Molly Ball is an American political journalist and writer. She is the senior political correspondent for The Wall Street Journal.
Early life and education
Ball grew up in Idaho and Colorado.
She graduated from Cherry Creek High School in the Denver suburb of Greenwood Village in 1997. She attended
Yale University, where she wrote for
The Yale Herald.
and graduated in 2001.
Career
In 2001, Ball had a summer internship at
The Washington Post,
then in January 2002 moved to Cambodia and spent one year and three months reporting for
The Cambodia Daily.
She returned to the United States after being diagnosed with cancer.
Subsequently, she has worked as a reporter for the
Las Vegas Sun,
Las Vegas Review-Journal,
Politico,
The Atlantic,
Time, and
The Wall Street Journal.
Recognition
In 2019, Ball received the Gerald R. Ford Prize for Distinguished Reporting on the Presidency for her coverage of the Trump administration.
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.
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."
She was recognized as Outstanding Journalist in Print in the 2020 Washington Women in Journalism awards.
Criticisms, controversies and legal dispute
In 2015, James Taranto of
The Wall Street Journal criticized Ball's treatment of a Trump supporter in an article Ball wrote for
The Atlantic titled, "The Ecstasy of Donald Trump",
observing that she described the supporter with "a leathery complexion and yellow teeth", which Taranto argued was an instance of media bias and disrespect towards ordinary citizens.
In 2021, Ball's
Time magazine article, "The Secret History of the Shadow Campaign That Saved the 2020 Election", described efforts by political groups, business leaders, and activists to influence the 2020 election. While Ball characterized this as protecting election integrity, critics questioned her journalistic ethics and objectivity.
In December 2019, Ball and The Atlantic were sued for defamation and invasion of privacy in the Tokyo District Court, Japan, by the family of Bernard Krisher over a piece by Ball titled "When the Presses Stop" published in January/February 2018 edition of the magazine.
Personal life
Ball is of Jewish heritage.
She lives in Arlington, Virginia with her husband, David Kihara, an editor at
Politico, and their three children.
In 2007, she won $100,000 on the game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.
External links
