Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2016 April 1

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April 1

Do New York Times columnists hangout together or even work in the same building on a few days per month?

Do Maureen Dowd, Nicholas Kristof, David Brooks, Paul Krugman, Joe Nocera, Charles Blow, Ross Douthat, Gail Collins, Frank Bruni, Thomas Friedman, etc, know each other? With present technology, the opinion columnists at the new york times could iin theory all work at home, email their work in and never meet each other or other reporters. Is that the case, or are some of them friends, bitter enemies, or respected opponents, or cafeteria companions, or do they ever meet in their offices to discuss current affairs, etc? Thanks.155.97.8.213 (talk) 18:27, 1 April 2016 (UTC)

This page describes what political columnists do on a day-to-day basis, if that helps fuel your imagination for their working conditions. --Jayron32 18:33, 1 April 2016 (UTC)

I can't answer for all of them, but I can answer for a few:

• Gail Collins famously has great friendships with establishment-conservatives with the last name Brooks, and the Times likes to stage their chats into official publications. Here's her 2016 series with Arthur Brooks, and here's some of her older stuff with David Brooks. If you dig around the site, there's way more where that came from, enough to show that they're really enjoying themselves.
• On Paul Krugman's page, we have a great quote from Dr. Krugman himself, admitting that he's a loner.
• With Joe Nocera, I'm having trouble finding a cite for this, but he thinks of himself more as a roving journalist than as a writer.
• Here's everything you ever wanted to know about Maureen Dowd's life, including that she dated NYT columnist John Tierney *before* the NYT gave them adjoining offices. The short version is that Dowd may be crazy, but she's earned it.
• Ross Douthat was living in DC when the Times hired him, and he never moved.

--M@rēino 18:17, 4 April 2016 (UTC)