A principal reason for the decline by half of network evening news ratings is the public’s short attention span. That’s what former NBC Nightly News anchor Tom Brokaw told CNN’s Howard Kurtz […]
Are Americans smart enough to vote?
I recently offended some people, quite unintentionally, with my modest suggestion that perhaps it wasn’t in the best interests of the nation to hand over so much decision-making power to people who […]
AAA-Rod is bigger than the game
It’s always confusing to sports fans, and not a little disappointing, when they encounter great talents with second-rate character. Bobby Knight is a legendary coach but a serial bully who has, on […]
The future of news: rational business decisions
Begin writing the long-term obituary of the American newspaper — at least for the newspaper envisioned by the Founders as a public service and a significant component of the checks and balances […]
Bush guarantees Obama fundraising increase with sloppy hit pieces
By Martin Bosworth Just as the condemnation of MoveOn.org’s “General Betrayus” ad ensured a spike in the organization’s funding and donations, George Bush seems set to do the same for Barack Obama’s […]
A proposed curriculum for graduate study in Interpretive Journalism: an S&R special report
Part four in a series. I hope that by this stage of the discussion a few fundamental points are evident: Traditional journalism – the institutional form that most of us grew up […]
The rise of “subjective” journalism: an S&R special report
Part three in a series. In the aftermath of the 2004 election I wrote a fairly jaded op-ed for Editor & Publisher lamenting just how badly our brave new world of electronic […]
Ignore politicians who don’t play nice with the other children
First, MoveOn.org, a liberal political action group, uses a full-page New York Times ad to attack the character of an American commander, calling him “Gen. Betray Us” and accusing him of “cooking […]
On keeping one’s head in time of crisis
On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, I became one of only a handful of the 150-plus professors at my university who did not cancel their morning classes. I did not for […]
For sale: $3 billion worth of political bullshit
This is your only warning. Turn off your TV set, or your will to live — or vote — may be decimated. The Television Bureau of Advertising forecasts that the politicians who […]
