Wikipedia's first sentence called it “foreign-affairs columnist of the wall street journal and deputy editorial page editor”. Today it says “american conservative columnist”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the October 6, 2023 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in October 6, 2023
American journalist (born 1973) For the Australian rules football player, see Brett Stephens .1Bret Louis Stephens (born November 21, 1973) is an American conservative journalist, editor, and columnist.2 He has been an opinion columnist for The New York Times and a senior contributor to NBC News since 2017. Since 2021, he has been the inaugural editor-in-chief of SAPIR: A Journal of Jewish Conversations . Stephens was previously a foreign affairs columnist and deputy editorial page editor at The Wall Street Journal , overseeing the editorial pages of its European and Asian editions. At the Wall Street Journal , Stephens won the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary in 2013. From 2002 to 2004, he was editor-in-chief of The Jerusalem Post . Stephens is known for his neoconservative foreign policy opinions and for being part of the right-of-center opposition to Donald Trump . While Stephens has garnered moderate praise from the left for being anti-Trump, he has written on other topics that may anger most Times readers. His views on climate change have created the strongest backlash, so far, with liberal site ThinkProgress questioning the hire on Wednesday and calling the writer is a climate science denier.3
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 1176242709.
The opening as it stood in 2010
Bret Louis Stephens is the foreign-affairs columnist of the Wall Street Journal and deputy editorial page editor, responsible for the editorial pages of the Journal's European and Asian editions. He was editor-in-chief of the Jerusalem Post in 2002 - 2004 .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 364236030.
The opening as it stood in 2015
Bret Louis Stephens (born November 21, 1973) is an American journalist who won a Pulitzer Prize in 2013.He works for The Wall Street Journal as the foreign-affairs columnist and the deputy editorial page editor, responsible for the editorial pages of the Journal's European and Asian editions.From 2002 to 2004, he was editor-in-chief of the Jerusalem Post .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 667337821.
The opening as it stood in 2020
American journalist Bret Louis Stephens (born November 21, 1973) is an American conservative journalist, editor, and columnist.He began working at The New York Times in late April 2017 and as a senior contributor to NBC News in June 2017.Stephens worked for The Wall Street Journal as a foreign-affairs columnist and the deputy editorial page editor and was responsible for the editorial pages of its European and Asian editions. From 2002 to 2004, he was editor-in-chief of The Jerusalem Post . He won the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary in 2013.Stephens is known for his neoconservative foreign policy opinions and being part of the right-of-center opposition to Donald Trump , as well as for his contrarian views on climate change .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 962183527.
The opening as it stood in 2025 3 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
American journalist (born 1973) For the white supremacist blogger, see Brett Stevens .Bret Louis Stephens (born November 21, 1973) is an American conservative columnist, and journalist. He has been an opinion columnist for The New York Times and a senior contributor to NBC News since 2017. Since 2021, he has been the inaugural editor-in-chief of SAPIR: A Journal of Jewish Conversations . Stephens was previously a foreign affairs columnist and deputy editorial page editor at The Wall Street Journal , overseeing the editorial pages of its European and Asian editions. From 2002 to 2004, he was editor-in-chief of The Jerusalem Post . At the Wall Street Journal , Stephens won the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary in 2013. Stephens is known for his neoconservative foreign policy opinions and for being part of the right-of-center opposition to Donald Trump .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1296889552. This is our newest snapshot; the live article may have moved again since.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “foreign-affairs columnist of the wall street journal and deputy editorial page editor”. Today it says “american conservative columnist”. Read the current article and compare.
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2010, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
foreign-affairs columnist of the wall street journal and deputy editorial page editor
Now
american conservative columnist
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
