{{Short description|American journalist (1957–2003)}} {{About|the American journalist|the Irish journalist|Michael Kelly (Irish journalist)|other uses|Michael Kelly (disambiguation)}} {{Use American English|date=November 2024}} {{Use mdy dates|date=June 2022}} {{Infobox person | name = Michael Kelly | image = Michael Kelly (editor).jpg | alt = Portrait of Michael Kelly | caption = | birth_date = March 17, 1957 | birth_place = Washington, D.C., U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|2003|04|04|1957|03|17}} | death_place = Baghdad Governorate, Iraq | death_cause = War-related vehicular accident | resting_place = Mount Auburn Cemetery, Hibiscus Path, Lot no. 10740<ref name=mtauburn>{{cite web |publisher=Mount Auburn Cemetery |title=Map |url=http://www.mountauburn.org/map |accessdate=November 19, 2012 |archive-date=October 17, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181017163037/https://mountauburn.org/map/ |url-status=live }}</ref> | resting_place_coordinates = {{Coord|42|22|20.7|N|71|8|44.3|W|type:landmark_region:US-MA|display=inline}} | education = University of New Hampshire (BA) | occupation = {{hlist|Journalist|author|columnist|editor}} | years_active = 1983–2003 | employer = | known_for = Reporting during the Persian Gulf War | notable_works = {{ubl | ''Martyrs' Day: Chronicle of a Small War'' (1993) | ''Things Worth Fighting For: Collected Writings'' (2004) }} | spouse = {{marriage|Madelyn Kelly|1991}} | children = 2 | awards = {{ubl | Martha Albrand Award | National Magazine Awards }} | website = <!-- Dead link: {{URL|http://kellyaward.com/}} --> }}
'''Michael Thomas Kelly''' (March 17, 1957{{snd}}April 4, 2003) was an American journalist for ''The New York Times'', a columnist for ''The Washington Post'' and ''The New Yorker'', and a magazine editor for ''The New Republic'', ''National Journal'', and ''The Atlantic''. He came to prominence through his reporting on the 1990–1991 Gulf War, and was well known for his political profiles and commentary. He suffered professional embarrassment for his role as senior editor in the Stephen Glass scandal at ''The New Republic''. Kelly was killed in 2003 while covering the invasion of Iraq; he was the first American journalist to die during the war.<ref name=bbcreport>{{cite news|title=US journalist killed in Iraq|publisher=BBC News|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/2919245.stm|date=April 5, 2003|access-date=November 20, 2012|archive-date=April 2, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190402083718/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/2919245.stm|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=nytimes>{{cite news|first=David|last=Carr|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/05/us/michael-kelly-46-editor-and-columnist-dies-in-iraq.html|title=Michael Kelly, 46, Editor And Columnist, Dies in Iraq|work=The New York Times|date=April 5, 2003|accessdate=November 19, 2012|archive-date=July 14, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180714222023/https://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/05/us/michael-kelly-46-editor-and-columnist-dies-in-iraq.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=foxnews>{{cite news|url=http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,83204,00.html|title=American Journalist Michael Kelly Killed in Iraq|first=Liza|last=Porteus|publisher=Fox News Channel|date=April 4, 2003|accessdate=November 19, 2012|archive-date=October 26, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121026142245/http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,83204,00.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
During a journalism career that spanned 20 years, Kelly received a number of professional awards for his book on the Gulf War and his articles, as well as for his magazine editing. In his honor, the Michael Kelly Award for journalism was established, as well as a scholarship at his ''alma mater,'' the University of New Hampshire.
