To Get a Gig in Mass Media Opinion Making:

1. Support some establishment. Even calling the Saudi establishment "ally" and "moderate," makes you eligible. Walter Duranty won a Pulitzer Prize for fawning over the Soviet establishment. 
2. Feign support for general interests.
3. Be narrative based, devoted to official myths, not evidence based. You must have enough rhetorical chops to keep ordinary readers from noticing your contradictions. You must be able to say you support the establishment's buzzwords and catch phrases without puking or diabolically cackling. You never apologize for having been wrong on thousands of specific issues. You focus on the few issues you are semi-right about while ignoring or relying on arbitrary rules for other issues.