This is a blog for journalists, authors, and those who enjoy reading and learning. Here you will find a variety of posts about all forms of writing–from fiction and non-fiction to the news media and journalism. It is produced by a former foreign correspondent and journalism school dean.
Recently a member of the Vietnam Old Hacks organization I belong to offered a valuable discussion about what is happening to journalism today. His point was that young journalists today are increasingly ill-equipped to do good journalism. This may be a failure of journalism schools to properly prepare them for … Read more…
Now that the racket over “sports reporter” Ines Sainz has subsided a bit, let me make a few points. Sainz, for those of you who have been residing in a cave the past week, is the Mexican TV Azteca reporter who entered the N. Y. Jets locker room looking like … Read more…
I am a member of an organization of former Vietnam war correspondents called “Vietnam Old Hacks.” This is a large group of many of the best reporters who ever covered war. Many went on to cover other wars–perhaps too many, for some paid the ultimate price doing the work they … Read more…
You have probably received one of those e-mails displaying photos of so-called “Walmart People.” As you scroll down, there is a collection of photos of Walmart shoppers wearing wild assortments of clothing covering bodies that seem fashioned from silly putty or carved from tree stumps. There are horribly overweight women wearing … Read more…
You would think that with all of the dire news about the future of journalism and journalists flying around that journalism schools would be feeling the pinch. Not so. In fact, demand for journalism courses has never been higher. According to a recent survey by The Chronicle of Higher Education, … Read more…
After a multi-month hiatus I am back at the computer working on a couple of books and trying to keep my blog updated. Just moved from Illinois to the Southern California wine country and if I can keep my hands on the keyboard and off the wine bottles, I will … Read more…
Just finished doing an interview on the Sandy Rios Show. The topic? Should the government bail out newspapers? My answer to that is a resounding: “No!” Newspapers are just one arm of the professional news business–or journalism, if you will. There is also television–the networks and cable. Once upon a … Read more…
Writing for Nonreaders in the Post-Print EraRecently a friend sent me a tongue-in-cheek outline for a new course called “Writing for Nonreaders in the Post-Print Era.” The course carried the following description: “As print takes its place alongside smoke signals, cuneiform, and hollering, there has emerged a new literary age, … Read more…
What does the landscape of journalism look like today—or more specifically, the world of newspaper journalism? In one of the most famous quotes about newspapers, Thomas Jefferson once said: “…were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I … Read more…
What will happen in 2009 on the various news fronts? For example, whither the economy—both national and global? What about international events? Where will the news come from? Where will the hot spots be? What will be the major national stories? I have shaken the bones and cast them upon … Read more…