continuing asThe Atlantic's editor.
Jeffrey Mark Goldberg was born inBrooklyn, New York, to Ellen and Daniel Goldberg.[2] His grandfather was from theshtetl ofLeova, Moldova.[3] He grew up in suburbanMalverne onLong Island, a predominatelyCatholic neighborhood he once called "a wasteland of Irishpogromists."[4] Goldberg attended theUniversity of Pennsylvania, where he was editor-in-chief ofThe Daily Pennsylvanian.[5] At Penn he worked at theHillel kitchen serving lunch to students.
Goldberg, who is Jewish,[6] dropped out of college and worked for a time atThe Washington Post.[7] He then moved to Israel and served in theIsrael Defense Forces during theFirst Intifada as a prison guard atKtzi'ot Prison, where Palestinian participants arrested in the uprising were held. There he met Rafiq Hijazi, aPalestine Liberation Organization leader, college math teacher, and devout Muslim from a refugee camp in theGaza Strip, whom Goldberg called "the only Palestinian I could find in Ketziot who understood the moral justification for Zionism".[5][8]
Many years after his first trip to Israel as a 13-year-old, he became a dual Israeli citizen. Goldberg recalled the sense of empowerment he felt Israel embodied.[9] In a 2013 interview with theWashingtonian, he said he had decided to give up his Israeli citizenship, saying that "If Israel goes much further down the road I think it’s on and becomes more of a theocratic, totalitarian-style state [...] how could the liberal-minded American Jew support that?"[7]
Goldberg returned to the United States and began his career as a reporter atThe Washington Post, where he worked the police beat. While in Israel, he worked as a columnist forThe Jerusalem Post. Upon his return to the U.S., he was the New York bureau chief ofThe Forward, a contributing editor atNew York magazine, and a contributing writer atThe New York Times Magazine.[10][11][12] In 2000, Goldberg joinedThe New Yorker.[10]
In 2003, "In the Party of God" won theNational Magazine Award for reporting.[13][14]
In 2007,David G. Bradley hired Goldberg to write forThe Atlantic. Bradley had tried for nearly two years to convince him to work forThe Atlantic, and was finally successful after renting ponies for Goldberg's children.[15]
During his time atThe Atlantic, Goldberg has conducted interviews withBarack Obama (five times),[16][17][18][19][20]Fidel Castro,[21]Hillary Clinton,[22]David Cameron,[23]John Kerry,[24]Benjamin Netanyahu,[25]Isaac Herzog,[26]Marco Rubio,[27]Chris Christie,[28]Ashton Carter,[29]Ben Rhodes,[30]Yair Lapid,[31]Michael Oren,[32]King Abdullah of Jordan,[33]Ta-Nehisi Coates,[34]David Gregory,[35] andTom Cotton.[36]
In 2011, Goldberg joinedBloomberg View as a columnist.[37] He left Bloomberg in 2014.[38]
Goldberg joinedThe Atlantic and becameeditor-in-chief in 2016.[12] He mainly wrote on foreign affairs, with a focus on the Middle East and Africa.[10]
In September 2020, Goldberg published "Trump: Americans Who Died in War Are 'Losers' and 'Suckers'" inThe Atlantic. According to Goldberg's article, in cancelling a 2018 visit to theAisne-Marne American Cemetery and Memorial in France, which contains the remains of 2,289U.S. service members killed in combat inWorld War I,PresidentDonald Trump is alleged to have privately said, "Why should I go to that cemetery? It's filled with losers." He also reputedly referred to the more than 1,800U.S. Marines who lost their lives at theBattle of Belleau Wood as "suckers" for getting killed.[39]
CNN reported that Goldberg's article "immediately became a massive story, with Democrats—including Democratic presidential nomineeJoe Biden—rushing to condemn Trump for his alleged behavior and the White House rallying an aggressive pushback against the article, including the President himself." Trump tweeted, "The Atlantic ... is dying, like most magazines, so they make up a fake story in order to gain some relevance. Story already refuted ..."[40]
Referring to Goldberg's "blockbuster revelation," theIntelligencer said "The scope and intensity of the pushback was nuclear." It added, "While it's impossible to directly prove any of these allegations, there is an impressive amount of corroborating evidence. Almost all of it supports Goldberg's reporting," which theAssociated Press,The New York Times,Fox News, andThe Washington Post "quickly confirmed."[41]
Trump immediately denied making the comments, tweeting, "This is more made up Fake News given by disgusting & jealous failures in a disgraceful attempt to influence the 2020 Election!"[42] Numerous Trump officials present that day pushed back against Goldberg's reporting, including United States ambassador to FranceJamie McCourt, stating "In my presence, POTUS has NEVER denigrated any member of the U.S. military or anyone in service to our country. And he certainly did not that day, either." Also denying the report was national security adviser turned Trump-criticJohn Bolton and deputy chief of staff Zach Fuentes, who was close to former chief of staffJohn Kelly. Speaking toBreitbart News, Fuentes said, "Honestly, do you think General Kelly would have stood by and let ANYONE call fallen Marines losers?"[43] In October 2023, John Kelly told CNN that Goldberg's reporting was correct.[44]
