Frank Rich

Frank Rich (born June 2, 1949 in Washington, D.C.) is a columnist for "The New York Times" who focuses on American politics and popular culture. His column ran on the front page of the Sunday arts and leisure section from 2003 to 2005; it now appears in the expanded Sunday Week in Review section.

Career

From 1980 to 1993, Rich was the "Times"' chief theater critic. He was sometimes known as "the Butcher of Broadway," not only for the perceived frequency and acerbity of his negative reviews, but also for the supposed influence that those reviews carried in determining whether or not a producer would close a show. But Rich was not always negative; he enthusiastically championed what were then new and diverse voices in American playwriting like August Wilson, David Henry Hwang, Tony Kushner and Scott McPherson. Additionally, he lobbied for much of the work done during his tenure by established dramatists like John Guare and Stephen Sondheim.

His reviews have been collected in a book, "Hot Seat: Theater Criticism for The New York Times, 1980-1993" (ISBN 0-679-45300-8), published in 1998. One of the running themes in the book is Rich's attempt to disprove the perceived power of his position as the "Times"' Chief Drama Critic. As an addendum to the anthology, Rich provides statistics demonstrating a dozen or more shows that he panned which racked up long runs (one notable example being "The Phantom of the Opera"), as well as many shows that got raves from him but couldn't stay open more than a few weeks. He published a memoir, "Ghost Light" (ISBN 0-375-75824-0), in 2000.

Rich authored the book "The Greatest Story Ever Sold: The Decline and Fall of Truth from 9/11 to Katrina", a criticism of the post-9/11 policies of the George W. Bush administration and especially of its use of PR.

Rich makes regular references to a broad range of popular culture — including television, movies, theater, and literature — and draws connections to politics and current events. In a January 2006 appearance on "The Oprah Winfrey Show", he commented on the James Frey memoir scandal. On that show, he expanded on his usage in his column of the term "truthiness" (originally coined on "The Colbert Report") to summarize a variety of parallel ills in culture and politics. In 2005, Rich received the George Polk Award [cite web |url=http://www.brooklyn.liu.edu/polk/press/2005.html|title=George Polk Awards for Journalism press release|accessmonthday=November 15 |accessyear=2006 |author= |last= |first= |authorlink= |coauthors= |date= |year= |month= |format= |work= |publisher=Long Island University |pages= |language= |archiveurl= |archivedate=] given annually by Long Island University to honor contributions to journalistic integrity and investigative reporting.

In the 2008 US presidential campaign, Rich appeared to have aligned himself with Democratic candidate Barack Obama: he has written over fifteen different editorials in support of Obama or in criticism of Obama's opponents and detractors [ [http://topics.nytimes.com/top/opinion/editorialsandoped/oped/columnists/frankrich/index.html?inline=nyt-per Frank Rich - The New York Times ] ] , including Hillary Clinton.

Rich graduated from Harvard in 1971, where he was editorial chairman of the "Harvard Crimson", studied American History and Literature, and lived in Lowell House. Before joining the "Times" in 1980, he was a film critic for "Time".

Criticisms

During his time as a theater critic, Rich was criticized by theatrical producers, such as David Merrick, for his often harsh reviews.

As a political commentator, Rich is often criticized by Bill O'Reilly, host of "The O'Reilly Factor" on Fox News Channel. Rich is openly critical of Fox News Channel, accusing it of having a conservative bias. [cite web |url=http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/19/arts/19RICH.html?ex=1253332800&en=5460390faa6f11da&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland|title=This Time Bill O'Reilly Got It Right|accessmonthday=April 5 |accessyear=2007 |author=Frank Rich |last= |first= |authorlink= |coauthors= |date= |year= |month= |format= |work= |publisher= |pages= |language= |archiveurl= |archivedate=] O'Reilly cites Rich's 2007 award from the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) as proof of his bias. [cite web |url=http://www.glaad.org/media/release_detail.php?id=3995|title=Patti LaBelle, Tom Ford, Kate Clinton Honored at 18th Annual GLAAD Media Awards in New York |accessmonthday=April 5 |accessyear=2007 |author=|last= |first= |authorlink= |coauthors= |date= |year= |month= |format= |work= |publisher= |pages= |language= |archiveurl= |archivedate=] On his radio broadcast of April 16, 2007, O'Reilly called Rich a hypocrite for having accused Mel Gibson of anti-semitism, referring to Gibson's movie "The Passion of the Christ", while maintaining a more friendly attitude toward controversial commentator Don Imus, who had called New York City based sportscaster Len Berman "Lenny the Jew" on a "60 Minutes" broadcast in 1998.

The October 14, 2007 "Times" featured Stephen Colbert guest-writing most of Maureen Dowd's column. In that article, Colbert satirically wrote: "Bad things are happening in countries you shouldn’t have to think about. It’s all George Bush’s fault, the vice president is Satan, and God is gay. There. Now I’ve written Frank Rich’s column too." [cite web |url=http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/14/opinion/14dowd.html?em&ex=1193198400&en=c5aee9d242d0d8f4&ei=5070|title=A Mock Columnist, Amok|accessmonthday=October 14 |accessyear=2007 |author=|last= |first= |authorlink= |coauthors= |date= |year= |month= |format= |work= |publisher= |pages= |language= |archiveurl= |archivedate=]

Personal life

Rich is married to Alex Witchel, who also writes for the "Times", and has two sons from his previous marriage to Gail Winston. He lives in Manhattan.

Books

*"The Greatest Story Ever Sold: The Decline and Fall of Truth from 9/11 to Katrina" (ISBN 1-59420-098-X)
*"Ghost Light: A Memoir" (ISBN 0-375-75824-0)
*"Hot Seat: Theater Criticism for The New York Times, 1980-1993" (ISBN 0-679-45300-8)
*"The Theatre Art of Boris Aronson" (ISBN 0394529138)

References

External links

* [http://www.frankrich.com/ Rich's own site]
* [http://select.nytimes.com/packages/khtml/2005/09/19/opinion/20050919_RICH_FEATURE.html "Meet Frank Rich"] , "New York Times" biographical video interview
* [http://topics.nytimes.com/top/opinion/editorialsandoped/oped/columnists/frankrich/index.html Index of "New York Times" columns by Frank Rich]
* [http://www.thecrimson.com/writer.aspx?id=21 "Harvard Crimson" pieces]
* [http://video.on.nytimes.com/index.jsp?fr_story=cfc87df81f75d643f2ee861d2b9de31a7617b1b7 Rich participates in extended political discussion with Andrew Rosenthal, David Brooks and Maureen Dowd] , "New York Times" video, July 17, 2006
* [http://www.harvardmagazine.com/2007/03/reviewing-reality.html Reviewing "Reality" - "New York Times" columnist Frank Rich views political life through a theatrical lens] , by Craig Lambert, Harvard Magazine, July-August 2007
* [http://www.sdcitybeat.com/article.php?id=5711 The culture of politics: An interview with New York Times columnist Frank Rich] by Anders Wright, San Diego City Beat, May 5, 2007