This list of interesting columnists is not just for JMC 406 Commentary and Blogging students. You might find someone you like to read here, too!
- Leonard Pitts, Miami Herald
2004 Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist. His column written in response to the events of 9/11 struck a strong chord with readers. One of my favorite columnists. (I really liked his 2011 column on Anderson Cooper that addresses the issue that Jay Rosen calls The View From Nowhere. - Kathleen Parker, Washington Post Writers Group
2010 Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist. While she has been a co-host on CNN, her real gift is as a center right columnist. Among her Pulitzer portfolio was a great look at how inconvenient it can be that men and women are different. (And here is another post I put up on Parker for you to take a look at. Includes a link to an hour-long conversation between Parker and C-SPAN’s Brian Lamb - E.J. Dionne Jr., Washington Post Writers Group
Dionne is a liberal Catholic columnist and blogger for the Washington Post who takes a fairly serious, measured response. Provocative without being a flame-thrower. When Pope Benedict stepped down in 2013, he called for the Catholic church to name a nun as pope. - Courtland Milloy – Washington Post
Writing about local issues in the DC area. - David French – The Dispatch
French is a center-right commentator and blogger for The Dispatch, a conservative newsletter that swings Never-Trump. He is also a contributing writer for The Atlantic, a podcaster, and an Iraq vet. You can follow him on Twitter. - Robin Givhan – Washington Post
Critic at large for the WaPo who is a Pulitzer Prize winner for fashion criticism. - Michael Paul Williams – Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch
Won the Pulitzer for commentary for columns on dismantling the city’s Confederate memorials. - Carlos Lozada – Washington Post
Non-fiction book critic who won the Pulitzer for criticism in 2019 for reviews dealing with government and the American experience. He worked until recently for the WaPo. He is now a columnist at the NY Times. - Bret Stephens – NY Times
I am not a fan of Stephens as I think he represents some of the worst tendencies of big-newspaper columnists to view themselves as much more important than they really are. He won the 2013 Pulitzer for commentary in 2013. He also got himself enmeshed in a stupid online fight with political science professor David Karpf that made Stephens look petty and made Karpf a much bigger deal online. - Mary Schmich – Chicago Tribune
Winner of the 2012 Pulitzer for commentary. She wrote a “down-to-earth” column that deals with the people of her city for 29 years, retiring in 2021. She also wrote the journalistic comic strip Brenda Starr for many years. She is famous for a column she wrote that called for people to wear sunscreen. The column was an imaginary commencement address that was frequently attributed to Kurt Vonnegut. Another of her quotes has been incorrectly attributed to Eleanor Roosevelt.