From millionaires to Muslims, small subgroups of the population seem much larger to many Americans. Why? Part of the answer is attributable to the media—both news and entertainment. Have you noticed, for example, that in almost EVERY film and EVERY commercial, there MUST be at least one or two of …
The other day I read a story that said the New York Times was lamenting the steady decline of freedom of speech in America. I did a double-take. Was that correct? Or was this a typo? I checked out the editorial in the Times. Sure enough, the editorial board of …
It had to happen. A few years ago scientists analyzed more than 1,700 stories from classics like Romeo and Juliet to modern tales like Harry Potter and identified six core plots that form the building blocks of all complex narratives. Okay, now bear with me. Things get rather technical at …
If you have read my blog you know that most of my life—27 years of it to be exact—was spent as a reporter, foreign correspondent, and editor with the Chicago Tribune. But for another 13 years, after leaving the Tribune, I was a professor, department head, and dean at the …
I recently read a fascinating article in the Epoch Times about, of all things, civility—or the lack of it in today’s politically, socially, and racially fractured world. I decided to share it with readers and my followers. Please take the time to give it a read. You might find it …
If you have never listened to Thomas Sowell, please do so now! The man is one of the most brilliant thinkers in America and has been for decades. Below is a link to an interview he gave in 1995! Sowell’s words are so prescient and perceptive you would think he …
I first visited Taiwan in 1974. It was one of numerous trips I made to the tiny tobacco-leaf-shaped country 100 miles off the coast of mainland China during my career as a Chicago Tribune foreign correspondent. In the mid-1970s, Taiwan was a nervous place. It was caught in a diplomatic …
Covering War: Why Journalists Accept the Risk It was a U.S. senator from California named Hiram Johnson who may have said it best back in 1929: “The first casualty when war comes is truth.” Was Johnson the first person to utter those words? Probably not. But those eight words are …
When I observe what is happening to America—the country in which I grew up, in which I was educated, and that I served in the U.S. Army—I am appalled. Anarchy, violence, looting. This is NOT the country I know and love. This is an aberration, a disfigurement of our Republic. …
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