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.
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…
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…