David Martosko is the U.S. political editor at DailyMail.com, the US version of MailOnline, the website of the British tabloid newspaper The Daily Mail. He was executive editor at The Daily Caller from 2011 to 2013. Under his tenure at the Daily Caller, he published false stories about U.S. Senator Bob Menendez using prostitutes and defended false stories about the Environmental Protection Agency. From 2001 to 2011, he worked at the Center for Consumer Freedom, a nonprofit entity founded by Richard Berman which advocates for industry interests on consumer rights issues, and at the public relations firm of Berman and Company.
Early life
Martosko was born in Parma, Ohio and attended St. Ignatius High School in Cleveland. He studied at Dartmouth College, graduating with a bachelor's degree in 1991. He later earned a master's degree in orchestral conducting from the Johns Hopkins University's conservatory of music, the Peabody Institute. Martosko told AdWeek in 2013 that his first journalism job was "summer photo editor and an occasional arts critic" at '’The Dartmouth’’, a college newspaper.
Career
Public relations
Martosko was a senior strategist in the Center for Consumer Freedom, which advocates for industry interests on consumer rights issues, at the PR firm Berman and Company from 2001 to August 2011. Martosko testified about the Animal Liberation Front and acknowledged in March 2013 that his work researching the animal rights movement included posing as an activist on Facebook to gather intelligence.
''Daily Caller''
Martosko was hired as executive editor at The Daily Caller in 2011.
False EPA story
In 2011, under his tenure, the Caller published a false story claiming that the EPA was going to spend $21 billion per year to hire 230,000 staff to regulate greenhouse gas emissions; at the time, the EPA had 17,000 staff and a total budget of $8.7 billion. The story went viral in right-wing media, and Republican politicians repeated the story. Other news outlets noted that the story was false, but Martosko stood by the story. Adweek reported that the decision of Martosko to stand by the story caused dismay among some Caller staff, who believed the decision undermined the credibility of the news outlet.
In 2013, The Daily Caller published stories, many of which were authored by Martosko, about two women claiming that New Jersey Democratic Senator Bob Menendez had paid them for sex while he was a guest of a campaign donor. News organizations such as ABC News, which had also interviewed the women, The New York Times, and the New York Post declined to publish the allegations, viewing them as unsubstantiated and lacking credibility. Subsequently, one of the women who accused Menendez stated that she had been paid to falsely implicate the senator and had never met him. Menendez's office described the allegations as "manufactured" by a right-wing blog as a politically motivated smear. Dominican law enforcement alleged that the women had been paid to lie about Menendez by an individual claiming to work for The Daily Caller. The Daily Caller denied this allegation, stating: "At no point did any money change hands between The Daily Caller and any sources or individuals connected with this investigation". Martosko refused to explain how The Daily Caller got the story in the first place. Describing what it saw as the unraveling of The Daily Caller "scoop", the Poynter Institute wrote: "The Daily Caller stands by its reports, though apparently doesn't feel the need to prove its allegations right.
''Daily Mail''
Martosko joined DailyMail.com in 2013. Martosko is DailyMail.com's chief U.S. political correspondent and a member of the White House press corps. He and covered the 2016 presidential campaigns of Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. On June 15, 2015, Martosko was the designated print "pool" reporter tasked with following Hillary Clinton around New Hampshire for the day, filing reports for the benefit of other news outlets. Clinton's team refused to let him board the press van. Campaign press secretary Nick Merrill responded that Clinton's team would "do our best to find equilibrium and best accommodate interest from as many news outlets as possible, given the space limitations of our events." According to Politico, "During the 2016 campaign, was perhaps the most prolific reporter" who covered Trump. He interviewed the future president repeatedly during the campaign.
On December 13, 2016, Martosko attended meetings at Trump Tower in New York City, leading to speculation that he might become then-President-Elect Donald Trump's White House Press Secretary. Martosko later confirmed that he had been under consideration, saying he was "honored to be asked for a meeting." Trump spoke with Martosko about the position again in June 2017. CNN reported that the topic arose during a meeting in the Oval Office where Martosko asked the president to participate in a book project. Martosko withdrew from consideration within days, saying in a public statement that "I have chosen not to take the discussions further".
