| Fred Hiatt | |
|---|---|
| Born | 30 April 1955 Washington, D.C., USA |
| Education | Harvard University |
| Occupation | Journalist, writer |
| Known for | Editorial page editor, The Washington Post |
| Spouse | Margaret Shapiro |
| Parents | Howard Hiatt and Doris Hiatt nee Bieringer |
Frederick Samuel "Fred" Hiatt (born April 30, 1955) is the editorial page editor of The Washington Post. He also writes editorials for the page, as well as a biweekly column that appears on Mondays.[1]
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Hiatt was born in Washington, DC.[1] He is the son of Howard Haim Hiatt, a medical researcher and former dean of the Harvard School of Public Health,[2] and Doris Bieringer, a librarian who co-founded a reference publication for high school libraries.[3] He graduated from Harvard University in 1977.[1] Hiatt is married to Washington Post editor and writer Margaret "Pooh" Shapiro; they live in Chevy Chase, Maryland and have three children: Alexandra, Joseph and Nathaniel.[1]
Hiatt first reported for the Atlanta Journal and the Washington Star. When the latter ceased publication in 1981, Hiatt was hired by the Washington Post. At the Post, Hiatt initially reported on government, politics, development and other topics in Fairfax County and statewide in Virginia. Later, after joining the newspaper’s national staff, he focused on military and national security affairs. From 1987 to 1990, he and his wife served as co-bureau chiefs of the Post’s Tokyo bureau. Following this, from 1991 to 1995, the couple served as correspondents and co-bureau chiefs in Moscow.
In 1996, Hiatt joined the Post's editorial board. In 2000, following the death of long-time editor Meg Greenfield and a short interim editorship under Stephen S. Rosenfeld, Hiatt was named editorial page editor.[1]
During Hiatt's tenure, the Post's editorial stance has been perceived by several veteran media watchers as shifting towards a neoconservative position on foreign policy issues[4][5][6] and a more conservative stance on domestic issues.[6] Once called "Pravda on the Potomac" by critics, an allusion to the official newspaper of the Soviet communist party due to what they deemed its left-wing bias,[7] the Post has in the last decade supported the 2003 invasion of Iraq, warmed to President George W. Bush's proposal to partially privatize Social Security, opposed a deadline for U.S. withdrawal from the Iraq War, and advocated free trade agreements, including CAFTA and the Korean Free Trade Agreement. In "Buying the War" on PBS, Bill Moyers noted 27 editorials supporting George W. Bush's ambitions to invade Iraq. On environmental issues, the Post in 2011 came out in support of the Keystone XL Tar Sands Pipeline, despite widespread condemnation of the project from environmental protection groups. Hiatt himself came under fire for refusing to hold Post columnist George F. Will accountable for misrepresenting scientific evidence in a column[8] in which Will attacked the veracity of global warming. The column drew criticism from several other Post columnists, the Post's scientific reporters, and Post's ombudsman, as well as from numerous environmental scientists and climatologists.[9][10][11]
Despite this, the Post's editorial stance has remained traditionally liberal on many issues, and Hiatt was listed as one of the most influential liberals in the U.S. media by both the Daily Beast[12] and the conservative Forbes Magazine.[13] Under Hiatt's tenure, the Post's editorial page has called for a more progressive tax structure, full and equal rights for homosexuals, has supported legislation to alleviate climate change, and has pressed for comprehensive immigration reform that would include a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. With the conspicuous exception of the support several of its columnists (Charles Krauthammer,[14] Richard Cohen,[15] and Marc Thiessen[16]) have expressed for the use of "enhanced interrogation techniques", the Post's editorial page has generally been a strong supporter of human rights around the world, and was chosen by Freedom House in 2011 for its Raising Awareness award. In 1999 Hiatt was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for what the prize committee called "his elegantly-written editorials urging America's continued commitment to international human rights issues." [1]
Under Hiatt, the Post has added many new columnists, both on the left and right, to the Post's op-ed page, including Eugene Robinson and Kathleen Parker, both of whom won Pulitzer Prizes for their Post work, Anne Applebaum, Michael Gerson, Ruth Marcus and Harold Meyerson. Hiatt also intensified the online presence of the Washington Post opinions sections, with the addition of bloggers such as Greg Sargent, Jennifer Rubin, Alexandra Petri, Jonathan Capehart.
Hiatt is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations,[17] and has presided over events hosted by the organization.
In September 2009, Hiatt served as a panel moderator [2] for a conference held by the Foreign Policy Initiative, a neoconservative think tank.[18] In December, 2009, Hiatt was a featured speaker [3] at the Tokyo Foundation conference entitled "Japan after the Change: Perspectives of Western Opinion Leaders". In October 2010, he moderated a panel on US-Russia relations at the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank. He also has spoken or moderated at the Aspen Ideas Festival [4] and the World Knowledge Forum in Seoul.
Hiatt is the author of “The Secret Sun: A Novel of Japan,” which was published in 1992, as well as two books for children, “If I Were Queen of the World” (1997) and “Baby Talk” (1999).[1]