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In April 2017, Stephens left the ''Journal'' and joined the ''[[New York Times]]'' as an opinion columnist.{{r|nytpr}} The following June, he began appearances as an on-air contributor to NBC News and [[MSNBC]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Concha |first=Joe |date=June 28, 2017 |title=MSNBC signs conservative columnist Bret Stephens |url=http://thehill.com/homenews/media/339949-msnbc-signs-conservative-columnist-bret-stephens |work=The Hill |location= |access-date=2018-07-13 }}</ref>
In April 2017, Stephens left the ''Journal'' and joined the ''[[New York Times]]'' as an opinion columnist.{{r|nytpr}} The following June, he began appearances as an on-air contributor to NBC News and [[MSNBC]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Concha |first=Joe |date=June 28, 2017 |title=MSNBC signs conservative columnist Bret Stephens |url=http://thehill.com/homenews/media/339949-msnbc-signs-conservative-columnist-bret-stephens |work=The Hill |location= |access-date=2018-07-13 }}</ref>
<!--
In September 2017, he spoke at the [[Lowy Institute for International Policy|Lowy Institute]] Media Award dinner in Australia on "the dying art of disagreement".<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/24/opinion/dying-art-of-disagreement.html|title=Opinion {{!}} The Dying Art of Disagreement|last=Stephens|first=Bret|date=September 24, 2017|work=The New York Times|access-date=2017-09-29|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>-->


=== "Bretbug" Controversy ===
In August 2019, Stephens became the target of mockery after he sent a complaining email to a [[George Washington University]] professor and the university's [[Provost (education)|provost]] about a tweet the professor had made that referred to Stephens as a "bedbug". In response to the backlash, Stephens announced that he was deactivating his [[Twitter]] account.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Elfrink |first1=Tim |last2=Krakow |first2=Morgan |title=A professor called Bret Stephens a ‘bedbug.’ The New York Times columnist complained to the professor’s boss. |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/08/27/bret-stephens-bedbug-david-karpf-twitter/ |accessdate=27 August 2019 |work=[[Washington Post]] |date=27 August 2019 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Santucci |first1=Jeanine |last2=Bote |first2=Joshua |title='Call me a bedbug to my face': New York Times columnist Bret Stephens responds to professor |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/08/27/nyt-columnist-bret-stephens-called-bedbug-professor-david-karpf/2129537001/ |accessdate=27 August 2019 |work=[[USA Today]] |date=27 August 2019 |language=en}}</ref> The topic of Stephens's next column was "the rhetoric of infestation" used by authoritarian regimes such as Nazi Germany; the column was widely interpreted as criticism of the GWU professor (who is Jewish) as well as other critics of Stephens.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2019/08/31/bret-stephens-is-still-talking-about-bedbugs-now-language-holocaust/?noredirect=on|title=Bret Stephens 'bedbugs' spat: Times writer's latest column links phrase to Nazi rhetoric during Holocaust - The Washington Post|accessdate=September 25, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/bret-stephens-bedbug-nazi-column_n_5d69e2f0e4b0cdfe05704bf5|title=Stunned Twitter Critics Swat Bret Stephens' Bedbug Link To Nazis In NYT Column|first=Mary|last=Papenfuss|date=August 31, 2019|website=HuffPost|accessdate=September 25, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2019/aug/30/bret-stephens-bedbug-column-twitter|title=Bret Stephens criticized for bedbug reference in second world war column|first=Vivian|last=Ho|date=August 31, 2019|accessdate=September 25, 2019|via=www.theguardian.com}}</ref>
On Monday, August 26, ''New York Times'' building operations staff sent an email to ''New York Times'' employees announcing that "evidence of bedbugs" was found on every floor of the newsroom.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/08/the-new-york-times-has-bed-bugs.html|title=At the New York Times, Bedbugs|last=Feinberg|first=Ashley|date=2019-08-26|website=Slate Magazine|language=en|access-date=2019-09-29}}</ref> David Karpf, a professor at [[George Washington University]], retweeted the news with the comment: "The bedbugs are a metaphor. The bedbugs are Bret Stephens."<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/08/27/bret-stephens-bedbug-david-karpf-twitter/|title=A professor called Bret Stephens a ‘bedbug.’ The New York Times columnist complained to the professor’s boss.|last=Elfrink|first=Tim|date=August 27, 2019|work=The Washington Post|access-date=September 29, 2019|last2=Krakow|first2=Morgan}}</ref> The tweet got nine like and zero retweets.<ref name=":1">{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/08/27/bret-stephens-bedbug-david-karpf-twitter/|title=A professor called Bret Stephens a ‘bedbug.’ The New York Times columnist complained to the professor’s boss.|last1=Elfrink|first1=Tim|date=27 August 2019|work=[[Washington Post]]|accessdate=27 August 2019|last2=Krakow|first2=Morgan|language=en}}</ref> A few hours later, Karpf received an email from Stephens. "I'm often amazed about the things supposedly decent people are prepared to say about other people – people they've never met – on Twitter," Stephens wrote. "I think you've set a new standard. I would welcome the opportunity for you to come to my home, meet my wife and kids, talk to us for a few minutes, and then call me a 'bedbug' to my face. That would take some genuine courage and intellectual integrity on your part."<ref name=":1" /> Stephens cc'ed George Washington University provost Forrest Malzmann on the email. Karpf posted the Stephens' email on Twitter and the exchange went viral.<ref name=":0" />

