Maureen Dowd

In 2009, one of her articles was accused of plagiarism. There were similarities found between her work and that of an earlier published blog post of TPM editor Josh Marshall.

Maureen Bridgid Dowd was born on January 14, 1952 in Washington, D.C. to police inspector Mike Dowd and his wife, Peggy. She is a Roman Catholic and is of Irish American ancestry.

In 1969, she graduated from the Immaculata High School. She later went to The Catholic University, where she obtained a degree in English.

In 1974, she began her career in journalism as an editorial assistant with the newspaper, the 'Washington Star'. There, she later worked as a metropolitan reporter, feature writer and sports columnist.

In 1981, after the 'Washington Star' closed down, she stared working for the ‘Time’ magazine. After two years, she joined 'The New York Times' as a metropolitan reporter.

From 1986, she became a correspondent for 'The New York Times' Washington bureau. She soon became known for her incisive and sharp writing skills, which earned her a loyal readership.

For 'The New York Times', she went on to report on presidential campaigns and also served as a White House correspondent. She wrote the column, ‘On Washington’ for ‘The New York Times’ Magazine.

In 1995, she started writing columns for the ‘The New York Times’ Op-Ed page, after she replaced former columnist, Anna Quindlen. Here, she wrote powerful articles on political figures.

In 1996, the Glamour magazine conferred her with the 'Woman of the Year' title.

In 1999, she became the recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for ‘distinguished commentary'.

In 2000, she was awarded ‘The Damon Runyon Award' for 'outstanding contributions to journalism'.

In 2005, she was a Mary Alice Davis Lectureship speaker at The University of Texas at Austin.

In 2007, she was ranked at number 37 on The Daily Telegraph's list of ' 100 most influential liberals in America'.