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.
During my 20-year tenure as a foreign correspondent for the Chicago Tribune, I spent a lot of my time reporting on the economic conditions of the countries I covered. In the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s many of these were so-called “managed economies,” in which strong central governments controlled such things … Read more…
At first glance one might think that journalists should be thankful that something like the 4 year-old WikiLeaks media organization exists. After all, WikiLeaks, the international non-profit media organization, publishes otherwise unavailable documents from anonymous sources and leaks. WikiLeaks, which is lead by Australian Internet activist Julian Assange, has won … Read more…
The other day I was listening to an NPR show called Talk of the Nation during which several current issues in journalism were broached. Among them were such things as the concept of reportorial objectivity, the dearth of foreign news bureaus staffed by trained professionals and the idea that individuals … Read more…
Those of us who have been in the news business for more than a few years (for me it’s more than 30 years) have learned a hard truth in the past decade or so: There has been an obvious blurring of the lines between what we learned journalism should be … Read more…
I have given my last donation of any kind to NPR and PBS after learning today that Juan Williams was fired for making what can only be called a bland statement about Muslims on the Bill O’Reilly show. Here is what Williams said: “I mean, look, Bill, I’m not a … Read more…
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…