Batya Ungar-Sargon is an American journalist and author. Ungar-Sargon is the deputy opinion editor of Newsweek[1] and the former opinion editor of The Forward.[2][3] She is the author of two books, the most recent of which is Second Class: How the Elites Betrayed America's Working Men and Women, which discusses the challenges faced by the American working class and the gap between them and the elite class.
Education
Ungar-Sargon holds a 2004 bachelor's degree from the University of Chicago (AB) in English and completed her PhD in 2013 at the University of California, Berkeley. Her dissertation, entitled Coercive Pleasures: The Force and Form of the Novel 1719-1740, addresses, among other elements, how rape and colonialism figure in the pleasures of modern English fiction.[4]
Career
Ungar-Sargon began her career as a journalist and news analyst. She reported on the rights of undocumented immigrants as well as liberal voices on Israel and the American Jewish community.[5][6] In 2019 Ungar-Sargon articulated the importance of maintaining an American Jewish identity apart from Israeli politics, but rather one which embraces the values of civil and minority rights.[7] She was also a managing editor at the wine and spirits media outlet VinePair.[8]
In 2017 Ungar-Sargon became the opinion editor at The Forward. In this role she was criticized by some on the left for allegations of weaponizing claims of antisemitism and right-wing, pro-Israel bias.[9][10]