Arun Chaudhary

Arun Chaudhary
West Wing Week - Arun Chaudhary and Josh Earnest
Born	1975 The Bronx, New York City

Arun Chaudhary is a documentarian and the first official videographer of White House, serving in the role from 2009-2011 and directing West Wing Week. Leaving the position in August 2011, he joined mobile-messaging startup Revolution Messaging in 2012 as senior vice president of communications. Prior to the White House, he previously served as New Media Road Director for President Barack Obama's 2008 presidential election campaign, having been recruited to the campaign by Chief Campaign Digital Strategist Joe Rospars.

First Cameraman

His first book, First Cameraman: Documenting the Obama Presidency in Real Time, was published in August 2012 by Times Books. In The Washington Post, Rutger's professor David Greenberg said "First Cameraman hasn't generated the anticipation of a tell-all from a recently departed chief of staff, but its singular, quirky take on Obama's brief career adds a smidgen of useful information to the historical record." The Atlantic's Nancy Scola, in reviewing the book, observed that "Chaudhary writes with the looseness of someone whose political experience consists of being told to tell stories, which means there's plenty of gossipy bits for campaign enthusiasts," while Blogcritics reviewer "Realist" opined that Chaudhary "could have been more valuable if the main subject, Barack Obama, got more coverage - particularly on how he interacted with his "New Media" staff, what they saw and heard, and what he did and said that didn't make the regular media. Chaudary tells us that he can take us beyond what people normally see, but he doesn't deliver - at least not in this book"

The book was also reviewed by NPR's Morning Edition, Kirkus Reviews, Booklist, Publishers Weekly,

Personal life

He has a B.A. from Cornell University and an MFA from New York University, and has worked as a writer, director, location sound recordist, post-production sound designer, and film critic. He is a former New York University film professor. While at Cornell University, Arun was the bassist and vocalist of punk rock band IFarm. His father is an Indian immigrant and his mother is Jewish.