==Early life and education== Born in Washington, D.C. as one of four children,<ref name=tvk>{{cite web|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/19/AR2010061902924.html|title=Washington journalist and Capitol Hill resident Thomas V. Kelly dies at 86|work=Washingtonpost.com|date=June 20, 2010|accessdate=April 29, 2022|archive-date=February 28, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140228195224/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/19/AR2010061902924.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Kelly followed both of his parents into journalism.<ref name="ajr">{{cite news |last=Scrivo |first=Karen Lee |date=December 1999 |title=Prodigious Progeny |work=American Journalism Review |url=https://ajrarchive.org/article.asp?id=3150|access-date=April 29, 2022}}</ref> His mother is Marguerite (Lelong) Kelly,<ref name=legacyobit>{{cite web|title=Michael T. Kelly obituary|publisher=Boston Globe|url=http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/bostonglobe/obituary.aspx?n=Michael-Kelly&pid=921454|accessdate=November 19, 2012|archive-date=July 31, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130731084305/http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/bostonglobe/obituary.aspx?n=Michael-Kelly&pid=921454|url-status=live}}</ref> a columnist from New Orleans who wrote "The Family Almanac" for ''The Washington Post'', and his father was Thomas Vincent Kelly (August 2, 1923 – June 17, 2010), a political and features reporter for ''The Washington Star'', formerly ''The Washington Daily News'',<ref name=nytimes/><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/04/27/garden/mother-s-almanac-revisited.html|title=Mother's Almanac, Revisited|work=The New York Times|date=April 27, 1989|access-date=April 29, 2022|archive-date=April 29, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220429102755/https://www.nytimes.com/1989/04/27/garden/mother-s-almanac-revisited.html|url-status=live}}</ref> and later for ''The Washington Times''.<ref name=tvk/>
Kelly attended Gonzaga College High School, as his father had done. He graduated in 1979 from the University of New Hampshire, where he worked for the college newspaper, ''The New Hampshire'', and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in history.<ref name=tvk/><ref name=nytimes/><ref name=slateobit>{{cite news|first=Jack|last=Shafer|title=Michael Kelly (1957–2003)|publisher=Slate|date=April 3, 2003|accessdate=November 19, 2012|url=http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/press_box/2003/04/michael_kelly_19572003.html|archive-date=November 10, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121110211039/http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/press_box/2003/04/michael_kelly_19572003.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
==Career== Kelly's first media job was booking guests for ABC News and its ''Good Morning America'' television program.<ref name="ajr" /> He was a newspaper journalist for ''The Cincinnati Post'' (1983–1986), ''The Baltimore Sun'' (1986–1989) and later, after writing freelance and reporting in the first Gulf War, he worked for ''The New York Times'' (1992–1994).<ref name="nytimes" /><ref name="ajr" /> While he worked freelance, his articles were published in ''The Boston Globe'' and ''GQ''. ''The New Republic'' published his reporting on the Persian Gulf War in 1991.<ref name="nytimes" /> He was a staff writer for ''The New York Times Magazine''. In 1994, he joined ''The New Yorker'' and wrote its "Letter From Washington" column until his departure in 1996.<ref name="nytimes" />
At that point in his career, Kelly had worked with editors such as Hendrik Hertzberg at ''The New Republic'', Robert Vare at ''The New York Times Magazine'' and Tina Brown at ''The New Yorker''.<ref name="slateobit" /><ref name="atlanticvare">{{cite news|last=Vare|first=Robert|date=April 2004|title=True to His Words|publisher=The Atlantic|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2004/04/true-to-his-words/302930|accessdate=November 19, 2012|archive-date=October 24, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121024081054/http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2004/04/true-to-his-words/302930/|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1996, Kelly became the editor of ''The New Republic'', where his protectiveness of his staffers, along with the criticisms he leveled against publisher Martin Peretz's friend Al Gore, created friction with the magazine's management. He was dismissed after less than a year as editor.<ref name="guardian" /><ref>Multiple sources: *{{cite news|first=Chris|last=Stamper|title=Man knows not his time|publisher=World magazine|url=http://www.worldmag.com/2003/04/man_knows_not_his_time_0|date=April 19, 2003|accessdate=November 19, 2012|archive-date=July 31, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130731075302/http://www.worldmag.com/2003/04/man_knows_not_his_time_0|url-status=live}} *{{cite news|first=Byron|last=York|title=A Courageous Man: Michael Kelly, R.I.P.|publisher=National Review|url=http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/206471/courageous-man/byron-york#|date=April 4, 2003}} *{{cite news|last=Depena|first=Barbara B.|date=May 26, 2011|title=Peretz faces dual legacy|publisher=Harvard Crimson|url=http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2011/5/26/peretz-fund-students-social-studies|accessdate=November 19, 2012|archive-date=June 22, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130622204013/http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2011/5/26/peretz-fund-students-social-studies/|url-status=live}}</ref>
