Doug Ireland

Doug Ireland is a longtime radical political journalist and media critic, who considers himself a purveyor of what the great I.F. Stone (at whose feet Doug sat as a lad) called "investigative opinion." Even those with whom Doug has profound disagreements respect him--like Christopher Hitchens, who wrote (in the May, 2004 Vanity Fair) that Doug "is one of the country’s toughest and brightest radical columnists."
Doug got his start in journalism as a lad on the New York Post (in the pre-Murdoch days, when the paper was still owned by Dolly Schiff and was the most liberal daily in the country), and as a young man worked for a wire service. He's been a columnist for the Village Voice (serving for seven years as its chief media critic), the New York Observer, New York magazine, and the Parisian daily Liberation, among other publications (and for the late, lamented SoHo Weekly News). He lived for a decade in France, writing on European politics and culture for a wide variety of publications on both sides of the Atlantic, visits France whenever he can, and often writes about French and European politics for a Stateside audience. He also currently writes a column for the French political/investigative weekly Bakchich. During the Clinton presidency, for three years he wrote a syndicated column called The Clinton Watch, which appeared in alternative weeklies around the country. A longtime contributor to The Nation magazine, he's a contributing editor of POZ magazine and of In These Times, and the former media critic for TomPaine.com. His articles have appeared in many U.S. and French publications. Among those he writes for regularly these days is the L.A. Weekly, where his articles on politics frequently appear. He writes weekly on international LGBT issues for Gay City News, the largest lesbian and gay weekly in New York City.
Prior to consecrating himself fulltime to journalism in 1977, before he reached the age of 30 Doug had worked on the staff of four presidential campaigns for liberal Democrats, and successfully managed the campaigns that elected progressives like Bella Abzug and Allard Lowenstein to Congress and Paul O'Dwyer New York City Council President. He managed Bella's campaign for U.S. Senate in New York, which she tragically lost, by less than 10,000 votes out of 1 milllion cast, to Pat Moynihan. He also served stints in New York City and New York State government, and on the staff of the United Auto Workers and the N.J. Industrial Union Council AFL-CIO.
Doug has been out of the closet as a gay man since 1973, and has written extensively about gay political issues. His partner of a dozen years, Herve Coeurgou, died of AIDS eight years ago. Doug lives and writes in New York City, but considers Paris his second home.