Chris Cillizza

Christopher Michael Cillizza (/sɪˈlɪzə/; born February 20, 1976)[1] is an American political commentator, who worked for the television news channel CNN from 2017 to 2022. Prior to joining CNN, he wrote for The Fix, the daily political blog of The Washington Post, and was a regular contributor to the Post on political issues, a frequent panelist on Meet the Press, and an MSNBC political analyst. Cillizza is also a co-host of The Tony Kornheiser Show sports podcast.[2][3] In April 2017, Cillizza began working for CNN, including writing and onscreen appearances. He was terminated by CNN in December 2022.

Chris Cillizza
Cillizza in May 2012
Born
Christopher Michael Cillizza

(1976-02-20) February 20, 1976
Marlborough, Connecticut, U.S.
EducationGeorgetown University (BA)
OccupationPolitical commentator
SpouseGia Cillizza
Websiteyoutube.com/@chriscillizza

Early life and education

Cillizza was born and raised in Marlborough, Connecticut.[4][5][6] He attended The Loomis Chaffee School (which he sometimes refers to jokingly as the "Loomis Chaffee School for the Rich," borrowing a line from Tony Kornheiser),[7][8] an independent boarding school in Windsor, Connecticut, and graduated in 1994.[9][6] He attended Georgetown University from 1994 to 1998, where he graduated with a B.A. in English.[10] He currently resides in Falls Church, Virginia with his wife and two children.[2] He is of Sicilian and Irish descent.[11]

Career

After working as a novelist and later an intern for conservative writer George Will,[12] Cillizza began his career in journalism. He initially desired to work as a sports writer, but decided that sports "would be less fun" than politics.[12] He later worked on the Washington, D.C. newspaper Roll Call prior to joining The Washington Post.[13] For The Cook Political Report he covered gubernatorial races and southern House races. He wrote a column on politics for Congress Daily. During his four years at Roll Call, which he joined in June 2001, he reported on campaign politics from the presidential to the congressional level, finishing his time at Roll Call as the paper's White House correspondent.[14]

His freelance work has appeared in publications such as The Atlantic Monthly, Washingtonian, and Slate.[15] He has also been a guest on CNN, Fox News Channel and MSNBC.[14] After multiple guest appearances on the network, he was named an MSNBC Political Analyst, a position he resigned when he accepted a position at CNN.[16] He is also a frequent panelist on Meet the Press.

The Fix

Cillizza founded the blog The Fix in 2005 and wrote for it on a regular basis until he joined CNN in 2017.[17] The blog's focus was American electoral politics, with Cillizza commenting on gubernatorial, Congressional and presidential elections. He hosted the weekly Fix live chat. Cilizza also oversaw a monthly trivia contest called "Politics and Pints" at the Washington, D.C. bar Capitol Lounge.[18]

Media

From 2007 to 2008, Cillizza was a co-host of the MySpace/MTV Presidential Dialogues, which hosted John McCain, Barack Obama, and others in a live-streamed, interactive Presidential event series. Cillizza and fellow The Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank appeared in a series of humor videos called Mouthpiece Theater, hosted by The Washington Post. An outcry followed a video in which, during a discussion of the White House "Beer Summit", they chose new brands for a number of people, including "Mad Bitch Beer" for Hillary Clinton. Both men apologized for the video and the series was canceled.[19]

In July 2012, Broadway Books (a division of Penguin Random House) released his book, The Gospel According to the Fix.[20] Written in a blog-like format,[21] it contains lists such as "The 10 Best/Worst Negative Ads", as well as coverage of the "deep personal hatreds that politics provoke" and predictions for the 2012 and 2016 presidential elections.[22]

Since 2014, Cillizza has served a regular co-host of The Tony Kornheiser Show.[2][3]

CNN

On April 3, 2017, Cillizza joined CNN as a "political reporter and digital editor-at-large," contributing online and on television.[17][23]

On June 28, 2017, CNN Politics announced the launch of "The Point with Chris Cillizza." According to the official press release, the new "multiplatform brand" will include "daily columns, on-air analysis, an evening newsletter, [a] podcast, and the launch of trivia night events in Washington, DC."[24][25] The show which is on YouTube releases political analysis videos hosted by Cillizza every Tuesday and Thursday.

Cillizza also runs political trivia on his personal Instagram account on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.

On December 1, 2022, Cillizza was laid off from CNN.[26]

Reception

Columbia Journalism Review has described Cillizza's informal, "everyman" style as being popular with readers.[12] According to reviewers, "Chris Cillizza might be the only person in America who can have goofy fun talking about Trumpcare, Russian election interference, and the emoluments clause... Consequently, Cillizza tends to be a fly trap for criticism about his criticism."[12] Jay Rosen has compared his approach to infotainment which turns political analysis into gamesmanship detached from real-world implications.[27][12] Former CNN host Soledad O'Brien has described Cillizza's work as facile.[28][29] David Weigel has criticized Cillizza for focusing on predictions rather than factual analysis.[30] Cillizza, along with Mark Halperin and Ron Fournier, was cited by Felix Biederman and Virgil Texas as one of the inspirations for their parody political pundit Carl Diggler.[31]

