with Mark Halperin, Orlando Patterson, Al Hunt and more on Nov 4, 2008
with Mark Halperin, Al Hunt, Jon Meacham and more on Aug 28, 2008
Jodi Kantor is an American journalist who writes for The New York Times. Kantor’s articles primarily concern cultural phenomena and politics, among other topics.
She graduated from Columbia University in 1996 and briefly attended Harvard Law School before landing a job as an editor of Slate. After corresponding with New York Times columnist Frank Rich about how that paper could improve its arts coverage, she was brought on as editor of the Arts and Leisure section by Howell Raines, executive editor. Kantor was only 27 at the time (her predecessor, John Rockwell, had been in his late 50’s when appointed to the post).
As arts editor, Kantor worked to make the Times’ arts coverage more aggressive, expanding its focus to cover the stories behind, and the social conditions surrounding, the arts. She also made coverage more contemporary, focusing on new art forms. Her role as editor was occasionally controversial, however, with some charging that she hired many writers with limited experience in traditional journalism, and assigned pieces on trivial pop culture subjects, others believed she helped the paper connect with audiences. Kantor eventually stepped down from her editorship to pursue reporting once more.
More recently, Kantor has been covering politics for The Times, most notably the 2008 presidential campaign. She was involved in a minor flap for her coverage of Reverend Jeramiah Wright