The hashtag "#Bretbug" – a [[portmanteau]] of "Bret" and "bedbug" – started trending.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/08/27/nyt-columnist-bret-stephens-called-bedbug-professor-david-karpf/2129537001/|title='Call me a bedbug to my face': New York Times columnist Bret Stephens responds to professor|last=Santucci|first=Jeanine|last2=Bote|first2=Joshua|website=USA TODAY|language=en|access-date=2019-09-29}}</ref> In response, Stephens deactivated his Twitter account. Stephens then defended himself on MSNBC, saying that being compared to a bedbug was "dehumanizing" and "totally unacceptable."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/professor-labeled-bret-stephens-bedbug-here-s-what-nyt-columnist-n1046736|title=A professor labeled Bret Stephens a 'bedbug.' Here's what the NYT columnist did next.|website=NBC News|language=en|access-date=2019-09-29}}</ref> In his first ''New York Times'' column after the incident, Stephens, without naming Karpf, compared Twitter to radio technology that broadcast hate in the 1930s and highlighted language comparing Jews to dead insects, including bedbugs.<ref name=":2">{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2019/08/31/bret-stephens-is-still-talking-about-bedbugs-now-language-holocaust/|title=Bret Stephens is still talking about bedbugs — and now, the language of the Holocaust|last=Knowles|first=Hannah|date=August 31, 2019|work=The Washington Post|access-date=September 29, 2019}}</ref> The headline of Stephens' column was "World War II and the Ingredients of Slaughter."<ref name=":2" /><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/30/opinion/world-war-ii-anniversary.html|title=Opinion {{!}} World War II and the Ingredients of Slaughter|last=Stephens|first=Bret|date=2019-08-30|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-09-29|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> The accompanying photo was of Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels. Karpf said the implication that his tweet was antisemitic "doesn’t seem like a proportionate response."<ref name=":2" />


==Opinions==
==Opinions==

Revision as of 15:44, 29 September 2019

For the former Australian rules football player, see Brett Stephens.

