John Nichols, a pioneering political blogger, has written the Online
Beat since 1999. His posts have been circulated internationally, quoted
in numerous books and mentioned in debates on the floor of Congress.
Nichols writes about politics for The Nation magazine as its
Washington correspondent. He is a contributing writer for The
Progressive and In These Times and the associate editor of
the Capital Times, the daily newspaper in Madison, Wisconsin.
His articles have appeared in the New York Times, Chicago
Tribune and dozens of other newspapers.
Nichols is a frequent guest on radio and television programs as a
commentator on politics and media issues. He was featured in Robert
Greenwald's documentary, "Outfoxed," and in the documentaries Joan
Sekler's "Unprecedented," Matt Kohn's "Call It Democracy" and Robert
Pappas's "Orwell Rolls in his Grave." The keynote speaker at the 2004
Congress of the International Federation of Journalists in Athens,
Nichols has been a featured presenter at conventions, conferences and
public forums on media issues sponsored by the Federal Communications
Commission, the Congressional Progressive Caucus, Consumers
International, the Future of Music Coalition, the AFL-CIO, the
Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, the Newspaper Guild [CWA] and dozens of other
organizations.
Nichols is the author of the upcoming book The Genius of
Impeachment (The New Press), as well as a critically-acclaimed
analysis of the Florida recount fight of 2000, Jews for Buchanan
(The New Press) and a best-selling biography of Vice President Dick
Cheney, Dick: The Man Who is President (The New Press), which
has recently been published in French and Arabic. He edited Against
the Beast: A Documentary History of American Opposition to Empire
(Nation Books), of which historian Howard Zinn said: "At exactly the
time when we need it most, John Nichols gives us a special gift--a
collection of writings, speeches, poems, and songs from throughout
American history--that reminds us that our revulsion to war and empire
has a long and noble tradition in this country."
With Robert W. McChesney, Nichols has co-authored the books, It's
the Media, Stupid! (Seven Stories), Our Media, Not Theirs
(Seven Stories) and Tragedy and Farce: How the American Media Sell
Wars, Spin Elections, and Destroy Democracy (The New Press).
McChesney and Nichols are the co-founders of Free Press, the nation's
media-reform network, which organized the 2003 and 2005 National
Conferences on Media Reform.
Of Nichols, author Gore Vidal says: "Of all the giant slayers now afoot
in the great American desert, John Nichols’s sword is the sharpest."