Writer Stephen Glass had been a major contributor under Kelly's editorship; Glass was later shown to have fabricated numerous stories, and falsified his notes and other backup materials. ''The New Republic'' issued a public apology for this breach of journalism ethics after it was revealed by an investigation by Kelly's successor, Charles Lane. ''Forbes Online'' had published an exposé of Glass' work. Kelly was Glass's editor before ''Forbes'' exposed the latter's falsehoods. He was largely supportive of Glass, sending scathing letters to those who challenged the veracity of Glass's stories. In the 2003 film ''Shattered Glass'', which chronicles Glass's rise and fall at ''The New Republic'', Kelly was portrayed by Hank Azaria.<ref name="vanityfair">{{cite news|url=http://www.vanityfair.com/magazine/archive/1998/09/bissinger199809?currentPage=2|title=Shattered Glass|first=H.G.|last=Bissinger|publisher=Vanity Fair|date=September 1998|accessdate=November 19, 2012|archive-date=October 14, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121014082950/http://www.vanityfair.com/magazine/archive/1998/09/bissinger199809?currentPage=2|url-status=live}}</ref>
After losing his job at ''The New Republic'', Kelly was hired by David G. Bradley to write a column for the ''National Journal''. He was later promoted to editor. After Bradley purchased ''The Atlantic Monthly'' in 1999, he hired Kelly to run it.<ref name="bostonhighgear">{{cite news|first=Don|last=Aucoin|title=In high gear|publisher=The Boston Globe|url=http://www.boston.com/news/daily/04/kelly_07252002.htm|date=July 25, 2002|access-date=November 19, 2012|archive-date=October 15, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081015154346/http://www.boston.com/news/daily/04/kelly_07252002.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://cjrarchives.org/issues/2002/6/mag-sherman.asp|title=What makes a serious magazine soar?|work=Columbia Journalism Review|author=Scott Sherman|year=2002|accessdate=August 18, 2007|archive-date=October 28, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071028213912/http://cjrarchives.org/issues/2002/6/mag-sherman.asp|url-status=usurped}}</ref> ''The Atlantic'' won three National Magazine Awards under Kelly's leadership<ref name="nytimes" /> and two more after his death.<ref name="courant">{{cite news|first=Tara|last=Weiss|title=Atlantic Wins, Mourns Editor|work=Hartford Courant|url=https://www.courant.com/2003/05/08/atlantic-wins-mourns-editor/|date=May 8, 2003|access-date=November 19, 2012|archive-date=July 31, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130731091220/http://articles.courant.com/2003-05-08/features/0305081342_1_david-remnick-general-excellence-editors-honor-michael-kelly|url-status=live}}</ref>
===''Martyrs' Day: Chronicle of a Small War''=== {{main|Martyrs' Day: Chronicle of a Small War}} {{external media| float = right| video1 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?39134-1/martyrs-day-chronicle-small-war ''Booknotes'' interview with Kelly on ''Martyr's Day: Chronicle of a Small War'', March 28, 1993], C-SPAN}} Kelly won awards and accolades for his 1991 coverage of the first Gulf War. The United States military used a pool management system to organize reporters, control access, and gain favorable coverage, but Kelly opted out of that system in favor of independent reporting.<ref name="slateobit" /> His experience during Operation Desert Storm later served as the basis for his book ''Martyrs' Day: Chronicle of a Small War'' (1993). His reporting on the war for ''The New Republic'' had already won a National Magazine Award and the Overseas Press award.<ref name="atlanticstatement">{{cite news|date=April 4, 2003|title=Statement from Atlantic Media on the death of Michael Kelly|publisher=Atlantic Media|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/about/people/michaelkelly.htm|accessdate=November 19, 2012|archive-date=November 11, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121111081059/http://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/about/people/michaelkelly.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>
