Jimmy
Breslin was born in Jamaica, New York in 1929. Breslin’s career is one that is
long and included a multitude of different journalistic endeavors. Breslin
started his career working for the Long Island Press, as his career continued he began reporting on sports
from 1950-1963 for multiple New York newspapers including the New
York Herald Tribune. Once Breslin’s column
for the Herald Tribune became popular his editors expanded the topic of the
column from sports to all matters of life and death. Breslin is also known for having run for President of
the New York city council, he was unsuccessful. In 1977 Breslin became
world-renowned for being the journalist that the infamous killer, Son of Sam,
had contacted and began a correspondence with.
Jimmy
Breslin’s contributions to the world of journalism are vast and vary greatly.
Breslin connects with his audience because he chose to write his stories from
the perspective of “the common
man.” The greatest example of this skill and strategy was Breslin’s piece on
John F. Kennedy’s funeral from the perspective of the man who had dug his
grave. It’s pieces like this that show how great a writer Breslin was and how
he was able to capture important stories in our history but also make them
relatable to the people who were actually reading the stories. Breslin won the
Pulitzer Prize for Commentary in 1986.
Breslin was also known for his
candidacy. In 1990 he received an e-mail that stated that his news columns were
sexist. Breslin found out that the person who had written this e-mail was an
Asian female reporter and he chose to address this e-mail in the Newsday
newsroom by calling her multiple racial slurs. This inappropriate act caused
Breslin to be suspended for two weeks with no pay. Although this wasn’t the brightest
moment in Breslin’s career it shows that no one is perfect no matter how many
achievements they may have obtained over the years. Besides this major
infraction, Breslin was a journalist capable of writing about many different
topics with skill and a perspective that many could relate to and enjoy.
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