Reply #1: About Nedra Pickler

[devilgrrl]

Nedra Pickler (born Oct. 13, 1975) is a partisan U.S. political reporter for the Associated Press (AP).

Background

Pickler was born in Flint, Michigan, but her family moved to Rector, Arkansas to run a catfish farm shortly after she was born. After her parents separated in 1983, she moved back north to Flint with her mother Marcy and sister Anna. <1> She describes growing up in poverty, with her mother going to Mott Community College when she couldn't find a job.<2>

Pickler attended Michigan State University, graduating in 1998 at the top of her journalism class <3>. She interned with the Detroit Free Press and Houston Chronicle as a college student.<4>

In 2000, she suffered from identity theft, and was interviewed by CNN. <5>

Pickler married Eric Conner, who works for Fox News, on November 24, 2007. <6> She first met him in 2006 while on a trip to Mexico covering President George W. Bush.<2>

Career

Pickler was hired by the Detroit offices of AP shortly after graduation. In March 2000, she transferred from the Lansing bureau to the Washington, D.C. bureau where she won the annual John L. Dougherty award for her work covering Michigan's congressional delegation. <7>

Pickler was promoted to cover national political issues for the AP in December 2002, and was the lead reporter covering Democrats in the 2004 United States Presidential Election. In her coverage of the 2004 presidential race, Pickler drew criticism for her treatment of Democratic candidates, including Howard Dean <8> and John Kerry. <9>

Pickler worked as a White House correspondent until September 2006, leaving to cover national politics, including the 2008 United States Presidential Election. <10>

In covering the 2008 election, Pickler again came under scrutiny for her coverage of the Democratic candidates, particularly Barack Obama. A March 27, 2007 article written by Pickler entitled "Is Obama All Style and Little Substance?" was attacked for its claim that Obama had "delivered no policy speeches and provided few details about how he would lead the country" in his campaign up to that point.<11> The liberal media watchdog group Media Matters for America countered by pointing out that Obama had given numerous policy speeches on Iraq<12>, Israel<13>, health care<14>, and other topics.<15> In February 2008, Pickler again came under criticism after she wrote an article in which she detailed Republican charges that Barack Obama is unpatriotic. Her only source was Roger Stone, a notorious Republican consultant<16>