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Question

Subject: author bios from op-ed pages
Category: Reference, Education and News > Current Events
Asked by: mkinsley-ga
List Price: $200.00

Posted: 24 Mar 2005 13:57 PST
Expires: 23 Apr 2005 14:57 PDT
Question ID: 499921

I need a complete list of all the authors of article on the op-ed page of the NY Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal and the Los Angeles Times for the past two years. I don't need or want any biographical information or the title of the piece--I just need a list of the names.
Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 24 Mar 2005 17:15 PST You know, I almost think this is do-able. Almost, but not quite. It's possible to find all four newspapers in a single database. However, the papers are each formatted and indexed just differently enough that the data sorts are 100% reliable in (a) distinguishing op-eds from other articles and (b) extracting the author's name for the article. That said, a look at the last few weeks produced an author list like this: ----- William Raspberry Thelma Diemer Sebastian Mallaby Ron Shaffer Robert J. Samuelson Richard Holbrooke Richard Cohen Peter Beinart Michael D. Shear and Chri... Marc Fisher Lisa de Moraes Leslie Walker Judy Sarasohn John Kelly Jim Hoagland Jay Mathews George F. Will Fred Hiatt David Ignatius Daniel Patrick ... Courtland Milloy Charles Krauthammer Art Buchwald Al Kamen Virginia Postrel VERLYN KLINKENBORG Tom Lauricella THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN Stephanie Saul SERGE SCHMEMANN ROBERT I. TOLL; As tol... PETER EDIDIN PETER APPLEBOME Paul Theroux NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF Melanie Kirkpatrick MAUREEN DOWD MARC LACEY Lawrence J. Korb and N... Larry Pressler KEITH BRADSHER Kathy Chu Dow Jones Ne... KATE ZERNIKE Kaja Whitehouse Dow Jo... JOYCE PURNICK Joyce Purnick Jonathan Gurwitz Jeffrey Zaslow James P. Rubin Iain Duncan Smith Greg Sandow Frank Cammuso Floyd Norris ERIK ECKHOLM Elizabeth Cohen David Kocieniewski David Fromkin DAVID C. UNGER DAVID BROOKS; Paul Kru... DAN BARRY DAMIEN CAVE CLYDE HABERMAN Charles Fried Bob Mann BOB HERBERT BENEDICT CAREY Angela Pruitt Andrew Kohut Alvaro Vargas Llosa ABIGAIL ZUGER ----- However, even that fairly short list took a lot of manual clean-up, and it's not a perfect capture of all the authors. What I'm getting at, I suppose, is that this task seems too large for a $100 job -- or even for $1000! I would suggest finding some way to pare things down a bit so that there's a realistic chance the question could be answered. Let me know if you need more feedback from me on anything I said above. pafalafa-ga
Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 24 Mar 2005 17:17 PST Big Omission! I meant to say: "...the data sorts are NOT 100% reliable..."
Clarification of Question by mkinsley-ga on 24 Mar 2005 22:30 PST it doesn't have to be perfect! In particular, if the results include lots of false positives (ie, names that are on non-op-ed articles) that is no problem at all. And if a very few op-eds names are missing, that is OK too, although if more than one or two percent aren't there, that's no good. also, if the cleanup is very complicated and time consuming, that can be skipped, as long as all the names are there and not buried in a lot of extraneous type. (IE, if the article title is attached to each, and/or it says "Washington Post" time and time again, no problem) RE the New York Times, I can tell you how to do it, They distinguish between op-ed "columnists" and "contributers" and all I need are the contributors. If you go to their left-column list and click on editorial/op-ed, the menu expands and one of the options is "contributors." and when you click on that it lists the ten most recent, with a "next" link at the bottom. So you could gather all of them if you could either (a) have the patience to call up and copy from about 150 pages, or (b) somehow manipulate the html to get more than 10 per page. I can't do either of these. For a pretty clean list from all four papers, I'll pay $200. And if you develop a good system, I ultimately want ditto from other departments of the papers (ie, the NYT Book REview, WPost Outlook section, etc.) plus other things, which should be easy and I'll pay for them too. I hope this is tempting.. $1000 is too much. Thanks.
Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 25 Mar 2005 20:30 PST mkinsley-ga, I hope I didn't leave you with the impression that I was fishin' around for a fee of $1000...that was just my (clumsy?) way of saying that this looked like a big job, and it may be prudent to try and pare it down a bit! I'm still trying to find a way to semi-automate the process. If I'm overtaken by a fit of profound cleverness and can figure it out, I'll be sure to let you know. paf
Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 25 Mar 2005 21:42 PST Making some progress. Here's what ONE YEAR from the Washington Post looks like -- opinion pieces by mostly "contributors" though its obvious that some staff writers and syndicated columnists got included as well -- it's hard to know just how much may writers have been missed, or how many false positives show up. There are about 390 listings here -- I didn't eliminate duplicates as I thought you might like to see names that appeared more than once during the year. Please give me some feedback on this before I attempt to go forward with any others. Thanks. paf ============== Abner Mikva Alan J. Kuperman Allen Lebovits Amy Stuart Wells Anders Aslund Andrei Piontkovsky MOSCOW Andrew J. Bacevich Andrew Reynolds Andrew Reynolds Andrew S. Natsios Anne Applebaum Anne Applebaum Anne Applebaum Anne Applebaum Anne Applebaum Anne Applebaum Anthony A. Williams Anthony D. Romero Arlen Specter Artem Agoulnik Ashraf Ghani Ban Ki Moon SEOUL Barbara Cochran Barham Salih SULAIMANI Iraq Barry C. Scheck Barry Castleman Benjamin L. Ginsberg Berta Soler Fernandez HAVANA Bill Bradbury Bill Clinton Bill Frist Bill Richardson Bob Dole Bob Kerrey Boris Tadic Boutros Boutros-Ghali Brad Rourke Brent Scowcroft Brent Scowcroft Brett H. McGurk Brian Baird Brian Faler and Jo Becker Brian Gifford Bruce Gelb Bruce W. Sanford Byron Dorgan Caleb Carr Carolyn McCarthy Cecil E. Roberts Charles A. Krohn Charles T. Clotfelter Charles Z. Wick Christopher J. Dodd Chuck Hagel Cindy Williams Clark Kent Ervin Colbert I. King Colbert I. King Colbert I. King Colbert I. King Colbert I. King Colbert I. King Colbert I. King Craig Charney Dan Blumenthal Dana Milbank Dana Milbank Daniel P. Erikson Daniel Seidemann JERUSALEM Daniel Serwer Daniel Wolf SOUTH DARFUR Sudan Daoud Kuttab JERUSALEM David B. Rivkin Jr. and Lee A. Casey David B. Rivkin Jr. and Lee A. Casey David B. Sandalow David Cole David Ignatius David Kay David L. Bosco David S. Broder BEIJING David S. Broder LONDON David S. Broder David Westin Debra Chasnoff Dennis Ross Dennis Ross Dimitrij Rupel Douglas Farah Douglas J. Feith Douglas J. Feith Douglas T. Kendall E. J. Dionne Jr. MIDDLETOWN R.I. E. J. Dionne Jr. E. J. Dionne Jr. E. J. Dionne Jr. E. J. Dionne Jr. E. J. Dionne Jr. E. J. Dionne Jr. E. J. Dionne Jr. E. J. Dionne Jr. E. J. Dionne Jr. Edith U. Fierst Edward Cody Edward M. Kennedy Edwin M. Yoder Jr. Eleanor Holmes Norton Elie Wiesel Eliot A. Cohen Eliot Cohen Elizabeth Warren Ellen Goodman BOSTON Ellen Goodman BOSTON Ellen Goodman BOSTON Ellen Goodman BOSTON Ellen Goodman BOSTON Ellen Lutch Bender Emadeddin Baghi TEHRAN Enriqueta Bond Eric Liu Eric Reeves Eugene B. Rumer Eugene B. Rumer Eugene Robinson Eugene Robinson Eugene Robinson Eugene Robinson Eugene Robinson Eugene Robinson Farzaneh Milani Felix G. Rohatyn Frank Chang-ting Hsieh Frank R. Lichtenberg Frank Schaeffer Fred Hiatt Fred Hiatt Fred Thompson Gary Anderson Gayle Smith and Mara Rudman Gene Weingarten