“In defending his friends—not to mention going after his enemies—Ali can be unflinching, even in the face of high-powered Hollywood publicists. While he was reporting the Osbourne story, he received a text from Howard Bragman, a well-known crisis PR agent who was representing the embattled talk-show host at the time. Bragman offered to explain Osbourne’s side of the story off-the-record, and to provide Ali with documents and emails that supported her version of events. “Try to control your enthusiasm,” he urged the reporter. “There are two sides to every story.” But Ali wasn’t interested. “I don’t do well with lectures or scolding, my friend,” he replied to Bragman. “I’m not some regular entertainment reporter. I’m Iranian and focus on investigations… I don’t need anything from anyone and throw cease-and-desist letters in the shredder… I am not scared of anyone and no one can do anything to me.” He added, somewhat surprisingly, that he has a “long-standing policy” against using off-the-record sources.

That righteous moxie propels a lot of Ali’s reporting. But it also makes many of his pieces highly reductive—most have clearly identifiable villains and victims and a crusading hero in the person of Ali himself.”