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explainer: Answers to your questions about the news.

No Relation No. 1

By Bruce Gottlieb
Posted Tuesday, Oct. 13, 1998, at 7:42 PM ET

What, if anything, is the difference between Jonathan Broder and John M. Broder? And is either of these journalists related to the Washington Post's eminence grise, David Broder?

Jonathan Broder, age 50, is the guy who was fired by Salon a couple weeks ago for objecting publicly to the on-line magazine's decision to publish a story about Henry Hyde's adulterous affair 30 years ago. Until then, he was Salon's Washington bureau chief, meaning he wrote mostly about Flytrap. He now freelances and writes for the Jerusalem Report.

By contrast John M. Broder, age 46, is the New York Times' White House correspondent, meaning he also writes mostly about Flytrap. (Click here for more on the NYT's bizarre attitude towards middle initials.)

Neither Broder is related to David Broder. John Broder tells Explainer, however, that when he moved to Washington D.C. 12 years ago, David hosted "an all-Broder party" with Dr. Samuel Broder (no relation either), then the head of the National Cancer Institute.

This is the first in a series of Explainers on people with confusingly similar names.

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Bruce Gottlieb is a law student and a former Slate staff writer.
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