Bret Stephens
Born
Bret Louis Stephens

(1973-11-21) November 21, 1973 (age 50)
New York City, New York, U.S.
EducationUniversity of Chicago (BA)
London School of Economics (MSc)
OccupationPolitical commentator
SpouseCorinna da Fonseca-Wollheim

Bret Louis Stephens (born November 21, 1973) is an American journalist, editor, and columnist. He began working at The New York Times in late April 2017 and as a senior contributor to NBC News in June 2017.[1][2]

Stephens worked for The Wall Street Journal as a foreign-affairs columnist and the deputy editorial page editor and was responsible for the editorial pages of its European and Asian editions. From 2002 to 2004, he was editor-in-chief of The Jerusalem Post. He won the Pulitzer Prize for commentary in 2013.

Stephens is known for his sometimes neoconservative foreign policy opinions and being part of the right-of-center opposition to Donald Trump, as well as for his contrarian views on climate change.

Early life and education

Stephens was born in New York City,[3] the son of Xenia and Charles J. Stephens, a former vice president of General Products, a chemical company in Mexico.[4][5] Both his parents were secular Jews. His paternal grandfather had changed the family surname from Ehrlich to Stephens (after poet James Stephens).[6] He was raised in Mexico City, where his father was born and worked. In his adolescence, he attended boarding school at Middlesex School in Massachusetts. Stephens received an undergraduate degree in political philosophy from the University of Chicago before earning a master's degree in comparative politics[7] at the London School of Economics.

Career

Stephens began his career at The Wall Street Journal as an op-ed editor in New York. He later worked as an editorial writer for the Wall Street Journal Europe, in Brussels.[8] He has been a frequent contributor to Commentary magazine.

2000s

In 2006, he took over the Journal's "Global View" column after George Melloan's retirement. In 2009, he was named deputy editorial page editor after the retirement of Melanie Kirkpatrick.

From 2002 to 2004, he was editor-in-chief of The Jerusalem Post.[8][9] He won the 2008 Eric Breindel Award for Excellence in Opinion Journalism and the 2010 Bastiat Prize.[8] In 2005, Stephens was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum.[8]

2010s

Stephens won the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Commentary, for "incisive columns on U.S. foreign policy and domestic politics, often enlivened by a contrarian twist."[10]

Stephens's book America in Retreat: The New Isolationism and the Coming Global Disorder was released in November 2014.[8] In it, Stephens presents his belief that the U.S. has been retreating from its role as the "world's policeman" in recent decades, which will lead to ever-greater world problems.

Stephens has made several short videos for the conservative website PragerU, focusing on American foreign policy in the Middle East.[11]

In April 2017, Stephens left the Journal and joined the New York Times as an opinion columnist.[2] The following June, he began appearances as an on-air contributor to NBC News and MSNBC.[12]

"Bretbug" Controversy

On Monday, August 26, New York Times building operations staff sent an email to New York Times employees announcing that "evidence of bedbugs" was found on every floor of the newsroom.[13] David Karpf, a professor at George Washington University, retweeted the news with the comment: "The bedbugs are a metaphor. The bedbugs are Bret Stephens."[14] The tweet got nine like and zero retweets.[15] A few hours later, Karpf received an email from Stephens. "I'm often amazed about the things supposedly decent people are prepared to say about other people – people they've never met – on Twitter," Stephens wrote. "I think you've set a new standard. I would welcome the opportunity for you to come to my home, meet my wife and kids, talk to us for a few minutes, and then call me a 'bedbug' to my face. That would take some genuine courage and intellectual integrity on your part."[15] Stephens cc'ed George Washington University provost Forrest Malzmann on the email. Karpf posted the Stephens' email on Twitter and the exchange went viral.[14]

The hashtag "#Bretbug" – a portmanteau of "Bret" and "bedbug" – started trending.[16] In response, Stephens deactivated his Twitter account. Stephens then defended himself on MSNBC, saying that being compared to a bedbug was "dehumanizing" and "totally unacceptable."[17] In his first New York Times column after the incident, Stephens, without naming Karpf, compared Twitter to radio technology that broadcast hate in the 1930s and highlighted language comparing Jews to dead insects, including bedbugs.[18] The headline of Stephens' column was "World War II and the Ingredients of Slaughter."[18][19] The accompanying photo was of Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels. Karpf said the implication that his tweet was antisemitic "doesn’t seem like a proportionate response."[18]

