Background
Herbert was born in Brooklyn, New York, and was raised primarily in Montclair, New Jersey, where his parents owned a number of upholstery shops.
Herbert was born in Brooklyn, New York, and was raised primarily in Montclair, New Jersey, where his parents owned a number of upholstery shops.
Herbert received a Bachelor of Science, Journalism from the State University of New York (Empire State College) in 1988.
His column was syndicated to other newspapers around the country. Herbert frequently writes on poverty, the Iraq war, racism and American political apathy towards race issues. He is now a fellow at Demos and serves on the National Governing Board of Common Cause.
He was drafted during the buildup to the Vietnam War, but was ultimately sent to of Korea.
Always having had an interest in politics and writing, Herbert decided shortly after the war to go into journalism. Herbert"s journalistic career began with The Star-Ledger in New Jersey in 1970.
Herbert went on to work as a reporter and editor at the New York Daily News from 1976 until 1985, when he became a political columnist and editor, and began attracting attention for his editorial work. This led to a position on WCBS-television in New York, as a founding panelist of Sunday Edition in 1990, as well as becoming host of Hotline, a weekly issues program on New York public television
He later served as a national correspondent on National Broadcasting Company from 1991 to 1993, with regular appearances on The Today Show and National Broadcasting Company Nightly News.
Herbert"s journalistic awards include the Meyer Berger Award for coverage of New York City and the American Society of Newspaper Editors award for distinguished newspaper writing. He also chaired the Pulitzer Prize jury for spot news reporting in 1993. Herbert is author of Promises Betrayed: Waking Up From The American Dream, published by Henry Holt & Company in 2005.
Herbert left The New York Times on March 25, 2011 with his last column titled, "Losing Our Way." In June 2011, Herbert joined the national think-tank Demos as a Distinguished Senior Fellow.
At the time his fellowship was announced, it was also revealed that he will write for the Demos blog PolicyShop as well as The American Prospect magazine, which merged with Demos in 2010. In 2014 Herbert published his book Losing Our Way: An Intimate Portrait of a Troubled America.
In popular culture
He"s the Daily News," to which Costanza compares Herbert"s name pronunciation with Atlanta Falcons quarterback Bobby Hebert.