His book received the PEN/Martha Albrand Award for First Nonfiction in 1994.<ref>{{cite web|title=Martha Albrand Award for First Nonfiction Winners|url=http://www.pen.org/page.php/prmID/896|url-status=dead|publisher=PEN American Center|accessdate=November 19, 2012|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20121019104635/http://pen.org/page.php/prmID/896|archivedate=October 19, 2012}}</ref> Ted Koppel compared Kelly's book to journalist Michael Herr's ''Dispatches'', saying that Kelly had captured the Gulf War in print as definitively as Herr had the Vietnam War.<ref name="TWFF-Koppel">{{cite book|last=Kelly|first=Michael|url=https://archive.org/details/thingsworthfight00kell|title=Things Worth Fighting For|publisher=Penguin Press|year=2004|isbn=1-59420-012-2|editor-last=Koppel|editor-first=Ted|page=xv|chapter=Introduction|url-access=registration}}</ref>
''The New Yorker''{{'}}s David Remnick said Kelly's journalistic account, describing horror during war, belonged to the same genre as George Orwell's ''Homage to Catalonia'' about the Spanish Civil War or Ernie Pyle's reporting during World War II.<ref name="nytimes" /> Hertzberg of ''The New Republic'' said "Highway to Hell", which appeared April 1, 1991, was "most memorable",<ref name="slateobit" /> and Vare of ''The Atlantic'' praised the same article for its "emotional impact."<ref name="atlanticvare" />
===Profile of Hillary Clinton=== Kelly wrote "Saint Hillary" for ''The New York Times Magazine'' in 1993.<ref>{{cite news|last=Kelly|first=Michael|date=May 23, 1993|title=Saint Hillary|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/05/23/magazine/saint-hillary.html|publisher=The New York Times Magazine|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140112102739/https://www.nytimes.com/1993/05/23/magazine/saint-hillary.html|archivedate=January 12, 2014}}</ref> In 2005, Matt Bai writing for ''The New York Times'' referred to it as "what became a famous article about Hillary Clinton" in his preface to his description.<ref name="nytimesonhclinton">{{cite news|last=Bai|first=Matt|date=October 2, 2005|title=Mrs. Triangulation|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/02/magazine/02hillary.html?pagewanted=all|accessdate=November 19, 2012|archive-date=April 14, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150414201027/http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/02/magazine/02hillary.html?pagewanted=all|url-status=live}}</ref> In ''Columbia Journalism Review'', Gal Beckerman referred to it as a "mocking cover story".<ref name="cjronhclinton">{{cite web|last=Beckerman|first=Gal|date=November 20, 2007|title=Hillary plays the game|url=https://www.cjr.org/campaign_desk/hillary_plays_the_game.php|publisher=Columbia Journalism Review|accessdate=November 19, 2012|archive-date=October 23, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121023183406/http://www.cjr.org/campaign_desk/hillary_plays_the_game.php|url-status=live}}</ref>
===Death=== Kelly wanted to report on the start of the Iraq War in 2003. For this war, the U.S. military embedded journalists into coalition military units and Kelly acceded to this approach, as did approximately 600 other journalists.<ref name=foxnews/> Kelly was assigned to the same unit as journalist Ted Koppel of ''ABC Nightline''. On April 3, 2003, a few weeks following the 2003 invasion of Iraq, U.S. forces were {{convert|10|–|20|km|mi|sigfig=1|order=flip}} from the Baghdad International Airport and the center of Baghdad.<ref name="bbc2003">{{cite news|date=April 3, 2003|title=US poised for Baghdad battle|publisher=BBC News|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2912331.stm|access-date=November 20, 2012|archive-date=November 4, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131104164521/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2912331.stm|url-status=live}}</ref> Koppel, in his preface to ''Things Worth Fighting For: Collected Writings'', said that he and Kelly learned that securing the airport was the 3rd Infantry Division's mission on the night when he last saw Kelly alive.<ref name=TWFF-Koppel/>
During that invasion, Kelly was traveling in a Humvee vehicle with Staff Sergeant Wilbert Davis, a 15-year U.S. Army veteran,<ref name="military">{{cite news|date=April 3, 2003|title=Army Staff Sgt. Wilbert Davis|work=Military Times|url=http://militarytimes.com/valor/army-staff-sgt-wilbert-davis/256568|accessdate=November 19, 2012|archive-date=August 9, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200809213421/https://www.militarytimes.com/valor/army-staff-sgt-wilbert-davis/256568/|url-status=live}}</ref> when the vehicle was fired upon by Iraqi soldiers. The vehicle carrying Kelly and Davis veered off an embankment and into a canal below. Both men died in the attack.<ref name="atlanticobit">{{cite web|date=June 2003|title=Obituary|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/issues/2003/06/77.htm|work=The Atlantic Monthly|accessdate=November 19, 2012|archive-date=November 11, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121111081040/http://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/issues/2003/06/77.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> Kelly was the first U.S. reporter officially killed in action in Iraq.<ref>{{cite web|last=Scanlan|first=Chip|date=April 4, 2003|title=Michael Kelly's Death and Life|url=http://www.poynter.org/content/content_view.asp?id=28541|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100616151839/http://www.poynter.org/content/content_view.asp?id=28541|archive-date=June 16, 2010|publisher=Poynter Institute|accessdate=November 19, 2012}}</ref>
