Chris Hayes (journalist) - Journalism

Journalism

From 2006 through 2007, Hayes was a Puffin Foundation Writing Fellow at The Nation Institute, and a Contributing Writer for The Nation. On November 1, 2007, The Nation named him its Washington, D.C., Editor, succeeding David Corn. He is also currently a Senior Editor at In These Times, a liberal monthly magazine based in Chicago. He has written extensively on issues central to the liberal community, including what ails the Democratic Party in the post-9/11 era and how the labor movement is changing. Hayes is also a regular contributor to the Chicago Reader, an independent weekly newspaper, where he covers local and national politics. Previously, Hayes was Adjunct Professor of English at St. Augustine College in Chicago.

He guest-hosted The Rachel Maddow Show in July 2010, while Maddow was traveling in Afghanistan; Hayes often filled in for Maddow when she was absent. Hayes has also hosted other MSNBC shows such as The Ed Show, Countdown with Keith Olbermann, and The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell. On November 5, 2010, MSNBC announced that Hayes would be filling in for Keith Olbermann during Olbermann's suspension; however, the network later backtracked after finding out that Hayes had also made political contributions - the issue over which Olbermann was being suspended. Hayes credits Maddow with his becoming a host at MSNBC, saying "I absolutely would not be doing this if it weren't for her."

On May 27, 2012, Memorial Day Weekend, Hayes made comments on air regarding the use of the word "heroism" as applied to American service members killed in action, stating that, "I feel... uncomfortable, about the word because it seems to me that it is so rhetorically proximate to justifications for more war. Um, and, I don’t want to obviously desecrate or disrespect memory of anyone that’s fallen, and obviously there are individual circumstances in which there is genuine, tremendous heroism, you know, hail of gunfire, rescuing fellow soldiers, and things like that. But it seems to me that we marshal this word in a way that is problematic. But maybe I’m wrong about that." His remark generated widespread controversy. Hayes initially defended his comment by urging people to watch what he had actually said, but nonetheless apologized both on his blog and on his June 2, 2012 show which was devoted to a discussion about the comments and the disconnect between civilians and the military.