[18] In July 2021, survey research was conducted that appeared to be directed toward recruiting him or testing his potential appeal, as a candidate for governor of Oregon in 2022, as incumbent Kate Brown was term-limited.

[19] In October 2021, Kristof left The New York Times after forming a political action committee for his potential candidacy, saying in a statement, "Precisely because I have a great job, outstanding editors and the best readers, I may be an idiot to leave.

"[20][21]In a Twitter thread about Kristof's announcement, New York Times Features Editor Hillary Howard wrote, "Nick had a remarkable talent for never taking anything personally, for never letting his ego get in the way.

Alex Jones, the Pulitzer Prize-winning director of Harvard Kennedy School of Government's Shorenstein Center, declared in presenting the award that "the reporter who's done more than any other to change the world is Nick Kristof.

Kristof explained to Jane Wales of the World Affairs Council of Northern California that the idea for their book Half the Sky was sparked by the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests.

After covering the protests, which resulted in some 500 deaths, Kristof and WuDunn were shocked to learn that roughly 39,000 Chinese girls died each year because they were not given the same access to food and medical care as boys.

[42] Half the Sky covers topics such as sex trafficking and forced prostitution, contemporary slavery, gender-based violence, and rape as a weapon of war and method of justice, as it highlights the multitude of ways women are oppressed and violated in the world.

"[43]In Cleveland, a reviewer for The Plain Dealer said: "As Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring" once catalyzed us to save our birds and be better stewards of our earth, 'Half the Sky' stands to become a classic, spurring us to spare impoverished women these terrors, and elevate them to turn around the future of their nations.

In a column published on January 28, 2003, he summarized his position by writing, "If we were confident that we could oust Saddam with minimal casualties and quickly establish a democratic Iraq, then that would be fine -- and such a happy scenario is conceivable.

"[46] In the column "The Day After" in September 2002, Kristof wrote, "In one Shiite city after another, expect battles between rebels and army units, periodic calls for an Iranian-style theocracy, and perhaps a drift toward civil war.

"[49] On May 6, 2003, less than two months into the war, Kristof published the op-ed column "Missing in Action: Truth" in which he questioned whether the intelligence gathered by the Bush administration, which purportedly indicated that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction, was either faked or manipulated.

In this article, Kristof cited as his source a "former ambassador" who had traveled to Niger in early 2002 and reported to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the State Department that the uranium "allegations were unequivocally wrong and based on forged documents".

It seems diplomatic mismanagement of the highest order for the Bush administration to have rejected that process out of hand, and now to be instead beating the drums of war and considering air strikes on Iranian nuclear sites.

[59] In 2002, Kristof wrote a series of columns[60][61] indirectly suggesting that Steven Hatfill, a former U.S. Army germ-warfare researcher named as a "person of interest" by the FBI might be a "likely culprit"[62][63] in the anthrax attacks.

[67] In January 2007, Presiding Judge Claude M. Hilton again dismissed the suit and ruled that Kristof's anthrax articles were "cautiously worded" and asserted that the scientist may perhaps be innocent.

"[68] Kristof praised the dismissal of the suit, commenting that he was "really pleased that the judge recognized the importance of this kind of reporting" and that it was "terrific to have a judgment that protects journalism at a time when the press has had a fair number of rulings against it".

Robert DeVecchi, past president of the International Rescue Committee, told the Council on Foreign Relations: "Nicholas Kristof... had an unprecedented impact in single-handedly mobilizing world attention to this crisis.

A book by Mahmood Mamdani of Columbia University, "Saviors and Survivors," criticized Kristof's reporting for oversimplifying a complex historically-rooted conflict and packaging it as "genocide".

Kristof is critical of the way "well-meaning American university students regularly campaign against sweatshops", particularly the anti-sweatshop movement's strategy of encouraging consumer boycotts against sweatshop-produced imports.

[75] Kristof and WuDunn admit that sweatshop labor is grueling and dangerous but argue that it is an improvement over most alternatives in extremely poor countries by providing much-needed jobs and boosting economies.

"This is not to praise sweatshops," they admit: Some managers are brutal in the way they house workers in firetraps, expose children to dangerous chemicals, deny bathroom breaks, demand sexual favors, force people to work double shifts or dismiss anyone who tries to organize a union.

Kristof contrasts "two Israels": an oppressive security state in the Palestinian territories and a "paragon of justice, decency, fairness – and peace," in the work of Israeli human rights activists, journalists, and jurists.

"[79] In a column published in The New York Times on June 15, 2011, Kristof argued that the US military was a prime example of how a comprehensive social safety net, universal health care, a commitment to public service, low income disparity, and structured planning could be made to work within an organization.

[92] In response, on December 4 Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters outside his residence: "We are always extremely concerned with gender-based violence, with exploitation of minors, with child pornography.

[105] In reviewing the film, which was executive produced by Ben Affleck, Entertainment Weekly wrote: "In Reporter, he's a compelling figure, a cross between Mother Teresa and the James Woods character in Salvador, and what seals the intensity of his job is the danger.

"[106] The Washington Post observed, "Ideally, [Kristof] hopes to teach his companions, who won a contest to travel with him, about the value of witnessing the world's atrocities and scintillating [sic] them into stories that will call on people to act.

The co-director of Columbia University's Human Rights Institute, Sarah Knuckey, described Kristof's reporting of the Central African Republic resulting from this trip as "shallow" and "reckless".

Critics have accused him of oversimplifying complex issues, playing into the "white savior" narrative, and overlooking the systemic factors that contribute to social problems, such as gender-based violence and exploitation.

Critics argue that his stories, while drawing attention to important issues, often fail to capture the complexity of the local context and the nuances of ongoing conflicts, leaving out key perspectives.

Critics within the sex-work community, including some human rights advocates, argue that Kristof's stance on such issues often reflects a misunderstanding of the complexities of sex work and contributes to harmful legal and social policies.