The Dying Days of Punditry

You already know this about me: I don’t like change.

Well, that’s not really true. I moved into Center City Philadelphia a little over a year ago after living in the suburbs for nearly two decades and I’m thrilled by the change. But note: I chose to move. It wasn’t forced on me. What I don’t like is things I enjoy and rely on in my life going away or altering their shape without my input or agency. That makes me feel out of control. It also often feels like such change is change for the worse. Not always. But often.

Some of my readers will laugh—maybe cackle—when they read that I was upset to learn this week that Ross Douthat is leaving the New York Times after 17 years as an opinion columnist and (over the past year or so) video podcaster. My reaction wasn’t really about Douthat moving on. He’ll be working for 60 Minutes at Bari Weiss’ CBS News, presumably doing TV versions of the podcast conversations he’s been leading under the title “Interesting Times.” I bet he also arranges some kind of writing gig to go with the new job. So it’s not like he’s disappearing.

The cackling will come from those of my readers who don’t share my admiration for Douthat’s writing and who wouldn’t be at all upset by his permanent departure from the ranks of opinion journalists. But I ask all of my readers to stick with me here regardless of whether they appreciate, dislike, or even loathe Douthat’s work. My point, once again, isn’t about him. It’s about the end of something much bigger than any one writer or opinionator.

I’ve been struck by how many conservatives on Twitter/X this week responded to the news of Douthat’s departure from the Times by suggesting names for his right-leaning successor on the op-ed page of the paper. No one appeared to notice that in the past year or so, Charles Blow, Paul Krugman, Pamela Paul, and David Brooks have all either quit or been pushed out without any of them being replaced. I haven’t done any reporting from inside the Opinion section to confirm whether this is a deliberate policy of shedding columnists, but whether it is or not, a dramatic shift is underway.