If you’re mesmerized by televised efforts to escort a female humpback and her calf back to the Pacific Ocean from their less-than-idyllic swim 90 miles up the Sacramento River in California, you’re […]
Dr. Denny Wilkins
Dr. Denny Wilkins professes journalism at a small, private university in the Northeast. He has climbed, hiked, kayaked, photographed, skied, and otherwise meandered aimlessly throughout the American West for decades. He has degrees in geology, environmental studies, and communication — and has tried to make use of them as a co-founder of the progressive cultural blog ScholarsandRogues.com. He’s broadly interested in how the world works and why it works that way. He hates writing, although he does like having written well.
The future of news: Death or democratization?
When newspaper editors retire, they usually have a few cogent things to say. Doug Clifton of the Cleveland Plain Dealer is no exception. His bottom line: 1) Journalism is essential to the […]
Oil CEO fingers refining costs for higher gas prices
I drive past the same gasoline station (er, “convenience store”; we don’t have gas stations any more) each morning en route to work. In January, unleaded regular cost $2.24 a gallon there. […]
Got an opinion? Attach your real name to it
Back in my days as an editorial-page editor in New England, I would eat breakfast in the same diner each morning. And, each morning, the diner regulars and not-so-regulars would grace me […]
Lawyers aren't alone in coughing up lots of campaign cash
A few weeks ago I pointed out that lawyers and law firms gave the largest slice of the $150 million pie of campaign contributions collected by our current crop of presidential candidates […]
A shield law covering bloggers? Consider the trade-off first
Do you want the Supreme Court of the United States telling us, at least in this country, who is or is not a journalist? And do you want SCOTUS telling us what […]
Big Pharma, 1; You and Me, 0: Forget low-cost drug imports
I’d like to thank the U.S. Senate for protecting me from the risk of tainted or otherwise harmful prescription drugs imported from other countries. The Senate approved this week, 49-40, “a measure […]
Opinion — if loud and abusive — is worthy opinion. Right?
Apparently, there’s only one standard for measuring the credibility of opinion these days — volume. Let’s look at that through two exceptionally large megaphones: ESPN and Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly. For ESPN, […]
Storytellers R Us: separating signal from noise
My few, fleeting seconds of fame occurred on March 12. Anyone flipping to that page of the 2007 Freedom Forum First Amendment calendar will see a quote from me: Without journalists, others […]
Surprise! Lawyers push big money into presidental politics
If lawyers annoy you, stop here. That annoyance is going to get much, much worse. Same with bankers, too. By now you know that the candidates for president in 2008 (the well-known […]