Geneva Overholser George F. Will George F. Will George F. Will George F. Will George P. Shultz George Silver George Weigel Gerard Latortue Gerard Wallace H. Gilbert Welch Harriet McBryde Johnson Haviland Smith Heather Mac Donald Henry E. Catto Henry A. Waxman Herb Allison Hilary Rosen Holly Burkhalter Howard Kurtz Washington Post Staff Writer Howard Kurtz and Frank Ahrens Washington Post Staff Writers Howard M. Metzenbaum Howell Raines POCONO SUMMIT Pa. Hugh F. Hill III Hugh Panero Hugo Chavez CARACAS Venezuela Ian Bowles BOSTON Ilyas Akhmadov Isaac Shapiro J. Robinson West J.B. Schramm Jack Goldsmith Jackson Diehl Jacob S. Hacker James D. Villa James Dobbins James E. McWilliams James Mosher James Pavitt James Q. Whitman Jan Egeland Janet Fleischman Jared Genser Jason Stearns Jay Mathews Jay Mathews Jeanne McManus Jeb Bush Jeff Bergner Jeff Fischer BAGHDAD Jeffrey D. Sachs Jennifer L. Mnookin Jessica Mathews Jim Sollisch Jim Wallis Joan Meier Joel I. Klein John Feinstein John Hamre John McCain John McLaughlin John Mintz Washington Post Staff Writer John Moores John Norton Moore John Podesta John Stuart Blackton Jon Kyl Jon Meacham Jonathan Fanton Joseph Doyle Joseph S. Nye Jr. Joshua Foer Joshua Muravchik Judith D. Auerbach Karen A. Tramontano Kate Martin Kathleen Babineaux Blanco Kay Bailey Hutchison Ken Lay Kenneth Roth Kevin Drum Kevin Krajick Lawrence F. Kaplan Lawrence Lessig Lawrence M. Hinman Lee Hockstader RICHMOND Lee Hockstader CUMBERLAND Md. Lee Hockstader Leon R. Kass Leonard Downie Jr. Leonard H. Marks Leonard S. Rubenstein Ludmilla Alexeyeva M.R. Dinsmore Marcia Angell Marina Ottaway Marina Ottaway Marion Barry Mark Brzezinski Mark Feldstein Mark J. Penn Mark J. Penn Marlene M. Johnson Mary Bissell Mary Frances Berry Masha Lipman MOSCOW Masha Lipman MOSCOW Max M. Kampelman May 23 2004 Sunday Final Edition Michael A. Wertheimer Michael D. Tusiani Michael Dobbs Michael Gecan Michael Kinsley Michael Kinsley Michael McFaul Michael McFaul Michael Northrop Michael O'Hanlon Michael Powell Washington Post Staff Writer Michael R. Caputo Michael Rubin Michael Shifter Michael Shifter Michèle Alliot-Marie Mitch McConnell Mona Eltahawy NEW YORK Mona Eltahawy Mona Eltahawy Monte Reel Washington Post Staff Writer Morton Abramowitz and Samantha Power Motoo Noguchi Myles Brand Nadia Diuk Naotaka Matsukata Nathaniel Frank Newt Gingrich Newt Gingrich Noel Koch Noel Koch Nora Boustany Norman Ornstein Pamela Haag Pat Patterson Patrick Clawson Paul C. Light Paul Farhi Paul H. O'Neill Paul W. Hansen Peter Beinart Peter Beinart Peter Beinart Peter Beinart Peter D. Feaver Peter H. Gibbon Peter M. Shane Peter Moskos Peter Slevin Washington Post Staff Writer CHICAGO Phillip Longman Pradeep Chhibber and Ken Kollman Ray Boshara Ray Takeyh Reuel Marc Gerecht Richard Cohen Richard Cohen Richard Cohen Richard Cohen Richard Cohen Richard Cohen Richard Cohen Richard Cohen Richard Cohen Richard Cohen Richard Cohen Richard G. Lugar Richard Holbrooke KYIV Ukraine Richard Holbrooke Richard Holbrooke Richard J. Durbin Richard O'Brien Rob Stein Washington Post Staff Writer Robert B. Archibald and David H. Feldman Robert B. Zoellick Robert Byrd Robert Byrd Robert E. Wittes Robert Kagan Robert M. Cornejo Robert May Robert R. Monroe Roberta Cohen Roger A. Pielke Jr. Ron Moore Ronald D. Asmus Roya Hakakian Ruth Marcus Ruth Mitchell S. Frederick Starr Sadiq Reza Salman Rushdie Salvador Stadthagen Samir S.M. Sumaidaie Sanford J. Ungar Saparmurad Ovezberdiyev Scott Cooper Sean Daly Washington Post Staff Writer Shibley Telhami Spencer Abraham Stanley I. Greenspan Stephen Moore Stephen Sestanovich Stephen Sestanovich Steve Andreasen Steve Ballmer Steve Danyluk Steve Hadley Steve Hayes Steven Rattner Susan E. Rice Susan E. Rice Susan E. Rice T. X. Hammes Thabo Mbeki Theodore M. Shaw Thomas E. Ricks Thomas E. Ricks Thomas H. Bornemann Thomas J. Healey Thomas J. Raleigh Thomas M. Davis III Tim Dorsett Tim Roemer Timothy M. Gay Timothy Shriver Tion Kwa Tom Beaudoin Tom Callahan Tom Carver Trish Vradenburg Vaclav Havel Valery E. Yarynich Vali Nasr Victor Comras Victoria Toensing Warren Buffet William B. Schultz William H. Hooke William Kristol William McSweeny Yossi Alpher Yossi Beilin Yuri Ushakov Zainab Bangura FREETOWN Sierra Leone
Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 26 Mar 2005 12:51 PST One more post. I now have a much cleaner list of Washington Post authors -- 496 articles in the past two years. It's still not perfect, but I'm more confident in this one, than in the prior ones I posted. I don't want to post the 496 names here and clutter up this page with yet another long list, but I wanted to let you know of its availability. I'm finding that these lists are do-able for some papers, but not necessarily for others. The NY Times, for instance, is resisting all efforts thus far. Would information from individual meet some of your needs, if all four papers aren't possible? paf
Clarification of Question by mkinsley-ga on 28 Mar 2005 12:19 PST Hi. And thanks. I'm afraid you're not really getting there. The WashPost publishes 5 or so pieces a day on its op-ed page, of which maybe 3 are regular columnists, so that's about 750 a year...and if your list was cleaned up of reuglar columnsits and other duplicates, it would be 250 or so, maybe less. But look, let's not give up. I now actually have the NYT and WP, and can get the LAT. I am going to list here a bunch of other publications, and i'll pay ten cents a name up to a max of $200 for any author names you can get from any of these publications, with no duplications. I am not a perfectionist, so I don't care if there are a few, but I don't wanna pay again and again and again for Henry Kissinger! (Obviously, this offer applies only to pafalafa. but anyone else is welcome to volunteer and I will get back to you if I still need help.) Anyway: The NEw REpublic The Weekly Standard The Atlantic Monthly The NEw Yorker The Wall STreet Journal -- editorial and op-ed only (check out their separate site, Opinionjournal.com The NEw York REview of Books National REview Well, start with those, and I can add more... thanks.
Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 28 Mar 2005 15:27 PST Thanks for the feedback. I've continued to work on this, and I think that some of the numbers I came up with up are actually quite consistent with the ballpark numbers you mentioned. Here are links to two lists -- 377 author names (no duplicates) from 2 years of the Washington Post, and more than 1,000 from the NY Times: http://home.ripway.com/2005-3/279856/washpostlist377namesnodups.txt http://home.ripway.com/2005-3/279856/nyt1086namesnodups.txt Take a look, and if you can, let me know how these jive with the lists you created on your own. These are pretty clean, but there are still a few quirky aspects to them...if you need to know about how they were created, let me know. Mean time, I'll take a look at the other publications to see if I can generate anything to meet your needs. Thanks. pafalafa-ga
Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 28 Mar 2005 19:16 PST Here's a link for 746 names from 2 years of the WSJ, in addition to the NYT and WashPost links I gave you earlier (above): http://home.ripway.com/2005-3/279856/wsjlist746namesnodups.txt Let me know how these look to you. paf
Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 31 Mar 2005 09:55 PST mkinsley-ga, Still there? I was hoping for feedback on the links I provided thus far, to confirm that they are of value to you. Thanks. paf
Clarification of Question by mkinsley-ga on 04 Apr 2005 11:28 PDT these nameas are all great, and you have earned your $200, if you can just explain to me how I pay it. If you feel like tossing in lists from some of those magazines, that would be terrific. But I want to pay you the $200 in any event. thanks. Mike

