Reuters adds conservative writer to its opinion roster

Salam, 32, New York-born son of Bangladeshi immigrants, is a policy adviser to e21, a Washington-based organisation that espouses policies advancing “free enterprise, fiscal discipline, economic growth, and the rule of law”. 

His first piece was published on Wednesday from Tampa, Florida where he attended the Republican National Convention that nominated Mitt Romney to contest the US presidential election in November. 

“I’m delighted to add Reihan Salam to the list of distinguished Reuters Opinion contributors,” James Ledbetter, opinion editor, said in a press release issued by Thomson Reuters on Thursday. “Reihan is a bright, fresh, thoughtful writer with wide expertise and a keen mind, and I’m confident that his insights about politics, business, and culture will enlighten and challenge Reuters readers, both in the U.S. and throughout the world.”

Salam is co-author with Ross Douthat of Grand New Party: How Republicans Can Win the Working Class and Save the American Dream, in which they argue the Republican party has become out of touch with its own base and its Bush-era big-government policies are “an evolutionary dead end”.

The Thomson Reuters press release quoted Salam as saying: “Having admired Reuters Opinion since its inception, I’m very eager to start writing for its large and growing audience. This is a moment of roiling economic change and cultural conflict that is shaping our politics in a number of weird, unpredictable, and often contradictory ways. My column will be an attempt to make sense of it.”

Reihan Salam ■