Jake Tapper
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Jake Tapper (born March 12, 1969) is a journalist working for ABC News in Washington, DC. Born in New York City, he was raised in Philadelphia. For high school, he attended Akiba Hebrew Academy. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa, magna cum laude from Dartmouth College in 1991 with a B.A. in history modified by visual studies. He briefly attended graduate school at the University of Southern California School of Cinema-Television.
Currently ABC News Senior National Correspondent in the Washington, DC, bureau, Tapper has reported on a wide range of stories, including the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the investigation into the disclosure of CIA agent Valerie Plame's identity, and the debate over Terri Schiavo. He spent time in Baghdad covering the war in Iraq. During the 2004 presidential election, Tapper reported on charges by the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth against Senator John Kerry and also manned the Fact Check desk during ABC News' debate and election coverage. He also reported on the California recall election. Tapper frequently reports on breaking national stories, politics, faith in America, and the culture wars. Tapper joined ABC News in 2003 as a correspondent. On May 30, 2006, Tapper was named senior national correspondent, and will also serve in the 2006 and 2008 elections as senior political correspondent.
Before joining ABC News, Tapper worked for three years at Powell Tate, a Washington, DC, public relations firm run by former George H.W. Bush and Nancy Reagan press secetary Sheila Tate and Jimmy Carter press secretary Jody Powell, and for six months at Handgun Control Inc. (now Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence) in 1997. His journalism career began full time as a senior writer for the Washington City Paper from 1998 to 1999 and then as the Washington correspondent for Salon.com from 1999 to 2002. He has also contributed to GQ, the Weekly Standard, NPR's All Things Considered, The New York Times, and The Washington Post. In 2001 he hosted a TV show on CNN called Take Five in which young journalists and commentators discussed politics and pop culture. In 2002 he hosted a series of entertainment news specials on VH1 and in 2003 he hosted shows focused on independent film on the Sundance Channel.
He is the author of the books Down and Dirty: The Plot to Steal the Presidency on the 2000 Presidential election and Body Slam: The Jesse Ventura Story.
His comic strip Capitol Hell appeared in Roll Call from 1994 to 2003. He has also contributed cartoons to the conservative American Spectator magazine, the Los Angeles Times and The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Tapper has served as a substitute anchor on Nightline and contributed a report to a broadcast of World News Tonight that won the 2005 Edward R. Murrow award for best network newscast. His Salon.com stories about Enron were nominated for a Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism online journalism award. At Washington City Paper he won a Society of Professional Journalists award.