Answer

Subject: Re: author bios from op-ed pages
Answered By: pafalafa-ga on 04 Apr 2005 12:30 PDT
Rated: 5 out of 5 stars

Mike,

Thank you kindly.  You're a gentleman, any emails to the contrary
notwithstanding.

I'm glad the lists met your needs.  You needn't do anything to pay me
-- by posting this formal answer to your question, that happens
automatically.

You can, however, post a rating to this answer, or provide other
feedback, but that's entirely optional.

As for the other publications you listed, here's the scoop.  I used
the online database Factiva to generate the lists.  Factiva DOES
include several of the publications you listed, but with caveats:

--National Review -- only "selected" articles are included (i.e. not
every article printed is in the database), but 2 years are available

--New Republic -- only available since Sept 2003, and the content is
selected abstracts from the magazine, rather than 100% coverage.

--New Yorker -- abstracts only, but two full years available

--NY Rev of Books -- coverage just began in March 2005

--Weekly Standard -- full coverage since 2002


The others you listed are not part of the Factiva database.


I can try to crank out lists of ALL authors, if that is of interest. 
I do not know of a way to easily separate out "opinion" articles from
other types of writing, since that sort of distinction is not made for
all publications.

I looked at the Weekly Standard.  There are 924 articles in the
database over the past two years.  The first 100 authors are listed
here:


http://home.ripway.com/2005-3/279856/weeklystandard100.txt


and the first few articles listed are:


1.  The Legacy of Terri Schiavo 
Weekly Standard, 11 April 2005
By Wesley J. Smith

2.  A Chip Off the Old Dictator 
Weekly Standard, 11 April 2005
By Lee Smith

3.  Nation Building, After All 
Weekly Standard, 11 April 2005
By Vance Serchuk & Tom Do...

4.  The Kyrgyz Take Their Stan.. 
Weekly Standard, 11 April 2005
By Stephen Schwartz

5.  "Hell, No"--He's Not Exonerated 
Weekly Standard, 11 April 2005
By Claudia Rosett



If you wanted all 924 authors (less, after I remove the dups) I can do
it.  But if some sort of selection is needed, I'm not sure.

It would take some discussion between us to figure out how to proceed
on each magazine.

Let me know what you think.

And thanks again for such an interesting challenge, on a very interesting topic.  

paf

Clarification of Answer by pafalafa-ga on 04 Apr 2005 12:44 PDT

A few things I forgot:


--To comment back to me, you'll need to ask for "Clarification" per
these instructions:

-----
http://answers.google.com/answers/faq.html#ratequestion

The Researcher only partially answered my question. How do I get
further clarification?

You have the option to make a comment or request a clarification once
you receive your answer from a Researcher. To request further
clarification, log in and go to "My Account". When you see the list of
questions you have asked, click on the question with the answer you
wish to clarify. Once you have clicked on the question, look at the
Answer section and click on the "Request Answer Clarification" button.
Then enter the clarification you desire into the box. The Researcher
will be alerted that a clarification has been requested.
-----



--If you want the Weekly Standard's full authors list, just say so --
I'll gladly include it as part of the answer to this current question.



--Factiva also has transcripts from many TV news shows, so that it may
be possible to generate similar lists of talking heads.  If that's of
interest...or if you want lists from the other magazines...please post
it as a new question.

paf

mkinsley-ga rated this answer: 5 out of 5 stars

excellent answer, friendly correspondence, total satisfaction. (I'm
not including a tip only because I already doubled the initial offer
because of total satisfaction.

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