From at least the early 19th century, a Pundit of the Supreme Court in Colonial India was an officer of the judiciary who advised British judges on questions of Hindu law. In Anglo-Indian use, pundit also referred to a native of India who was trained and employed by the British to survey inaccessible regions beyond the British frontier.[2]
A pundit now combines the roles of a public intellectual and has a certain expertise as a media practitioner. They play an increasing role in disseminating ideas and views in an accessible way to the public.[5] From Joffe's view, Karl Marx in Europe and e.g. in the US, Mark Twain were early and relentless pundits ante festum.[3] In addition, the growing role of think tanks and research institutions like the Brookings Institution, the American Enterprise Institute and the Manhattan Institute provided a place for those dealing with 'big issues' in public language.[3]
pundit
Punditry has become a more popular vehicle in nightly newscasts on American cable news networks. A rise of partisanship among popular pundits began with Bill O'Reilly of Fox News Channel. His opinion-oriented format led him to ratings success and has led others, including Bill Maher, Keith Olbermann, and Nancy Grace to express their opinions on matters on their own programs.[8]
The original pundits were highly respected teachers and leaders in India. Their title was taken from the Hindi word pandit, a term of respect for a wise person that itself derives from the Sanskrit pandita, meaning "learned." English speakers began using the form pundit specifically to refer to those Hindu sages as long ago as the 1600s. By the 1800s, they had also extended the term to refer to other sagacious individuals, and now pundit is often used with a hint of sarcasm to refer to informed opinion makers (such as political commentators, financial analysts, and newspaper columnists) who boldly share their views (sometimes at great length) on just about any subject that lies within their areas of expertise.
The upside for anyone thinking about becoming a professional TV pundit or newspaper columnist is that all you really need to start are very strong opinions -- the downside, however, is that it will take years of very hard, self-motivated and persistent work to turn those opinions into a career.
According to Cupp, a weekly columnist for the New York Daily News and Townhall magazine and political commentator for such news outlets as CNN, MSNBC and FOX News, the first main route into a career as a "professional opinion-maker," as she termed it, is through writing a book, which was her entry point into the world of punditry.
She said it took two years of saying "yes" to every single TV and radio opportunity and sending her work to every online and print publisher in her contact list to finally be able to leave her job at the Times and launch a career in punditry and opinion-writing.
Another second route into punditry, she added, is to become an expert in a specific field. Often requiring extensive experience or study in an area of interest, the challenge for the "experts" is not only to position oneself as the "go-to person" in a specific field for news organizations, she said, but also to find ways to make the specialty relevant to current events at all times.
Other Cupp advice for aspiring pundits: Get comfortable with being very self-promotional, and be ready to be lambasted for your opinions. Above all, know that producers and publishers enjoy people who are "professional and easy to work with," she said.
The inevitable shout-downs can make for riveting television even as they rub some people the wrong way. And there's no sign that the era of the pundit is going away anytime soon. Want to stand out from the media clutter? Bring a strong point of view, and at least pretend you're an expert. That's the case for not only television pundits, but for those opining through print, radio and the Web as well.
To find out, Forbes analyzed data compiled by market research group E-Poll on more than 60 well-known pundits who follow and critique the worlds of politics, current events, law, entertainment and sports. This is the same group that conducts the polling for the Forbes 08 Tracker presidential poll each month.
While the results show that plenty of cable talking heads like Bill O'Reilly, Lou Dobbs and Geraldo Rivera score highly, the most powerful pundit in America is veteran film critic Roger Ebert, who appeals to 70% of the demographic and whose long career makes him well known to well over half the population. A longtime writer for the Chicago Sun-Times, he's been offering up his cinematic views on television with partners Gene Siskel (from 1975-1999) and Richard Roeper (since 1999) for 32 years.
Like any market research firm, E-Poll does not keep an official "pundit" category for the celebrities they track. So how to decide who to include and who not to? We opted to follow the dictionary, defining a public figure whose primary focus is bringing opinions and commentary to political, legal, sports, entertainment and other issues as a pundit.
We did include some entertainment veterans who now appear often on news and political programs as hosts that solicit their views on issues of the day, meaning they have successfully made the jump to punditry. That group includes Bill Maher, Al Franken and Rosie O'Donnell, all of whom make our top 10. To play fair, we also excluded all Forbes.com columnists and writers.
