James Taranto

James Taranto
Born	1966
Nationality	American

James Taranto (born 1966) is an American columnist for The Wall Street Journal, editor of its online editorial page OpinionJournal.com and a member of the newspaper's editorial board. He is best known for his daily online column Best of the Web Today. The column typically includes conservative/neoliberal political, social and media commentary in the form of conventional opinion writing as well as wordplay and other recurring themes on news stories crowdsourced from readers. He also appears occasionally on Journal Editorial Report.

Prior to joining the Wall Street Journal in 1996, Taranto spent five years as an editor at City Journal. He has also worked for the Heritage Foundation and Reason magazine. Taranto left high school after his sophomore year and attended college for several years at California State University, Northridge (CSUN) but did not graduate from either.

Rooster incident

While attending CSUN, Taranto worked as news editor and also as one of two opinion page editors for the Daily Sundial student newspaper. On March 5, 1987, Taranto published an opinion piece criticizing a controversy at the University of California, Los Angeles, in which the editor of the Daily Bruin student newspaper was suspended after the paper published a comic strip depicting a rooster admitted to the university via affirmative action. Accompanying Taranto's column was a reprint of the rooster cartoon. Journalism professor and Daily Sundial publisher Cynthia Rawitch suspended Taranto for two weeks without pay. Acting on Taranto's behalf, the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Southern California filed suit against Rawitch and other members of the CSUN journalism school. The suit was settled before trial on terms favorable to Taranto and the ACLU.

Best of the Web Today

Best of the Web Today is a column published weekday afternoons on WSJ.com by James Taranto. In the column, Taranto refers to "we" and "us" instead of "I" and "me" to acknowledge contributions from his staff and readers. In addition, contributors to a given column are thanked at the end of the piece.

Recurring categories

In some instances, Taranto includes ad hoc headline rewrites for humorous effect. More often, news and opinion stories are placed within various recurring categories, typically based on the headline of the story. The placement of stories within these categories often implies a particular editorial viewpoint or perspective. Some of the most common recurring categories are:

• "Questions Nobody Is Asking" - Headlines posed as questions. Example: "'Can Bird Poop Crack a Windshield?'--headline, Wired.com, Sept. 16".
• "Answers to Questions Nobody Is Asking" - Headlines framed as responses to questions.
• "Everything Seemingly Is Spinning Out of Control" - Headlines containing hyperbole or exaggeration, in reference to the headline of a June 22, 2008 news story published by the Associated Press. It was first used on June 22, 2008.
• "Too Much Information" - Lists headlines containing perceived double entendre or other sexual innuendo.
• "Two [X] in One" - Highlights a perceived internal contradiction within the statements or positions of an organization or an individual.
• "News of the Tautological" - Headlines containing tautological statements, such as: "Manhunt Ends After Suspect Caught."
• "News You Can Use" - Headlines with a peculiar or awkward statement of fact. Example: "'Smell Like a Senior Citizen'—headline, Los Angeles Times, Sept. 18".
• "Bottom Stories of the Day" - Headlines containing perceived stories of insignificance. Items are often listed in this category to be dismissive of particular individuals and organizations.
• "Breaking news from [X]" - Headlines that could be from a different era.
• "With DNC in Mind, City Bans Carrying Urine, Feces" - Headlines referencing feces or otherwise related to defecation, in reference to the headline of a August 4, 2008 news story published by the Rocky Mountain News.
• "The Lonely Lives of Scientists" - Headlines referencing scientists engaged in esoteric intellectual pursuits.
• "Out on a Limb" - Headlines stating the obvious or including caveats covering all possible outcomes.
• "Hey, Kids! What Time Is It?" - Headlines stating it is time for some action.
• "Metaphor Alert" - Writing perceived to include excessive use of metaphors.
• "We Blame Global Warming" - Headlines using words related to temperature but not connected to climate. The presumable implication of this category is that the range of events connected to global warming or climate change is overly expansive. Example: "'In Early Obama White House, Female Staffers Felt Frozen Out'--headline, Washington Post, Sept. 20".
• "Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead." - For reports amounting to truisims, based on a catch phrase from Saturday Night Live.
• "I Have the Hat" or "I Have the Hat to This Day. I Have the Hat." - Headlines related to John Kerry, in reference to this quotation from Kerry: "They gave me a hat... I have the hat to this day... I have the hat."
• "Other Than That, the Story Was Accurate" - Highlights significant corrections published in newspapers that essentially invalidate the whole story.
• "Someone Set Up Us the Bomb" - A reference to the internet meme All Your Base Are Belong to Us, a poorly-translated video game cutscene featured in the video All Your Base are Belong to Us. Used for poorly written headlines.
• "Homer Nods" - Acknowledgment of errors and corrections in previous columns.

Recurring criticisms

Taranto uses several public figures and organizations for regular criticism and lampooning, often through running gags. Notable examples include:

• Massachusetts Senator John Kerry - Often described as "the haughty, French-looking Massachusetts Democrat who by the way served in Vietnam."
• Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy - Segments in which he is the subject are usually ended with the gag non sequitur "Mary Jo Kopechne could not be reached for comment."
• Economist and columnist Paul Krugman - Always introduced as a "former Enron adviser", in reference to Krugman's tenure on the board of the Enron Corporation shortly before it collapsed in scandal
• Liberal pundit E.J. Dionne - Ascribed with the nickname "Baghdad Bob".
• New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman - Described as "The Worst Writer in the English Language"; a "Friedman Award" is given to those with what is deemed comparably bad writing.
• Occupy Wall Street and related movements - Denoted as "Obamavilles", a reference to the "Hoovervilles" of the Great Depression.
• President Lyndon B. Johnson - Johnson is mentioned in a frequently referenced scene and quote from the film Forrest Gump, in where a Vietnam-era protestor assaults a woman and then apologizes with the line "Things got a little out of hand. It's just this war and that lying son of a bitch Johnson!" The quote is used to lampoon Johnson himself, or more usually any individual that blames a public figure or crisis for a mistake or poor judgement.

In similar fashion, Taranto also regularly mocks and deconstructs the reporting of other journalistic organizations including The New York Times (a frequent victim of "Two Papers in One!"), The Huffington Post (always intentionally spoonerized as "The Puffington Host"), Media Matters for America (also spoonerized as "Media Mutters"), Reuters and the Associated Press.

Other

Taranto comments occasionally on topics of special interest to him such as the Roe effect. He has also coined "The Taranto Principle", which asserts that liberal media bias leads to less thorough vetting of liberal politicians, which can be a disadvantage in general elections.

External links

• James Taranto's own homepage
• Taranto's Best of the Web Today column
• James Taranto's biography at OpinionJournal.com