==Views== Kelly was critical of the political establishment in both political parties, as well as of the power structure in Hollywood. He wrote a critique of Ted Kennedy that was published in ''GQ'' in 1990 and reprinted by that magazine upon Kennedy's death. He skewered Al Gore numerous times over the years. He supported U.S. military intervention during both the presidencies of Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. He was an outspoken critic of the anti-Iraq war movement.<ref name="jwr1">{{cite news|first=Michael|last=Kelly|url=http://www.jewishworldreview.com/michael/kelly102302.asp|title=Anti-war effort perverts liberal values|date=October 23, 2002|accessdate=November 19, 2012|archive-date=January 28, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130128202633/http://www.jewishworldreview.com/michael/kelly102302.asp|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="jwr2">{{cite news|first=Michael|last=Kelly|url=http://www.jewishworldreview.com/michael/kelly012203.asp|title=Marching with Stalinists|date=January 22, 2003|accessdate=November 19, 2012|archive-date=January 28, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130128204526/http://www.jewishworldreview.com/michael/kelly012203.asp|url-status=live}}</ref> Kelly coined the term "fusion paranoia" to refer to what he considered a political convergence of both left and right-wing activists on anti-war issues and civil liberties, which he claimed were motivated by a shared belief in conspiracism or anti-government views.<ref>{{cite news|first=Daniel|last=Pipes|title=Fusion paranoia – A new twist in conspiracy theories|publisher=The Jerusalem Post|date=February 14, 2004}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|first=Michael|last=Kelly|url=http://www.newyorker.com/archive/1995/06/19/1995_06_19_060_TNY_CARDS_000370096|title=A Reporter at Large, "The Road to Paranoia"|magazine=The New Yorker|date=June 19, 1995|page=60|accessdate=November 19, 2012|archive-date=October 30, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121030003925/http://www.newyorker.com/archive/1995/06/19/1995_06_19_060_TNY_CARDS_000370096|url-status=live}}</ref>
In September 2002, Kelly sharply criticized Gore (the former vice president in the Clinton administration for a speech that condemned the George W. Bush administration's efforts to generate support for the coming invasion of Iraq. In a column in ''The Washington Post'', Kelly wrote Gore's speech was "wretched", "vile", and "contemptible". He said Gore's speech "was one no decent politician could have delivered" and was "bereft of anything other than taunts and jibes and embarrassingly obvious lies."<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.slate.com/?id=2071500|title=Gore Is Consistent on Iraq|author=Timothy Noah|work=Slate|date=September 24, 2002|access-date=September 4, 2007|archive-date=October 1, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071001004157/http://www.slate.com/?id=2071500|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost/access/194588391.html?dids=194588391:194588391&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&fmac=&date=Sep+25%2C+2002&author=Michael+Kelly&desc=Look+Who%27s+Playing+Politics|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120731174937/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost/access/194588391.html?dids=194588391:194588391&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&fmac=&date=Sep+25,+2002&author=Michael+Kelly&desc=Look+Who's+Playing+Politics|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 31, 2012| title=Look Who's Playing Politics|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=September 25, 2002|author=Michael Kelly}}</ref> In 2013, journalist James Fallows, who had worked with Kelly and was close to him, said that Kelly's attack on Gore "was not merely wrong. It was 'dishonest, cheap, low.'"<ref>{{Cite web |last=Fallows |first=James |date=April 6, 2013 |title=Ta-Nehisi Coates and Michael Kelly |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/04/ta-nehisi-coates-and-michael-kelly/274743/ |access-date=August 11, 2021 |website=The Atlantic |language=en |archive-date=August 11, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210811194248/https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/04/ta-nehisi-coates-and-michael-kelly/274743/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
