Reporting

Janine Zacharia spent two decades reporting on the Middle East and U.S. foreign policy before moving to the Bay Area to teach at Stanford in 2011. She has worked for The Jerusalem Report, Reuters, The Jerusalem Post, Bloomberg and most recently as the Washington Post's Jerusalem Bureau Chief. She now writes reported analysis pieces for the San Francisco Chronicle, Slate and other media outlets.

Greywater rain systems save water, alleviate sprinkler guilt

MERCURY NEWS, Jan. 22, 2022

If the state wants to show it is taking the drought seriously, it should provide more funds to expand rebates.

Facebook isn’t the only cacophonous informational ecosystem undermining our democracy

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, Oct. 24, 2021

This outsized scrutiny has allowed another set of key actors to go underinvestigated.

The Real Problem With the AP’s Firing of Emily Wilder

POLITICO, May 26, 2021

When one young journalist was fired, the incident revealed a problem deeper than bad social media policies.

Too dangerous to disregard

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, Feb. 7, 2021

Journalists are challenged on how to cover the crazies in Congress. Beneath the absurdity and craziness lurk threats to truth and democracy.

Review: In ‘Now What?,’ essays from Scaramucci, Sharpton et al. weigh in on post-Trump America

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, Jan. 18, 2021

Writers, athletes, politicians, actors, lawyers and activists weigh in on this most consequential unknown — what happens once Trump leaves office.

How to counter the misinformation that deceives and incites Americans

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, Nov. 8, 2020

For me, the most critical question to ask to figure out the answer will be: What were Trump voters reading, watching and listening to the past four years?

The Media Must Prepare for Another Hack-and-Leak

LAWFARE, Oct. 21, 2020

With indications that another hack-and-leak operation is likely, what would it take to make America more resilient against propaganda campaigns?

Review: ‘Donald Trump and His Assault on Truth’ debunks the president’s false claims

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, July 14, 2020

“Donald Trump and His Assault on Truth: The President’s Falsehoods, Misleading Claims and Flat-Out Lies” encapsulates the duplicity we’ve been subjected to these past 3½ years in a way that hopefully will deter our future leaders from thinking truth-telling is optional.

Congress should pass Rep. Eshoo’s bill restricting microtargeting of political ads

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, June 28, 2020

The Trump administration’s battle with Silicon Valley over content moderation escalated when the Justice Department urged Congress to strip some immunity protections from social media platforms for content they host.

Time is running out to fight disinformation in 2020 election

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, Aug. 31, 2019

Fewer than 15 months before the U.S. presidential election, there is shockingly little national discussion of how to prevent the Russians — and other adversaries — from attacking our democracy with another round of information warfare.

Zuckerberg’s outsize influence must end

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, March 22, 2018

Facebook’s sense of responsibility — or its abilities — has not grown in tandem with its influence. It has failed to anticipate threats. And when it solves one security problem, another pops up. It has already shown it cannot completely prevent its service from being used for bad purposes.

Don’t move U.S. embassy to Jerusalem

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, Dec. 5, 2017

President Trump appears to be inching closer to announcing he is beginning the process of relocating the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and declaring it Israel’s capital.

Facebook, others must do more to protect national security

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, Oct. 27, 2017

When it comes to shaping our national discourse, there may be no institution with more influence than social media. There may be no institution as vulnerable to covert manipulation either.

Trump threat to totally destroy North Korea is risky rhetoric

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, Sept. 19, 2017

In his speech before the U.N. General Assembly, President Trump triggered gasps in the building when he declared if the United States “is forced to defend itself or its allies, we will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea.”

Why we must teach students to recognize news — our democracy depends upon it

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, Aug. 31, 2017

Consuming the news is only going to become more complex if we don’t educate people about the difference between credible fact-based reporting and its opposite.

Suck-up interview leaves Syria questions unanswered

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, April 13, 2017

In my career as a diplomatic and foreign correspondent, I have had the opportunity to interview many senior U.S. officials. It is essential to be prepared, focused on the most essential questions, and unafraid to ask the toughest ones.

Israel’s new law seeks to silence settlement protests

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, March 31, 2017

Israel has turned back ardent critics at the border before. But formalizing a political litmus test for entry shows just how threatened it feels by the boycott campaign and just how far to the right the country has moved.

Clinton stands tall on record of fighting for women

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, July 22, 2016

In summer 2009, I accompanied Clinton as Bloomberg News’ diplomatic correspondent on a 12-day, seven-country swing through Africa where she negotiated trade deals, lectured dictators on corruption and sought to shine a spotlight on rape.

Why the U.S. must get Jason Rezaian out of prison

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, November 24, 2015

Iran said last Sunday that Jason Rezaian, a Bay Area native and Washington Post Tehran correspondent held in the country’s notorious Evin prison for more than 16 months, had been sentenced.

Could Silicon Valley stop online terrorist recruitment?

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, February 13, 2015

Amid a wave of personal-data hackings, President Obama came to Silicon Valley on Friday to plead with technology firms to work with the government on what he called one of the “most serious economic national security challenges that we face as a nation.”

Tunnel mapping could have neutralized Hamas threat without fatalities

WASHINGTON POST, August 11, 2014

Israel wrapped up its ground offensive in Gaza last week and declared its tactical objective achieved: All of Hamas’s known “terror tunnels” were destroyed. But given the devastation this military operation caused in Gaza — hundreds of innocent Palestinians killed, thousands injured and displaced, whole neighborhoods flattened — and the cost to Israel in military casualties and international reputation, it’s worth asking: Was there another way to solve the problem?

