In Europe, and especially in France, writers from Zola to Sartre have established a tradition of writers and intellectuals as important public commentators. But is that trend finally diminishing? In both France and England, says Alan Riding in an International Herald Tribune commentary, public intellectuals are “becoming endangered species,” and “people with genuine learning, breadth of vision and a concern for public issues have been replaced by facile pundits, think-tank apologists and spin doctors.” It’s a worrisome trend, he says. “Critical intellectuals once represented an independent voice outside the ruling establishment and, as such, enhanced democratic pluralism. Today, with political debate increasingly orchestrated by government and media, the silence of the intellectuals risks undermining one of democracy’s crucial checks and balances.”