Farhad Manjoo (born 1978) is an American journalist. Manjoo was a staff writer for ''

Slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...

'' magazine from 2008 to September 2013, when they left to join ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

''. In January 2014, they joined ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', replacing

David Pogue David Welch Pogue (born March 9, 1963) is an American technology and science writer and TV presenter. He is an Emmy-winning correspondent for ''CBS News Sunday Morning'' and author of the "Crowdwise" column in ''The New York Times'' Smarter Livi ...

as the technology columnist. Manjoo became an opinion columnist at the paper in 2018. They have also been a contributor to

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other n ...

since 2009."Farhad Manjoo Talks You Into Joining Facebook"

, February 17, 2009.

Early and personal life

Manjoo was born in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

in 1978 to a family with ancestral roots in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. The family left South Africa when Manjoo was eight years old,Manjoo, Farhad (February 15, 2013)
Twitter
/ref> and moved to Southern California. Manjoo graduated from

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

in 2000. As an undergraduate, Manjoo served as writer and editor-in-chief of the ''

Cornell Daily Sun ''The Cornell Daily Sun'' is an independent daily newspaper published in Ithaca, New York by students at Cornell University and hired employees. ''The Sun'' features coverage of the university and its environs as well as stories from the Associa ...

'' student newspaper. Manjoo wrote in the ''New York Times'' that they prefer to be referred to with singular ''they'' pronouns. Manjoo publicly disclosed their struggle with

esophageal achalasia Esophageal achalasia, often referred to simply as achalasia, is a failure of smooth muscle fibers to relax, which can cause the lower esophageal sphincter to remain closed. Without a modifier, "achalasia" usually refers to achalasia of the esopha ...

in 2019.

Career

Manjoo wrote for ''

Wired News ''Wired'' (stylized as ''WIRED'') is a monthly American magazine, published in print and online editions, that focuses on how emerging technologies affect culture, the economy, and politics. Owned by Condé Nast, it is headquartered in San Fran ...

'' before taking a staff position at

Salon.com ''Salon'' is an American politically progressive/liberal news and opinion website created in 1995. It publishes articles on U.S. politics, culture, and current events. Content and coverage ''Salon'' covers a variety of topics, including re ...

. In July 2008, they accepted a job at ''Slate'' magazine writing a twice-weekly technology column. In September 2013, they joined ''

'' as a technology columnist; their final column for ''Slate'', urging men to wear makeup, was published on September 20. They moved to ''The New York Times'' in 2014. Manjoo has written about technology,

new media New media describes communication technologies that enable or enhance interaction between users as well as interaction between users and content. In the middle of the 1990s, the phrase "new media" became widely used as part of a sales pitch for ...

,Mitchell, Dan
"The Thin Skin of Apple Fans"
''

'', March 22, 2008.

politics Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...

,Farhad Manjoo
"Rumors Reasons"
''The New York Times'', March 16, 2008. and controversies in journalism.Kristoff, Nicholas D

''The New York Times'', March 18, 2009. They are the author of the book ''True Enough: Learning to Live in a Post-Fact Society''.Hesse, Monica

''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'', April 27, 2008.Manjoo, Farhad (2008). '' True Enough: Learning to Live in a Post-fact Society.'' Wiley. Hluchy, Patricia
"Redefining truth in a 'post-fact society'"
''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...

'', April 20, 2008. They shared the 2018

Gerald Loeb Award The Gerald Loeb Award, also referred to as the Gerald Loeb Award for Distinguished Business and Financial Journalism, is a recognition of excellence in journalism, especially in the fields of business, finance and the economy. The award was estab ...

for Breaking News for the story "Ouster at Uber." In March 2018, they published a column in the ''Times'' about a personal experiment in getting most of their news from print sources for two months. The piece drew criticism from the ''

Columbia Journalism Review The ''Columbia Journalism Review'' (''CJR'') is a biannual magazine for professional journalists that has been published by the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism since 1961. Its contents include news and media industry trends, ana ...

'' and the

Nieman Foundation for Journalism The Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University is the primary journalism institution at Harvard. It was founded in February 1938 as the result of a $1.4 million bequest by Agnes Wahl Nieman, the widow of Lucius W. Nieman, founder of ' ...

for the article's assertion Manjoo had "unplugged from

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

" for this period when in fact they continued to use the social media service every day. Manjoo felt the piece was sufficiently clear that they made exceptions to their "unplugged" policy, and ''The New York Times'' stood by the piece.

WNYC WNYC is the trademark and a set of call letters shared by WNYC (AM) and WNYC-FM, a pair of nonprofit, noncommercial, public radio stations located in New York City. WNYC is owned by New York Public Radio (NYPR), a nonprofit organization that di ...

's '' On the Media'' removed a segment with Manjoo discussing the experiment. In April 2021, their column "Let's Quit Fetishizing the Single-Family Home", was used for the

Abitur ''Abitur'' (), often shortened colloquially to ''Abi'', is a qualification granted at the end of secondary education in Germany. It is conferred on students who pass their final exams at the end of ISCED 3, usually after twelve or thirteen year ...

high school leaving exams in the German state of

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a States of Germany, state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more tha ...

References

External links

Farhad Manjoo articles
at ''The New York Times''

at Slate.com

at Salon.com
Farhad Manjoo pieces on NPRFarhad Manjoo articles
at

Fast Company ''Fast Company'' is a monthly American business magazine published in print and online that focuses on technology, business, and design. It publishes six print issues per year. History ''Fast Company'' was launched in November 1995 by Alan Web ...

Helen Bailey and Farhad Manjoo
at NYTimes.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Manjoo, Farhad 1978 births American male journalists Cornell University alumni Living people The New York Times columnists NPR personalities Slate (magazine) people South African emigrants to the United States Technology commentators Gerald Loeb Award winners for Breaking News