Fred Barnes is executive editor of The Weekly Standard, the conservative magazine that began publication in September 1995. It is the first weekly opinion magazine to be launched in 80 years. Mr. Barnes founded The Weekly Standard, along with William Kristol and John Podhoretz, after ten years as senior editor and White House Correspondent for The New Republic.

He appears on television as a regular panelist on "The McLaughlin Group" and is a moderator of "Fox on Politics" on the Fox News Channel. He is known for his humor and his sharply worded exchanges with other panelists. Mr. Barnes and Bob Beckel engage in political commentary and debate on "CBS This Morning." He is also moderator of the Voice of America show, "Issues in the News," and hosts a weekly radio show on the media, "What’s the Story?" He has appeard on "Nightline," "Today," "Good Morning America," "Meet the Press," "Face the Nation" and "The MacNeil-Lehrer NewsHour."

In 1984, Mr. Barnes was selected as a panelist for the first nationally televised debate between President Reagan and Walter Mondale after more than 100 journalists had been vetoed by the two campaigns.

Mr. Barnes is a graduate of the University of Virginia. He covered the Supreme Court and White House for The Washington Star before joining the Baltimore Sun in 1979. He was the Sun’s national political correspondent and also wrote a media column for The American Spectator known as "Presswatch." He joined The New Republic in 1985.

Mr. Barnes has written for Reader’s Digest (for whom he is a roving editor), The Public Interest, Policy Review, Virginia Quarterly Review, The New York Times, The New York Times Book Review, The Los Angeles Times, Time, Newsday, The Wall Street Journal, Washingtonian, Business Month, The Spectator, and both The Sunday Telegraph and Sunday Times of London, The National Interest, International Economy and Vogue.