Popular pundits score with advertisers thanks not only to desirable demographics and an emotionally attached set of viewers, but because they draw largely fragmented audiences that produce consumers with similar tastes. The trick is having wide enough appeal to draw a large audience, while still being focused enough to weed out viewers that advertisers don't want to waste money trying to reach. Basically the sweet spot is somewhere between a general audience network show and a narrowly focused Web site.
Indeed, the E-Poll scores show that despite the enormous and still growing momentum of new media, television still rules when it comes to crowning pundit kings and queens. Each one of our top 10, along with near misses like Jesse Jackson, Sean Hannity and Keith Olbermann, are brought to the public domain primarily through television (radio superstar Rush Limbaugh is the only exception in the close-but-no-cigar crowd).
Web pundits like Markos Moulitsas of the Daily Kos and Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo score high likability ratings with certain population segments, but their awareness numbers, which are more important than appeal, E-Poll notes, are barely on the radar screen. The same is largely true of elite newspaper columnists like Thomas Friedman, Maureen Dowd, Robert Novak, E.J. Dionne and Holman Jenkins.
Ebert, despite being limited to print reviewing over the past year as he battles cancer, is viewed by the public as intelligent, experienced and articulate, the three most common traits associated with the top 10 list. And his widespread appeal makes sense. Unlike political pundits who bring a liberal or conservative voice to the table, his strong opinions are generally confined to individual movies. Hence, he's not drawing cheers from half the population and jeers from the other half.
Political pundit is not a job per se, but political commentators, many of them considered pundits, are paid a wide range of salaries for their work on television. Most media companies do not disclose the salaries of their commentators, but the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Handbook cites a median salary of $55,030 for reporters and news analysts working in television and radio. However, the highest-paid salary (and most pundits are highly compensated) is listed as $127,370 and up."}},"@type": "Question","name": "Who Are the Most Famous Political Pundits?","acceptedAnswer": "@type": "Answer","text": "Tucker Carlson, Ann Coulter, Rachel Maddow, and Sean Hannity are all popular political pundits and commentators for the media.","@type": "Question","name": "What Does the Pundit Class Mean?","acceptedAnswer": "@type": "Answer","text": "The "pundit class" simply refers to any group of high-profile pundits who are featured on television and in the media."]}]}] EducationGeneralDictionaryEconomicsCorporate FinanceRoth IRAStocksMutual FundsETFs401(k)Investing/TradingInvesting EssentialsFundamental AnalysisPortfolio ManagementTrading EssentialsTechnical AnalysisRisk ManagementNewsCompany NewsMarkets NewsCryptocurrency NewsPersonal Finance NewsEconomic NewsGovernment NewsSimulatorYour MoneyPersonal FinanceWealth ManagementBudgeting/SavingBankingCredit CardsHome OwnershipRetirement PlanningTaxesInsuranceReviews & RatingsBest Online BrokersBest Savings AccountsBest Home WarrantiesBest Credit CardsBest Personal LoansBest Student LoansBest Life InsuranceBest Auto InsuranceAdvisorsYour PracticePractice ManagementFinancial Advisor CareersInvestopedia 100Wealth ManagementPortfolio ConstructionFinancial PlanningAcademyPopular CoursesInvesting for BeginnersBecome a Day TraderTrading for BeginnersTechnical AnalysisCourses by TopicAll CoursesTrading CoursesInvesting CoursesFinancial Professional CoursesSubmitTable of ContentsExpandTable of ContentsWhat Is a Pundit?Understanding a PunditAge of the PunditSpecial ConsiderationsPundit FAQsThe Bottom LineInvestopediaCareersPunditByLucas Downey Full Bio LinkedIn Twitter Lucas Downey is the co-founder of MAPsignals.com, and an Investopedia Academy instructor.Learn about our editorial policiesUpdated January 17, 2023Reviewed byColleen Ramos Reviewed byColleen RamosFull Bio LinkedIn Dr. Ramos works with leadership teams to hire talent that aligns with business strategies, creating alignment between selection and hiring. She helps unlock unique insights that facilitate high-performing teams that meet the organization's strategic goals. She holds a doctoral degree in Human Resource Development, a master's in Counseling Psychology, and certifications as a Gallup Strengths Coach, in Emotional Intelligence and holds her SHRM-CP.Learn about our Financial Review Board What Is a Pundit? A pundit is a person that publicly expresses their opinions or comments on a topic on which they consider themselves an expert. The term "pundit" can be used to describe someone who is an expert in a field, and it can also be used negatively to classify someone who has definite opinions but lacks the expertise to back them up. It is used to describe recognized authorities and, increasingly, to describe TV and radio hosts that are louder than they are learned. 2ff7e9595c
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