In August 2023, Goldberg became the moderator of thePBS programWashington Week, which added"with The Atlantic" to its title as an editorial partnership between the program and the magazine was initiated.[45][46]
In March 2025, Goldberg published an article inThe Atlantic stating that members ofPresident Donald Trump's cabinet had inadvertently included him in aSignal chat that revealed secret military plans for the U.S.attacks in Yemen.[47][48] National Security AdvisorMike Waltz had added Goldberg,[49] who reported that other accounts in the chat appeared to belong to Vice PresidentJD Vance, Secretary of StateMarco Rubio, Secretary of the TreasuryScott Bessent, Secretary of DefensePete Hegseth, Director of National IntelligenceTulsi Gabbard, Central Intelligence Agency DirectorJohn Ratcliffe, National Counterterrorism Center Director NomineeJoe Kent, White House Chief of StaffSusie Wiles, White House Deputy Chief of Staff for PolicyStephen Miller, and Special Envoy to the Middle EastSteve Witkoff.[47] A spokesperson for theNational Security Council confirmed Goldberg's report.[47][48]
In his 2008 article inSlate titled "How Did I Get Iraq Wrong?", Goldberg explained why he initially supported the Iraq War and wrote that he "didn't realize how incompetent the Bush administration could be."[50]Glenn Greenwald called Goldberg "one of the leading media cheerleaders for theattack on Iraq", saying Goldberg had "compiled a record of humiliating falsehood-dissemination in the run-up to the war that rivaledJudy Miller's both in terms of recklessness and destructive impact".[51]
Michael Massing, an editor of theColumbia Journalism Review, called Goldberg "the most influential journalist/blogger on matters related to Israel",[52] andDavid Rothkopf, former editor and CEO of theFP Group, called him "one of the most incisive, respected foreign policy journalists around."[53] He has been described by critics as aliberal,[54] aZionist[55] and a "frequentcritic of Israel".[56]The New York Times reported that he "shaped"The Atlantic's endorsement ofHillary Clinton in the2016 United States presidential election, only the third endorsement in the magazine's 160-year history.[12]
Prisoners: A Muslim and a Jew Across the Middle East Divide (New York:Knopf, 2006), describes Goldberg's experiences in Israel working at theKetziot military prison camp as well as his dialogue with Rafiq, a prisoner whom Goldberg would later befriend in Washington, DC.[57][58][59]
The New York Times,The Washington Post, and theLos Angeles Times named it one of the best books of 2006.[60][61][62]
TheLos Angeles Times critic wrote, "Realization of the humanity of the 'other' is at the heart ofNew Yorker magazine correspondent Jeffrey Goldberg's sharply observed and beautifully written memoir."[63]The New York Times critic wrote,
Mr. Goldberg, a talented and ambitious writer for theNew Yorker ... takes an engagingly personal approach to the issue in his story of a quest for mutual understanding with a Palestinian activist who had been his prisoner... For the bittersweet complexity of that moment, offered in the context of all that has preceded it, this is a genuinely admirable book.[64]
The Washington Post review of the book noted, "Prisoners is Jeffrey Goldberg's sensitive, forthright and perceptive account of his years as a soldier and journalist in Israel—and of his long-running conversation with a Palestinian whom he once kept under lock and key. It is a forceful reminder of how rewarding, and how difficult, discourse between Israelis and Palestinians can be."[65]CBS News critic wrote,
There is no shortage of histories, polemics and policy manuals about the Middle East. An honest but complex story, from what happens to be a personal perspective that many Americans can at least conjure, is a rarer opportunity for insight. And that is what Jeffrey Goldberg, a reporter forThe New Yorker, delivers inPrisoners. To those of us who have followed Jeffrey Goldberg's reporting on the Muslim world, the publication of his first book is cause for real pleasure... because his writing on the subject has always been exceptional: wise, unpretentious, and at times, unexpectedly funny.[66]
Boris Kachka, a contributing editor forNew York magazine, interviewed Goldberg in October 2006 aboutPrisoners in addition to other issues pertaining to journalism and the Middle East.[67]
Goldberg lives in Washington, D.C., with his wife, Pamela (née Ress) Reeves. They have three children.[2][68]
Several Jewish reporters covering the 2016 campaign have been on the receiving end of anti-Semitic abuse on social media including CNN's Jake Tapper, Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic and Jonathan Weisman of The New York Times