Opinions

Foreign policy

Foreign policy was one of the central subjects of the columns for which Stephens won the Pulitzer Prize.[10] His foreign policy opinions have been characterized as neoconservative, part of a right-wing political movement associated with president George W. Bush that advocated the use of military force abroad, particularly in the Middle East, as a way of promoting democracy there.[20][21] Stephens was a "prominent voice" among the media advocates for the start of the 2003 Iraq War,[20] for instance writing in a 2002 column that, unless checked, Iraq was likely to become the first nuclear power in the Arab world.[22] Although the weapons of mass destruction used as a casus belli were never shown to exist, Stephens continued to insist as late as 2013 that the Bush administration had "solid evidence" for going to war.[22] Stephens has also argued strongly against the Iran nuclear deal and its preliminary agreements, arguing that they were a worse bargain even than the 1938 Munich Agreement with Nazi Germany.[22]

Stephens is a supporter of Israel.[23] Stephens has caused controversy for his remarks referring to an Egyptian athlete's refusal to shake his Israeli Olympic opponent's hand as "the disease of the Arab mind".[24][25] Stephens argues that this incident is indicative of the problem of anti-semitism in the Arab world.[26]

Domestic politics

During the campaign for the 2016 United States presidential election, Stephens became part of the Stop Trump movement, regularly writing Wall Street Journal articles opposing the candidacy of Donald Trump,[27] and becoming "one of Trump’s most outspoken conservative critics".[28] After Trump was elected, Stephens continued to oppose him: In February 2017, Stephens gave the Daniel Pearl Memorial Lecture at the University of California, Los Angeles, and used the platform to denounce Trump's attacks on the media.[29]

Global warming

Stephens is also known for his climate change contrarianism,[30] and his mainstream media appointments have given him a prominent voice on this subject.[31] He has been described as a climate change denier;[27][32][33][34] Stephens disavows this term, and calls himself "agnostic" on the issue.[35][36]

Stephens accepts that human-caused global warming has been occurring, but denies that the change constitutes a threat,[30] and mocks climate change activism as hysterical alarmism [37] that distracts the public from issues he considers more important, such as terrorism.[38] He argues that global warming activism is based on theological beliefs, rather than science, as an outgrowth of western tendencies to expect punishment for sins.[30] He has also suggested that climate change activists would be more persuasive if they were less sure of their beliefs.[32][39]

Stephens' positions on this issue led to a protest in 2013 over his Pulitzer citation omitting his climate change columns,[37] and to a strong backlash against his 2017 New York Times posting.[27][35][39] In reaction, the New York Times defended the "intellectual honesty and fairness" of its new columnist.[36]

Personal life

He is married to Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim, a music critic who writes for The New York Times. The couple have three children, and live in New York City.[40][41] He was previously married to Pamela Paul, the editor of The New York Times Book Review.[5] Having spent his childhood in Mexico, he is fluent in Spanish.[42]

Bibliography

  • America in Retreat: The New Isolationism and the Coming Global Disorder (November 2014), ISBN 978-1591846628
  • Has Obama Made the World a More Dangerous Place?: The Munk Debate on U.S. Foreign Policy (August 2015), ISBN 978-1770899964