Brown's deal with Israel good for California, and vice versa

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, March 8, 2014

As California’s drought took hold this winter, and farmers and officials bickered over water allocations, I wondered: Where are the Israelis? Nearly two decades ago, as a reporter based in Israel, I traveled around the country’s southern Negev Desert to investigate how Israelis were making a parched terrain bloom.

Silicon Valley ambition seen as antidote to do-nothing Washington

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, October 21, 2013

Washington isn’t innovating. It isn’t evolving. It isn’t carrying out strategic thinking on how the U.S. economy is going to counterbalance the Chinese or how we are going to save our schools or how America is going to remain the world’s top cop or how – or if – we are going to save the planet. Luckily, in a dramatic shift westward, Silicon Valley, our most prosperous and innovative region, is trying to fill some of the void.

Silenced in Saudi Arabia

WASHINGTON POST, January 11, 2013

Riyadh’s Criminal Court is scheduled to announce a verdict Wednesday in a trial of two of Saudi Arabia’s leading human rights activists. Mohammad Fahad al-Qahtani and Abdullah al-Hamid face 11 criminal charges, including tarnishing the reputation of the state and providing false information to international organizations about thousands of Saudis who have been arbitrarily detained.

Social media, terrorism connect too well

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, December 1, 2012

Social media is no longer simply a fun way to share updates on the harmless idiosyncrasies of our lives. It can undermine national security, and there ought to be a more robust discussion between the Bay Area technology world and Washington on what to do about it.

Facebook, others must do more to protect national security

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, Oct. 27, 2017

When it comes to shaping our national discourse, there may be no institution with more influence than social media. There may be no institution as vulnerable to covert manipulation either.

Trump threat to totally destroy North Korea is risky rhetoric

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, Sept. 19, 2017

In his speech before the U.N. General Assembly, President Trump triggered gasps in the building when he declared if the United States “is forced to defend itself or its allies, we will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea.”

Why we must teach students to recognize news — our democracy depends upon it

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, Aug. 31, 2017

Consuming the news is only going to become more complex if we don’t educate people about the difference between credible fact-based reporting and its opposite.

Suck-up interview leaves Syria questions unanswered

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, April 13, 2017

In my career as a diplomatic and foreign correspondent, I have had the opportunity to interview many senior U.S. officials. It is essential to be prepared, focused on the most essential questions, and unafraid to ask the toughest ones.

Israel’s new law seeks to silence settlement protests

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, March 31, 2017

Israel has turned back ardent critics at the border before. But formalizing a political litmus test for entry shows just how threatened it feels by the boycott campaign and just how far to the right the country has moved.

Clinton stands tall on record of fighting for women

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, July 22, 2016

In summer 2009, I accompanied Clinton as Bloomberg News’ diplomatic correspondent on a 12-day, seven-country swing through Africa where she negotiated trade deals, lectured dictators on corruption and sought to shine a spotlight on rape.

Why the U.S. must get Jason Rezaian out of prison

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, November 24, 2015

Iran said last Sunday that Jason Rezaian, a Bay Area native and Washington Post Tehran correspondent held in the country’s notorious Evin prison for more than 16 months, had been sentenced.

Could Silicon Valley stop online terrorist recruitment?

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, February 13, 2015

Amid a wave of personal-data hackings, President Obama came to Silicon Valley on Friday to plead with technology firms to work with the government on what he called one of the “most serious economic national security challenges that we face as a nation.”

Tunnel mapping could have neutralized Hamas threat without fatalities

WASHINGTON POST, August 11, 2014

Israel wrapped up its ground offensive in Gaza last week and declared its tactical objective achieved: All of Hamas’s known “terror tunnels” were destroyed. But given the devastation this military operation caused in Gaza — hundreds of innocent Palestinians killed, thousands injured and displaced, whole neighborhoods flattened — and the cost to Israel in military casualties and international reputation, it’s worth asking: Was there another way to solve the problem?

Brown's deal with Israel good for California, and vice versa

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, March 8, 2014

As California’s drought took hold this winter, and farmers and officials bickered over water allocations, I wondered: Where are the Israelis? Nearly two decades ago, as a reporter based in Israel, I traveled around the country’s southern Negev Desert to investigate how Israelis were making a parched terrain bloom.

Silicon Valley ambition seen as antidote to do-nothing Washington

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, October 21, 2013

Washington isn’t innovating. It isn’t evolving. It isn’t carrying out strategic thinking on how the U.S. economy is going to counterbalance the Chinese or how we are going to save our schools or how America is going to remain the world’s top cop or how – or if – we are going to save the planet. Luckily, in a dramatic shift westward, Silicon Valley, our most prosperous and innovative region, is trying to fill some of the void.

Silenced in Saudi Arabia

WASHINGTON POST, January 11, 2013

Riyadh’s Criminal Court is scheduled to announce a verdict Wednesday in a trial of two of Saudi Arabia’s leading human rights activists. Mohammad Fahad al-Qahtani and Abdullah al-Hamid face 11 criminal charges, including tarnishing the reputation of the state and providing false information to international organizations about thousands of Saudis who have been arbitrarily detained.

Social media, terrorism connect too well

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, December 1, 2012

Social media is no longer simply a fun way to share updates on the harmless idiosyncrasies of our lives. It can undermine national security, and there ought to be a more robust discussion between the Bay Area technology world and Washington on what to do about it.

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