==Personal life== Kelly met his wife Madelyn Greenberg, a producer at CNN and CBS News, during the 1988 presidential election while they were both assigned to the Dukakis campaign.<ref name="atlanticobit" /><ref name="nytimesdowd">{{cite news|last=Dowd|first=Maureen|date=April 6, 2003|title=The Best Possible Life|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/06/opinion/the-best-possible-life.html|accessdate=November 19, 2012|archive-date=January 27, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130127051537/http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/06/opinion/the-best-possible-life.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Later, Greenberg was assigned to the Gulf War and Kelly followed, working on his own reporting project. The couple married in 1991, and had two children.<ref name="tvk" /><ref name="ajr" /><ref name="atlanticvare" /><ref name="guardian" /> His father, Thomas V. Kelly, was working on a book about his son Michael, but he died June 17, 2010, before its completion.<ref name="tvk" /> One of his sisters, Katy Kelly, is a former journalist at ''People'' magazine and ''USA Today''. She writes the ''Lucy Rose'' and ''Melonhead'' series of children's books. She has said that her Melonhead character was partly inspired by her brother Michael.<ref name="prkcs">{{cite web|date=April 29, 2009|title=Special! An interview with author Katy Kelly|url=http://prkcs.wordpress.com/2009/04/24/special-an-interview-with-author-katy-kelly|publisher=Books We Love from the Park Ridge Public Library Children's Staff|accessdate=November 20, 2012|archive-date=December 15, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181215222724/https://prkcs.wordpress.com/2009/04/24/special-an-interview-with-author-katy-kelly/|url-status=live}}</ref> Another sister, Meg Kelly, is a screenwriter.<ref name=ajr/><ref name=prkcs/>
==Legacy and honors== [[File:10553 War Correspondent's Arch - Crampton's Gap - Gathland State Park -15 - 28551196760.jpg|thumb|Plaque at National War Correspondents Memorial, Gathland State Park]] {{external media| float = right| width=230px | video1 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?181475-1/tribute-michael-kelly "Tribute to Michael Kelly", hosted by Politics and Prose Bookstore, April 21, 2004], C-SPAN}} Kelly's legacy remains divided. On one side, he is remembered as a journalist who "stood for truth, and died for his beliefs".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Stephens |first=Bret |date=2013-04-01 |title=Remembering Michael Kelly |url=https://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324020504578396392391388604.html |access-date=2021-08-11 |website=Wall Street Journal |language=en-US |archive-date=August 26, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130826170351/http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324020504578396392391388604.html |url-status=live }}</ref> On the other hand, he has been criticized for his vocal support for the invasion of Iraq, which ended in an eight-year insurgency against American troops and the reformed Iraqi forces, an event partially attributed by some to a press perceived as being not critical enough.<ref name="Coates">{{Cite web |last=Coates |first=Ta-Nehisi |date=2013-04-05 |title=Some Thoughts on Michael Kelly |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/04/some-thoughts-on-michael-kelly/274696/ |access-date=2021-08-11 |website=The Atlantic |language=en |archive-date=March 4, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304075551/http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/04/some-thoughts-on-michael-kelly/274696/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
Combined as it was with his support of Stephen Glass during his scandal, ''Gawker'' editor Tom Scocca said that Kelly had the "distinction of an active role in two of the worst failures of journalism in a generation."<ref name="gawker.com">{{Cite web |last=Scocca |first=Tom |title=A Stupid Death in a Stupid War: Remembering Michael Kelly |url=https://www.gawker.com/5993525/a-stupid-death-in-a-stupid-war-remembering-michael-kelly |access-date=2021-08-11 |website=Gawker |language=en |archive-date=August 11, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210811194250/https://www.gawker.com/5993525/a-stupid-death-in-a-stupid-war-remembering-michael-kelly |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Coates"/><ref>"[https://www.thedailybeast.com/michael-kelly-and-the-war Michael Kelly and the War] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220625121817/https://www.thedailybeast.com/michael-kelly-and-the-war |date=June 25, 2022 }}" by Michael Tomasky, The Daily Beast, April 04, 2013.</ref> Scocca further wrote: "It's not simply that Kelly was wrong, nor that he was wrong about important things. It's that he was aggressively, manipulatively, and smugly wrong."<ref name="gawker.com" />
