Fred Barnes (journalist)

Fred Barnes
Barnes at CPAC, March 2016
Born	Frederic Wood Barnes (1943-02-01) February 1, 1943 (age 74) Virginia, United States
Nationality	American
Alma mater	University of Virginia
Occupation	Political commentator

Frederic Wood "Fred" Barnes (born February 1, 1943) is an American political commentator. He is the executive editor of the news publication The Weekly Standard and regularly appears on the Fox News Channel program Special Report with Bret Baier. He was previously co-host of The Beltway Boys with Mort Kondracke, which previously aired on the Fox News Channel. The ''Forbes Media Guide Five Hundred, 1994 states:

Barnes remains a prolific writer on presidential and many other political topics as well.

The son of an Air Force officer, Barnes graduated from St. Stephens School in Alexandria in 1960. He spent two years in the U.S. Army. He then attended and graduated from the University of Virginia, where he studied history. He was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University.

After spending several years as a journalist with The Charleston News and Courier in Charleston, South Carolina, he became a reporter for the Washington Star in 1979. He covered the Supreme Court and the White House for the Star before moving to the Baltimore Sun. He was the national political correspondent at the Baltimore Sun. From 1985 to 1995, he was senior editor and White House correspondent for The New Republic. He also wrote the "Presswatch" media column for the American Spectator. He was a panelist on the public affairs show The McLaughlin Group from 1988 to 1998, where he was often referred to by the show's host as Freddy "the Beadle" Barnes. Barnes hosted the radio show What's the Story for Radio America. He is currently a moderator for the Voice of America show Issues in the News.