Fareed Zakaria GPS

Treat a TV show like haiku: few words, chosen exactly. Zakaria compares TV to haiku. A full GPS transcript would fit on one page of the New York Times.

He says his written columns and TV segments share one analytic core, each built around a single argumentative idea. TV reaches more people, and regular viewers come to feel they know the host and see him as a guide.

How I Write

On air, put the main clause first and qualify afterward. Listeners lose the thread if a sentence opens with a subordinate clause, so Zakaria leads with the main point. Lists also don't work on TV.

In print he can sometimes invert a sentence for effect, but not on air. Quote: "you can't start with a subordinate clause when you're on TV."

How I Write▶ 15:10

Speak as yourself, because authenticity builds more trust than polish. Zakaria rejects the clipped "pilot voice" of anchors and the Oxford debater style, aiming instead for "let me tell you what I'm thinking" as one part of a conversation.

He never had TV coaching. He argues people vote from the gut, so persuasion needs the emotional channel, and audiences now want a human being more than a brilliant one-liner.

How I Write▶ 21:10

Every segment should tell viewers something they don't know. Zakaria assumes his audience is smart and already knows what happened, so he skips the recap and supplies context, history or an analytic framework they lack.

He lists this as the first requirement for a good take on GPS and in his columns. Quote: "Tell me something I don't know."

How I Write▶ 12:41

Zakaria reviews every episode to find one thing to fix. After three years unable to watch his own appearances, he began watching every show to ask what he did right and wrong, such as slumping, verbal props or a missed follow-up question.

He borrows his brother's tennis rule: pick one weakness, like the backhand, and drill it in steps. Quote: "You have to have purposeful practicing."

How I Write▶ 1:04:33

His team cuts and produces so he can read and think. Zakaria gives a few notes and leaves cutting and production to his team, spending his hours reading books and calling expert contacts, which he calls his greatest value add.

Because calls and breakfast invitations pile up as you rise, he schedules hours of blank time each day. He starts from the week's news and works back to its roots by reading a book or calling a historian.

How I Write▶ 24:41