Fareed Zakaria. Respected journalist?

Newsweek’s Zakaria is the subject of this poll.

If you don’t know his work and don’t read his columns, well, a vote/comment is kind of meaningless. I hate to be exclusionary, but I’m hoping to hear from people that follow his writing.

So, Dopers, what is your opinion? I wish the OP were more stimulating, but I’m pretty much just looking for a poll on this. :slight_smile:

I’ve been reading his columns fairly regularly. He’s often come up with some very important insights and commentary, so I do respect his opinions.

Hell yeah he’s a respected journalist!

He’s a fantastic writer and one of the best political talking heads out there.

And look at his picture. He’s Wilhem DeFoe’s long lost Indian brother! :smiley:

I read Zakaria regularly in Newsweek International Edition (maybe its differente from the US edition…) and I think he is quite good. He does flip flop a bit… :slight_smile:

He certainly has some good insights and tries to be balanced IMO…

Zakaria is excellent. What’s more, he’s one of the few political writers (Thomas Friedman is another) who seems to be fairly devoid of partisanship. This, of course, drives partisans nuts, because when he agrees with them they cite him as a reference, and then later when he disagrees with them and someone cites him back, they can’t attack the source. Friedman is the same way.

Even on the rare occasions I don’t agree with him, I think he’s a genius at bringing across complex ideas in a clear way.

He’s good. Not great, but good. I think his insights on the Middle East tend to be a little bit “pop” – like popular music type of pop. I can’t think of any other word to describe my view of his views. He is interesting, but not overly insightful.

I much prefer Thomas Friedman.

I don’t read Newsweek, but I’ve seen him interviewed on The Daily Show a couple of times, and thought he was intelligent, thoughtful and interesting.

Ditto.

Dunno about his writings, but he’s cute.

So, that’s gotta count for something.

I like and respect him. He may indeed be a little bit “pop”, but not more so than is Newsweek in general.

Heh heh.

That’s a rather dubious compliment. “He’s no more pop than Newsweek.”

Another vote for ‘respected.’ I read his columns and I’ve seen him speak in person.

Wow. Almost unanimous agreement. That’s a pretty rare quality for a pundit. Who else fits into that category? Thomas Friedman. Others?

Hell, if it’s unanimous, I’m changing my vote from “good” to “overrated.”

Take that, conventional wisdom.

That’s why I started the thread. I had an idea of starting a few others over the coming weeks to try to find reporters and journalists that everyone can agree is respectable. Or at least not blindly biased in their writing.

And I forgot to mention that I like his writing. I never miss a column.

Er, no.

Well, for my money, i think that there are actually plenty of journalists out there who do their best to report the news as professionally and objectively as possible. The trouble is, they are often pushed and prodded and pressured by editors and publishers who have a particular political position to defend. This usually doesn’t take the form of direct censorship or orders about what to write; rather, it is made clear to reporters which stories need to be covered, which ones should be ignored or downplayed, what the focus should be, etc., etc.

Interestingly enough, despite my own leftist leanings, i think that some of the best, most professional journalists working today are some of those who work for the Wall Street Journal. Their reports are almost invariably professional, well-written, and comprehensive. It’s a great paper, as long as you stay away from the Op-Ed pages, which are usually festooned with the work of corporate cheerleaders and assorted conservative pontificators who make Attila the Hun look like a Nation columnist.

Might as well join the commie hippie lovefest. His column is one of the few things in Newsweek that I don’t skip over. Friggin’ brilliant he is.

Self-important ass. Not as smart as he thinks he is. And I mostly agree with him.

Zakaria rocks, though.

Howabout Juan Williams?

If we’re talking about publications, I trust the Christian Science Monitor.
Oh, and another good *reporter * would be John Burns of the NYT. He is the definitive reporter to read on Iraq, IMO.