References

  1. ^ Stephens, Bret (April 28, 2017). "Climate of Complete Certainty". The New York Times.
  2. ^ a b "Bret Stephens Joins NYT Opinion" (Press release). The New York Times Company. April 12, 2017. Retrieved September 3, 2019.
  3. ^ Bob Minzesheimer (interviewer) (January 17, 2015). "After Words with Bret Stephens". After Words. C-SPAN. 12:10 minutes in. Retrieved September 3, 2019. First of all, I was born in New York and I'm wondering why Wikipedia keeps insisting that i was born in Mexico. But I was born to a father who had been born in Mexico and had a family business there...
  4. ^ Balint, Judy Lash (January 23, 2003). "Getting To Know You". Israel Insider. Retrieved September 3, 2019.
  5. ^ a b "Weddings; Pamela Paul, Bret Stephens". The New York Times. September 20, 1998.
  6. ^ Stephens, Bret (June 26, 2009). "Being Bret Stephens -- Or Not". Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved January 25, 2015.
  7. ^ "Wall Street Journal Editorial Page Appoints Key Editors for Its International Editions". Global News Wire. August 12, 2009.
  8. ^ a b c d e "Bret Stephens: Deputy editor, editorial page, The Wall Street Journal". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on May 8, 2017. Retrieved September 3, 2019.
  9. ^ "About Us". The Jerusalem Post. Archived from the original on November 16, 2008. Retrieved July 2, 2008.
  10. ^ a b "The 2013 Pulitzer Prize Winners: Commentary". The Pulitzer Prizes. Retrieved November 17, 2013. With short biography and reprints of ten works (WSJ articles January 24 to December 11, 2012).
  11. ^ "Bret Stephens". Prager University. Retrieved September 3, 2019.
  12. ^ Concha, Joe (June 28, 2017). "MSNBC signs conservative columnist Bret Stephens". The Hill. Retrieved July 13, 2018.
  13. ^ Feinberg, Ashley (August 26, 2019). "At the New York Times, Bedbugs". Slate Magazine. Retrieved September 29, 2019.
  14. ^ a b Elfrink, Tim; Krakow, Morgan (August 27, 2019). "A professor called Bret Stephens a 'bedbug.' The New York Times columnist complained to the professor's boss". The Washington Post. Retrieved September 29, 2019.
  15. ^ a b Elfrink, Tim; Krakow, Morgan (August 27, 2019). "A professor called Bret Stephens a 'bedbug.' The New York Times columnist complained to the professor's boss". Washington Post. Retrieved August 27, 2019.
  16. ^ Santucci, Jeanine; Bote, Joshua. "'Call me a bedbug to my face': New York Times columnist Bret Stephens responds to professor". USA TODAY. Retrieved September 29, 2019.
  17. ^ "A professor labeled Bret Stephens a 'bedbug.' Here's what the NYT columnist did next". NBC News. Retrieved September 29, 2019.
  18. ^ a b c Knowles, Hannah (August 31, 2019). "Bret Stephens is still talking about bedbugs — and now, the language of the Holocaust". The Washington Post. Retrieved September 29, 2019.
  19. ^ Stephens, Bret (August 30, 2019). "Opinion | World War II and the Ingredients of Slaughter". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved September 29, 2019.
  20. ^ a b Walt, Stephen M. (June 20, 2014). "Being a Neocon Means Never Having to Say You're Sorry". Foreign Policy.
  21. ^ Chait, Jonathan (August 22, 2016). "The Neocons Have Gone From GOP Thought-Leaders to Outcasts". New York Magazine.
  22. ^ a b c From The Iraq War To Climate Change To Sexual Assault, NY Times' New Op-Ed Columnist, Bret Stephens, Is A Serial Misinformer, Media Matters for America, April 13, 2017
  23. ^ "WSJ's Bret Stephens Weighs In On Israel, the Media & Trump". Detroit Jewish News. April 13, 2017. Retrieved September 3, 2019.
  24. ^ Stephens, Bret (August 15, 2016). "The Meaning of an Olympic Snub". www.wsj.com.
  25. ^ Bowden, John (April 26, 2017). "NYT columnist defends his 'disease of the Arab mind' comments". TheHill.
  26. ^ Stein, Jeff (April 26, 2017). "The NYT's new columnist defends his views on Arabs, Black Lives Matter, campus rape". Vox.