References
  1. "Chris Cillizza on Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved November 4, 2016.
  2. Van Zandt, Emily (August 29, 2016). "Why Chris Cillizza Doesn't Read the Comments". Arlington Magazine. Retrieved March 14, 2017.
  3. Casselberry, Ian (June 2, 2016). "Tony Kornheiser ending D.C. radio show, starting podcast in September". Awful Announcing. Retrieved March 14, 2017.
  4. House, Dennis (December 27, 2009). "Chris Cillizza on 'Face the State'". The Hartfordite. Retrieved July 10, 2016.
  5. Cillizza, Chris (February 12, 2014). "How 'Red Sox vs. Yankees' explains Connecticut politics". The Washington Post. Retrieved July 10, 2016.
  6. Blair, Russell (March 13, 2017). "Connecticut Native, Political Reporter Jumps To CNN". Hartford Courant. Retrieved March 14, 2017.
  7. "Chris Cillizza on Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved March 14, 2017.
  8. Wollschlager, Mike (August 4, 2020). "CNN's Chris Cillizza talks growing up in Connecticut, bullying, basketball and Trump". Connecticut Magazine. Archived from the original on August 17, 2020. Tony Kornheiser, whose show I do two or three times a week, they politely joke that it's the Loomis Chaffee School for the Rich.
  9. "The Loomis Chaffee Class Of 1994". Hartford Courant. June 4, 1994. Retrieved July 10, 2016.
  10. "Chris Cillizza". Georgetown University Institute of Politics and Public Service. Retrieved July 10, 2016.
  11. "The Fix Faceoff: Video Q&A with Chris Cillizza". Retrieved July 10, 2016.
  12. Lenz, Lyz (July 27, 2017). "Enthusiastic, prolific, simplistic Chris Cillizza reaches new heights". Columbia Journalism Review. Retrieved March 11, 2018.
  13. "About Chris Cilizza" (biosketch), The Washington Post; retrieved September 11, 2011.
  14. "Meet the Reporters | Ohio River Ramble: Nine Districts in Nine Days | Campaign 2006 | washingtonpost.com". The Washington Post. Retrieved March 14, 2017.
  15. "Chris Cillizza | Interviews | Tavis Smiley | PBS". Tavis Smiley | PBS. March 31, 2011. Retrieved March 14, 2017.
  16. Gold, Hadas (March 14, 2017). "CNN hires Chris Cillizza". Politico. Retrieved March 14, 2017.
  17. Wemple, Erik (March 13, 2017). "CNN hires Chris Cillizza away from The Washington Post". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved March 14, 2017.
  18. Johnson, Chase (July 26, 2010). "Hip to be Square". Northern Virginia Magazine. Retrieved July 10, 2016.
  19. Howard Kurtz, "Post's Video 'Theater' Ends Its Run: Hosts Apologize for Off-Color Clinton Joke", washingtonpost.com, August 6, 2009; accessed March 15, 2014.
  20. "Press Release: Gospel According to The Fix by Chris Cillizza". The Crown Publishing Group. August 16, 2011. Retrieved July 10, 2016.
  21. "Nonfiction Book Review: The Gospel According to the Fix: An Insider's Guide to a Less than Holy World of Politics by Chris Cillizza". Publishers Weekly. PWxyz LLC. Retrieved July 10, 2016.
  22. Kurson, Ken (July 23, 2012). "Politics as a Spectator Sport". The Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved July 10, 2016.
  23. Balluck, Kyle (March 13, 2017). "Chris Cillizza jumps from Washington Post and MSNBC to CNN". The Hill. Retrieved March 14, 2017.
  24. "CNN Politics Launches 'The Point with Chris Cillizza'". CNN. June 28, 2017. Retrieved June 29, 2017.
  25. Balluck, Kyle (June 28, 2017). "CNN launching brand around Chris Cillizza". The Hill. Retrieved June 29, 2017.
  26. Steinberg, Brian (December 1, 2022). "HLN Gutted By CNN Layoffs". CNN executives were expected to inform staffers about layoffs at the network Thursday morning, according to these people. CNN correspondents Alison Kosik, Martin Savidge, Alex Field, Mary Ann Fox and Chris Cilizza are among the staffers who have been let go, according to two people familiar with the matter.
  27. Rosen, Jay (February 7, 2014). "Behold how badly our political journalists have lost the freakin' plot - PressThink". PressThink. New York University. Retrieved March 11, 2018.
  28. "Ex-CNN host Soledad O'Brien hits Chris Cillizza for 'terrible analysis'". March 7, 2018.
  29. Aran, Isha (March 7, 2018). "RIP Chris Cillizza, Owned To Death by Soledad O'Brien, We Hardly Knew Ye".
  30. Weigel, David (February 5, 2014). "CBOghazi: Journalists Have No Idea "What Will Matter" in an Election". Slate. Retrieved March 11, 2018.
  31. Marantz, Andrew (October 10, 2016). "The Parody Pundit We Deserve". newyorker.com. Retrieved January 10, 2019.
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