James Taranto (born January 6, 1966) is an American journalist. He is editorial features editor for ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

'', in charge of the newspaper's op-ed pages, both print and digital.Finale
James Taranto, ''WSJ'', January 3, 2017 He was formerly editor of its online editorial page OpinionJournal.com. and joined the newspaper's

editorial board The editorial board is a group of editors, writers, and other people who are charged with implementing a publication's approach to editorials and other opinion pieces. The editorials published normally represent the views or goals of the publicat ...

in 2007.James Taranto WSJ Bio
James Taranto, ''WSJ'', August 23, 2011 Taranto wrote the daily online column ''Best of the Web Today'', which typically included political, social, and media commentary in the form of conventional opinion writing as well as

pun A pun, also known as a paronomasia in the context of linguistics, is a form of word play that exploits multiple meanings of a term, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from t ...

s and other forms of wordplay and other recurring themes on news stories

crowdsourced Crowdsourcing involves a large group of dispersed participants contributing or producing goods or services—including ideas, votes, micro-tasks, and finances—for payment or as volunteers. Contemporary crowdsourcing often involves digit ...

from readers. His final column was published on January 3, 2017, after which he became editorial features editor. Before 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 The Heritage Foundation (or simply Heritage) is an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative think tank based in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1973, it took a leading role in the conservative movement in the 1980s during the Presi ...

and ''

Reason Reason is the capacity of consciously applying logic by drawing valid conclusions from new or existing information, with the aim of seeking the truth. It is associated with such characteristically human activities as philosophy, religion, scien ...

'' magazine. He pursued a degree in journalism at

California State University, Northridge California State University, Northridge (CSUN or Cal State Northridge), is a public university in the Northridge neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States. With a total enrollment of 36,848 students (as of Fall 2024), it has the ...

(CSUN) but "never bothered to graduate" after "conflict with teachers and professors".

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 The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

, in which the editor of the ''

Daily Bruin The ''Daily Bruin'' is the student newspaper at the University of California, Los Angeles. It began publishing in 1919, the year UCLA was founded. The ''Daily Bruin'' distributes about 6,000 copies across campus three times a week. It also publ ...

'' student newspaper was suspended after the paper published a comic strip depicting a

rooster The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated subspecies of the red junglefowl (''Gallus gallus''), originally native to Southeast Asia. It was first domesticated around 8,000 years ago and is now one of the most common and w ...

admitted to the university via

affirmative action Affirmative action (also sometimes called reservations, alternative access, positive discrimination or positive action in various countries' laws and policies) refers to a set of policies and practices within a government or organization seeking ...

. 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 The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is an American nonprofit civil rights organization founded in 1920. ACLU affiliates are active in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. The budget of the ACLU in 2024 was $383 million. T ...

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

Under Taranto, ''Best of the Web Today'' was a column published weekday afternoons on WSJ.com. It began as an anonymous web column collecting interesting links. (The title and the use of the editorial "we" come from that era.) Within a year it became a bylined column with commentary as well as links. Many of the items came from suggestions by readers, and each column ends with thanks to those who contributed to it. A three part quinquennial retrospective of the column appeared in 2005.'Quinquennial retrospective of Best of the Web Today'
''OpinionJournal.com'', July 29, 2005 In his final column, Taranto announced that the Best of the Web Today feature would return with another editorial writer taking the reins.

References

External links

James Taranto's own homepage

James Taranto's biography
at WSJ.com * {{DEFAULTSORT:Taranto, James 1966 births Living people American columnists California State University, Northridge alumni The Heritage Foundation people The Wall Street Journal people