  27. ^ a b c "New York Times hire of conservative scribe Bret Stephens seen as move to widen readership". Fox News. April 17, 2017. While Stephens has garnered moderate praise from the left for being anti-Trump, he has written on other topics that may anger most Times readers. His views on climate change have created the strongest backlash, so far, with liberal site ThinkProgress questioning the hire on Wednesday and calling the writer is a climate science denier.
  28. ^ Reisman, Sam (May 29, 2016). "WSJ's Bret Stephens: Trump Must Lose So Badly That the GOP Voters 'Learn Their Lesson'". Mediaite. Stephens has been one of Trump's most outspoken conservative critics
  29. ^ Stephens, Bret (February 26, 2017), "Don't Dismiss President Trump's Attacks on the Media as Mere Stupidity", Time
  30. ^ a b c Johansen, Bruce E. (2009). The Encyclopedia of Global Warming Science and Technology. ABC-CLIO. p. 166. ISBN 9780313377020.
  31. ^ Mann, Michael E. (2013), The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars: Dispatches from the Front Lines, Columbia University Press, p. 70, ISBN 9780231152556
  32. ^ a b "Bret Stephens' First Column for the New York Times Is Classic Climate Change Denialism". Slate. Retrieved May 3, 2017. That Stephens doesn't bother to cite which climate-change facts are uncertain may be because he knows exactly what he is doing, and he's aware he wouldn't win that argument. Or it may be because he himself has fallen prey to his own argument about epistemic uncertainty, and so he no longer thinks the evidence matters. Either way, his accusation—that it is not the facts you should question, but the entire system that creates facts at all—is terrifying.
  33. ^ Rozsa, Matthew (May 4, 2017). "Climate scientists unite against New York Times columnist Bret Stephens: The Times' climate-denying columnist made an error in his first column". Slate. There was particular concern that Stephens would import his penchant for climate science denialism into the Times, a fear that was validated when Stephens devoted his very first column to that subject
  34. ^ "Soft Climate Denial at The New York Times". Scientific American. May 5, 2017. The naming of a "climate agnostic" as a regular columnist risks turning the newspaper of record into a vehicle for the spread of ignorance
  35. ^ a b Calderone, Michael; Baumann, Nick (April 15, 2017), "Hiring Another Anti-Trump Voice Expands Opinions Represented In Paper, New York Times Says: Bret Stephens won over progressive critics of the president, but his climate change views have sparked backlash.", Huffington Post
  36. ^ a b "New York Times Defends Hiring of Climate Science Denier Bret Stephens, Claiming 'Intellectual Honesty'". DeSmogBlog. April 25, 2017. Retrieved September 3, 2019.
  37. ^ a b Corneliussen, Steven T. (April 17, 2013). "Bret Stephens, harsh Wall Street Journal critic of climate scientists, wins Pulitzer Prize: The award recognizes only certain columns from 2012, none reflecting his climate-wars participation". Physics Today. American Institute of Physics..
  38. ^ Hale, Benjamin (2016), The Wild and the Wicked: On Nature and Human Nature, MIT Press, p. 6, ISBN 9780262035408
  39. ^ a b Nuccitelli, Dana (April 29, 2017). "NY Times hired a hippie puncher to give climate obstructionists cover". The Guardian. In other words, the people obstructing climate policies are justified because climate "advocates" are too mean to them, and claim too much certainty about the future. This is of course nonsense.
  40. ^ Stephens, Bret (June 26, 2009). "Being Bret Stephens – Or Not". The Wall Street Journal.
  41. ^ da Fonseca-Wollheim, Corinna (March 20, 2012). "Prelude and Fugue". Tablet: A new read on Jewish life. Archived from the original on November 12, 2013.
  42. ^ Stephens, Bret (September 15, 2017). "Bret Stephens: Out of the Echo Chamber". YouTube (Interview). Interviewed by Bill Maher. Los Angeles: Real Time with Bill Maher. Retrieved September 16, 2017.
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