Backgrounder: Clyde and Maggie Haberman
Clyde Haberman. Photo: Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times.
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For the past 11 years, Clyde Haberman has tackled virtually every aspect of life in New York City in his bi-weekly column for The New York Times: from pizza to terrorism to civility. And he has done it with wit and insight. In Better Late than Never, Japan Learns, Haberman notes that if a train is delayed in Tokyo “you may ask the stationmaster for a note explaining to your boss why you were slightly late for work.” Think New York represents the apex of civilization? “Try asking a New York subway clerk for a late slip the next time you’re in the mood for a little verbal abuse,” Haberman suggests.
Haberman’s first foray into journalism came in 1966, when he landed a job as a reporter for the New York Post. His career with the Times began in 1977 when he was hired as a staff reporter for the “Week in Review” section. He soon moved up the ranks to become the head of the paper’s City Hall Bureau.
In 1982, Haberman made a drastic move. He left the city he’d always called home and moved to Tokyo. Within a year, he was appointed Times bureau chief, a position he held for the next five years. Traveling extensively in the region, Haberman wrote about the issues plaguing Asia in the ’80s. From 1988 to 1991, he was based in Rome, but spent much of his time covering the Persian Gulf War and the aftermath of Communism in the Eastern bloc. In 1991, the Times reassigned Haberman to Jerusalem, where he covered militant Islamic terrorism and the Oslo Accords.
Haberman returned to the Big Apple in 1995 and assumed his current role as the Times’ New York City columnist—a homecoming for a reporter born in the South Bronx. At that post, Haberman has focused on all things New York, from the aftereffects of 9/11 to the debt-ridden MTA to the proper use of New York idioms. (During the Republican National Convention, he penned a tongue-in-cheek glossary of New York terms, such as “shmear” and “yo,” for the uninitiated.)
But Haberman’s successful career isn’t the writer’s only source of pride. One of his three children is following in his footsteps. Like her father, Maggie Haberman launched her journalism career at the New York Post, where she covered the arrest of Dr. Jack Kevorkian and the Jonesboro school shooting. She’s since moved on to the New York Daily News.
There’s little doubt that Haberman Senior had plenty of sage advice to offer Maggie when she was first starting out. Haberman’s column is peppered with tips for beginners. In And That’s The Way It Is Dangerous, Haberman says “old-fashioned, shoe-leather” reporting is essential to the health of American Democracy. But he goes on to say that this is unlikely to win you many friends. “Journalists rank far down the food chain when it comes to popularity,” says Haberman. He doles out plenty of practical advice in What They Don’t Teach At J-School, telling young reporters to “always carry a pencil,” “learn foreign languages,” and “avoid clichés like the plague.” But above all, Haberman says, remember the “inflexible rule”: “[if] you are assigned to cover an event where food is served … eat first and take notes second.”
SOURCES
- “Columnist Biography: Clyde Haberman.” New York Times Online. 9 Feb. 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/ref/nyregion/bio-haberman.html
- Haberman, Clyde. “Allow Me To Introduce My Other Self.” New York Times. 25 Nov. 2005: 1.
- —, “And That’s The Way It Is Dangerous.” New York Times. 3 Feb 2006: 1.
- —, “Better Late Than Never, Japan Learns.” New York Times. 29 April 2005: 1.
- —, “Beware the Price Of a Slice.” New York Times. 12 Jan. 2002: 1.
- —, “Just Plain Folk? I’m Far Plainer Than You Are.” New York Times. 13 Sept. 2005:1.
- —, “M.T.A. or Union? Who’s Speaking For the Riders?” New York Times. 13 Dec. 2005: 1.
- —, “What They Don’t Teach At J-School.” New York Times. 27 Aug. 2002: 1.
- —, “Words to the Wise New York Visitor.” New York Times. 29 Aug. 2004: 4.W
- “Maggie Haberman Biography.” Harper Collins Online. 9 Feb. 2006 http://www.harpercollins.com/global_scripts/product_catalog/author_xml.asp?authorid=26892
- “Two Talented Columnists Skewer Errant Legislators. Can We Clean the Stables?” New York Civic Online. Henry Stern. 25 Jan. 2005 http://www.nycivic.org/articles/050125.html