The Atlantic Media Company, owner of the publications for which Kelly worked from 1997 to 2003, annually honors journalists with the Michael Kelly Award, which recognizes a journalist for "the fearless pursuit and expression of truth".<ref name=entry>{{cite web|url=http://kellyaward.com/mk_entry.html|title=The Michael Kelly Award: Entry Information|publisher=Atlantic Media Company|accessdate=December 11, 2012|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20121202080122/http://kellyaward.com/mk_entry.html|archivedate=December 2, 2012}}</ref> In 2003 the University of New Hampshire English department established the Michael Kelly Memorial Scholarship Fund, which awards a sophomore or junior student "who is passionate about journalism".<ref>{{cite web|title=Michael Kelly Journalism Scholarship|url=http://www.unh.edu/english/index.cfm?ID=9C95B7BA-A906-732C-0E52761B3DA6C568|publisher=Department of English, University of New Hampshire|accessdate=November 19, 2012|archive-date=October 16, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121016143816/http://www.unh.edu/english/index.cfm?id=9C95B7BA-A906-732C-0E52761B3DA6C568|url-status=dead}}</ref>
Michael Kelly's name, along with those of Daniel Pearl, Elizabeth Neuffer and David Bloom, was added to the National War Correspondents Memorial in Gathland State Park, Burkittsville, Maryland—to honor fallen post-9/11 journalists who covered the war on terrorism.<ref name=marylanddnr>{{cite web|title=War Correspondents Memorial|url=http://www.dnr.maryland.gov/naturalresource/fall2003/snapshot.html|publisher=Dept. of Natural Resources, Maryland|date=October 1, 2003|accessdate=November 19, 2012|archive-date=July 25, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100725221943/http://www.dnr.maryland.gov/naturalresource/fall2003/snapshot.html|url-status=live}}</ref> His name is also listed on the journalists' memorial in the Newseum in Washington, D.C.<ref name="salemnews">{{cite news|last=Landwehr|first=Steve|date=April 8, 2008|title=Five years later, Kelly family has good days and bad|work=The Salem News|url=http://www.salemnews.com/local/x1150899109/Five-years-later-Kelly-family-has-good-days-and-bad|url-status=dead|access-date=November 19, 2012|archive-date=February 1, 2013|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130201161256/http://www.salemnews.com/local/x1150899109/Five-years-later-Kelly-family-has-good-days-and-bad}}</ref> Kelly was interred at Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, Massachusetts.<ref name=mtauburn/><ref name=legacyobit/> Kelly's collected works were published posthumously as ''Things Worth Fighting For: Collected Writings'' (2004).<ref name="bytheeditors">{{cite web|date=April 2004|title=By the editors|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/issues/2004/04/77.htm|publisher=The Atlantic Monthly|accessdate=November 19, 2012|archive-date=March 23, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130323165619/http://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/issues/2004/04/77.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>
===Michael Kelly Award=== {{main|Michael Kelly Award}} The Michael Kelly Award, sponsored by the Atlantic Media Company, is awarded for "the fearless pursuit and expression of truth";<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Michael Kelly Award |url=https://www.kellyaward.com/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225010040/https://www.kellyaward.com/ |archive-date=February 25, 2021}}</ref> the prize is $25,000 for the winner and $3,000 for the runners-up.<ref name=entry/><ref>{{Cite web |date=January 15, 2020 |title=Call for Entries: Atlantic Media's 2020 Michael Kelly Award |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/press-releases/archive/2020/01/call-for-entries-atlantic-medias-2020-michael-kelly-award/604987/ |access-date=August 11, 2021 |website=The Atlantic |language=en |archive-date=August 11, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210811193859/https://www.theatlantic.com/press-releases/archive/2020/01/call-for-entries-atlantic-medias-2020-michael-kelly-award/604987/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
==References== <references>
<ref name=guardian>{{cite news |first=Geoffrey |last=Wheatcroft |title=Michael Kelly |publisher=The Guardian (UK) |date=April 7, 2003 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2003/apr/07/pressandpublishing.guardianobituaries |accessdate=November 19, 2012 |archive-date=August 27, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130827012005/http://www.theguardian.com/media/2003/apr/07/pressandpublishing.guardianobituaries |url-status=live }}</ref>
</references>
==External links== * [https://michaelkellyaward.com/ The Michael Kelly Award] * [http://www.jewishworldreview.com/michael/kelly.archives.asp List of Kelly columns 1999–2003] at ''Jewish World Review'' * {{C-SPAN|38813}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kelly, Michael (editor)}} Category:1957 births Category:2003 deaths Category:American columnists Category:American magazine editors Category:American male journalists Category:American war correspondents Category:Burials at Mount Auburn Cemetery Category:Gonzaga College High School alumni Category:Journalists from Washington, D.C. Category:Journalists killed while covering the Iraq War Category:The Atlantic (magazine) people Category:The Baltimore Sun people Category:The New Republic people Category:The New York Times journalists Category:The New Yorker people Category:The Washington Post journalists Category:University of New Hampshire alumni Category:American people murdered abroad