“Being Opinionated in America”

Maureen Dowd and Thomas Friedman

in conversation with

Professors Cynthia Gorney and Mark Danner

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Thomas Friedman, a world-renowned author and journalist, joined The New York Times in 1981 as a financial reporter specializing in OPEC and oil-related news and later served as the Chief Diplomatic, Chief White House, and International Economics Correspondents. A three-time Pulitzer Prize winner, he has traveled hundreds of thousands of miles reporting the Middle East conflict, the end of the cold war, US domestic politics and foreign policy, international economics and the worldwide impact of the terrorist threat. His Foreign Affairs Column, which appears twice a week in The Times, is syndicated to 700 other newspapers worldwide.

Maureen Dowd, winner of the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for distinguished commentary, became a columnist on The New York Times Op-Ed page in 1995 after having served as a correspondent in the paper’s Washington bureau since 1986. She has covered four presidential campaigns and served as White House correspondent. She also wrote a column, “On Washington,” for The New York Times Magazine. Ms. Dowd joined The New York Times as a metropolitan reporter in 1983. She began her career in 1974 as an editorial assistant for The Washington Star, where she later became a sports columnist, metropolitan reporter and feature writer. When the Star closed in 1981, she went to Time magazine.