The Breen Report: "The Left's Top 25 Journalists"---acc. to the Daily Beast (Feb. 16, 2010)

Friday 4 January 2019

"The Left's Top 25 Journalists"---acc. to the Daily Beast (Feb. 16, 2010)

https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-lefts-top-25-journalists

From Jane Hamsher and Ezra Klein to Kos and Krugman, Tunku Varadarajan counts down the most influential left-wing journalists in the country.

02.16.10 12:10 PM ET

25. Jessica Valenti — Editor, Feministing

The 30-year-old Valenti is touted by some as the Gloria Steinem of her generation. Her writing has a conspicuous verve, and her Web site, Feministing, offers “an online community for feminists and their allies,” featuring sharp-edged put-downs of sexism by a team of editors who abhor everything from racism and classism to “ableism” and “transphobia.”

24. David Rieff — Contributing Writer, The New York Times Magazine

Rieff—the late Susan Sontag’s son—is among the leading commentators on foreign and, in particular, humanitarian policy. He distinguishes himself from the rest of that ilk by his rich, sage prose and the brooding, occasionally Messianic quality of his observations, which are on abundant display in his new blog for World Affairs Journal.

23. Eric Alterman — Columnist & blogger, The Nation

“Altercation,” the name of his blog at The Nation, sums up Alterman’s penchant for the combative. Can there be a columnist who has more disagreements with more people than he? Probably not, but his ability to enrage some—though not all—of his interlocutors on points of principle and politics is proof of the seriousness with which many of his views are taken, as well as of his unflinching convictions. (Alterman contributes to The Daily Beast.)

22. Deborah Solomon — ‘Question and Answers’ columnist, The New York Times Magazine

Solomon’s front-of-the-book interview column is every Sunday Times reader’s guilty pleasure. The snarkiest of inquisitors, she specializes in the takedown of her subjects (why do they agree to meet her? Is it masochism?), and is particularly adept at playing gleeful “gotcha” with conservatives. (A recent question for Joe Scarborough: “As a former congressman from Pensacola, Fla., who resigned during your fourth term, do you think your criticism of politicians is tinged with envy?”)

21. Adam Moss — Editor, New York Magazine

Probably the least dogmatic journalist on this list, Moss is, nonetheless, a major player in the lifestyle and culture wars that bedevil America. With his energy and inspiration, he has turned a magazine that was little-read and provincial into one of consequence on essential cultural questions of modern American life, particularly among the demographic that voted so overwhelmingly for Barack Obama.

20. Katrina vanden Heuvel — Editor, The Nation

Long a pillar of the graying hippie left, The Nation’s vanden Heuvel has gradually worked her way on to a non-negotiable seat at the Big Media table. After all, what could be more mainstream than a weekly column for The Washington Post (whose editorial page editor recently hired Marc Thiessen, of the Bush administration)? She is a fixture, too, on CNN and MSNBC, where she plays a thoughtful foil to more boisterous commentators.

19. Matthew Yglesias — Blogger, Think Progress

The 29-year-old Yglesias’s blog is a kind of clearinghouse for progressive policy ideas and political themes. The great service he renders is to distill thinking on the left for popular consumption, and he does so with some panache. There is a sturdy, and appealing, independence to his thought, too. (Yglesias contributes to The Daily Beast.)

18. Christiane Amanpour — Chief International Correspondent, CNN

In an age when meaningful coverage of foreign affairs has all but disappeared from our television, Amanpour continues to fly her flag in the cause of unpronounceable foreign stuff. Now anchor of her own daily show, she takes us on eye-opening excursions to such places as Iran, Greece, and Haiti, all the while pricking American insularity in that elegantly stern way of hers.

17. Jane Hamsher — Editor, Firedoglake

The feisty Hamsher is an activist-journalist whose goal is to drive the Democrats to the left—and to do so single-handedly if need be. She commissions her own polls and has been trying to recruit liberals to take on the Blue Dogs and other moderates. This may be a Pickett's Charge, considering the political climate, but you can't say that she's not a figure to be reckoned with.

16. Franklin Foer — Editor, The New Republic

After a long period in which there was no more depressing sight on the newsstand than The New Republic, the magazine, a storied voice for a certain brand of American liberalism, is—Hallelujah!—readable and relevant again. Credit for this must go to Foer, whose skills are as much diplomatic as editorial. The magazine is under crushing financial and staff-cutting pressures: that he puts it out every other week, and puts it out so well, is nothing short of a miracle.

15. Ezra Klein — Blogger, The Washington Post

Forget the left- or right-wing labels: Is Klein the most influential 25-year-old in America? Many in Washington, where he wallows happily and precociously in such issues as health care, would say that he is. He has a blog at the capital’s premier newspaper, and is often at the forefront of liberal commentary on Obamacare, whether it be by making seemingly abstruse policy points or by ad hominem beratings of Joe Lieberman. Although one wonders, sometimes, whether one so young could truly have the expertise his boosters advertise so energetically, there can be no doubt that he is the jeune homme du jour.

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