Ron Fournier is a former award-winning journalist and current president of the public relations and lobbying firm Truscott Rossman. Fournier has a high profile career in journalism and has won many awards for his work.
He also wrote best-selling books named “Love that boy” and “Applebee’s America.” That is not all about Ron Fournier. At one time, he was even involved in a controversy with the white house.
So let’s closely examine Ron’s career, personal life, and controversy.
Who is Ron Fournier?
Ron Fournier’s career can inspire many young journalists. How a person hailing from a Detroit left marked on a Washington political journalism can fascinate many of you. He first impacted journalism by covering two presidential campaigns, including Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.
He also worked at prestigious news organizations like Associated Press and National Journal.
Known for his opinionated tone, one time Michael Calderone even criticized him for giving Associated press policy a great shift.
He presented news in a judgemental tone when two opposite arguments were made rather than giving information in a neutral style.
Ron Fournier career
If we talk about American journalists who have left their mark on political journalism. The name of Ron Fourier will always appear on the list. He always reported in his hard-hitting tone on political issues.
The aggressive reporter started his career in 1985 with Sentinel-Record in Hot Spring, Alaska.
After working there for two years, he moved to Arkansas Democrat in Little Rock, Arkansas. He also worked there for two years. Later he moved to the Associated Press (AP) in 1982.
Here, his career started to take shape. While in AP, he covered the whole of Bill Clinton through his final term as governor. When Bill was elected president, Ron Fournier also moved to AP’s Washington bureau.
Fournier left AP in 2004 to join the Harvard Institute of Politics fellowship. There he met with Matthew Dowd and Doug Sosnik, Republican and Democrat strategists, respectively. Together they co-wrote the book “Apple America.”
In 2006 he again started working as editor-in-chief for hitsoup.com, a website that works as a platform to host discussions about numerous topics, including politics. Unfortunately, the website failed to mark a significant success.
However, Fournier again returned to his previous work at AP in 2007 as its online political editor. In 2008, Fournier was appointed as Washington bureau chief, where he worked for eight years. Once again, Fournier took a new opportunity and joined Crain’s Detroit Business in 2016. One year later, he was appointed as a publisher and editor.
He also wrote a book in 2016 named Love That Boy, published in 2016. In his book, he described parenting and the road trip with his son Tyler who has Asperger Syndrome.
Awards
Ron won his society award of Professional Journalist in 2000. He also won the Sigma Delta Chi Award in the same year.
The award was given for his coverage of the United State Presidential Election.
He was also a three-time winner of the White House Correspondents Association Merriman Smith award. In 2012 he won the Sydney award honorable mention for his article Nothing we trust.
Ron Fournier’s Controversy
In 2013, Rob Fournier embroiled himself in controversy by writing an article about breaking ties with the White House.
In this column, he mentioned how he was fed up dealing with White House officials. He accused them of using vulgar and abusive language in conversation. Fournier also accused them of using veiled threats when things did not go their way.
Even making such a serious accusation, Ron Fournier did not disclose the officials’ names because he granted blanket anonymity to all his sources. It was the reason he received widespread criticism.
Some people, like commentator Glenn Greenwald, even said that Ron Fournier behaves in a “petulant” manner by not disclosing the source.
But this was not the end of the controversy for Fournier. In 2016 he again got into a crisis for interacting with a fictional journalist named Carl Digger.
Why Should You Read Ron Fournier’s Book?
Ron Fournier has written two books in his lifetime, which will teach you many things if your child has autism or if it is not the case.
Love that Boy touches on the serious topic of parenting. And how we raised our children to fit in the mold of expectation rather than their needs.
When the child fails to fit into the mold, it creates psychological guilt in children for disappointing their parents. As a parent, this book will resonate with you and your feelings.
Fournier’s other book, Applebee’s America, dissects the modern mentality of voters and the way new technology is paving the path for a political campaign to sell their candidates to the American people.
It will be hard to argue for you against the example this book gave, like how a person’s religion, work, and community shape his perspective of the ideal politician.
If you are a political junkie. This book can be your well-spent source of enjoyment.
Ron Fournier as Journalist
Ron Fournier never is one to ask questions in mild or polite terms. But sometimes his question is borderline aggressive, for example, when in 2018 when he forced a government official to address racial discrimination in Michigan.
You will be astonished to know that even being one of the most important players in political Journalism. Fournier mostly stays under the radar even when he has the power to put any story on the national radar.
Many people who know Fournier say he is so competitive that he can not stand on the losing side. Whether he is playing cards or finding out who will be in Bush’s staff, he has to win. Although Fournier’s take on his journalism is quite different. He states that he is neither a political junkie and neither he has an interest in politics before coming into the media.
He is doing this because it is his job. But he likes to make many people understand what politicians are saying.
Bottom Line
Even when you have not listened to his name, you must have read his stories about politics if you have a little interest in politics.
Ron Fournier has dedicated a decade to making the American people understand what politicians are saying and demand tough answers on America’s behalf.