Molly Ball

Molly Ball is an American political journalist and writer. She is the senior political correspondent for The Wall Street Journal.^[1] She is the author of a 2020 biography of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Early life and education

Ball was raised in Colorado and Idaho.^[2] She attended Cherry Creek High School in the Denver suburb, Greenwood Village graduating in 1997. She graduated from Yale University in 2001^[3][4] after which she moved to Cambodia and spent two years reporting for the The Cambodia Daily.^[5]

Career

Ball joined The Wall Street Journal in 2023. Previously, Ball worked at Time as the National Political Correspondent starting in 2017.^[6] Before that, she covered U.S. politics for The Atlantic, where she won the 2012 Toner Prize for Excellence in Public Reporting for her coverage of the 2012 United States elections, including the 2012 United States presidential election and the 2012 gay marriage referendums.^[7] She has been a reporter for Politico, the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the Las Vegas Sun, and The Cambodia Daily.

Recognition

In 2019, Ball received the Gerald R. Ford Prize for Distinguished Reporting on the Presidency for her coverage of the Trump administration.^[8] Other awards she has received include the Lee Walczak Award for Political Analysis, the Sandy Hume Memorial Award for Excellence in Political Journalism, the Society of Professional Journalists' Sigma Delta Chi Award, and the Toner Prize for Excellence in Political Reporting.^[2] Ball received the 2020 Everett McKinley Dirksen Award for Distinguished Reporting of Congress from the National Press Foundation for her reporting on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, which judges called "authoritative," "compelling" and "nuanced."^[9] She was honored as Outstanding Journalist in Print in the 2020 Washington Women in Journalism awards.^[10]

Legal Controversies

Lawsuit and Settlement over Article Misrepresentations

In December 2017, an article written by Molly Ball titled "When the Presses Stop," which was published in The Atlantic, became the subject of controversy and legal action. The article, which detailed the life and career of Bernie Krisher, a journalist, philanthropist and publisher of The Cambodia Daily where Ball had worked as a reporter, was challenged for factual inaccuracies by Krisher's family. According to the family, the article contained several inaccuracies and misrepresented events related to Krisher's efforts to help Ball during a health crisis, among other issues.^[11][12][13]

The dispute escalated into a lawsuit filed in Japan, where Krisher had lived since 1962, alleged defamation and invasion of privacy. The lawsuit highlighted issues surrounding Ball's allegation that Krisher failed to assist Ball with a health insurance problem in 2003 and mischaracterizations of Krisher's journalistic and philanthropic endeavors.^[11][12][13]

The case concluded in January 2024 with a settlement that led to multiple corrections to the online version of the article and the destruction of all digital and physical copies of the photos taken by Ball of Krisher. The settlement, while not admitting wrongdoing or liability from either side, resulted in 16 corrections to the original article.^{[11][12][13][14][15]}

This lawsuit highlighted the importance of factual accuracy and ethical journalism practices, and the challenges American media companies face when operating internationally, where legal protections and standards for defamation can vary significantly from those in the United States.^[11][12][13]

Personal life

Ball is of Jewish heritage.^[16] She lives in Arlington, Virginia with her husband, David Kihara, and their three children.^[17][18]

In 2007, she won $100,000 on the game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.^[3]

References

External links

• Official Website