This is a re-post of a blog post I did a while back. It is one of those timeless pieces about a one-of-a-kind journalism professor and his love of words and writing. Take a look. I bet you will find it fascinating and helpful. In any case, I hope you …
The other day, I had a long conversation about the state of American journalism with a couple of friends. They told me, in no uncertain terms, that they don’t believe anything they hear, read, or see when it comes to the news today. “It’s all propaganda and what isn’t propaganda …
Today, I am sharing my blog with historian Victor Davis Hanson, a distinguished fellow of the Center for American Greatness as well as Stanford University’s Hoover Institution. In his commentary, Prof. Hanson asks the following compelling question: America went from the freest country in the world in December 2019 to …
Those who write historical fiction are always striving to make sure our characters are part of the period in which our novels are set. A farmer in 19th Century Kansas, for example, had to know how to hunt and fish, how to forage and how to butcher livestock, pluck chickens, …
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 a palpable shifting of the lines between what we learned journalism ideally should …
FLASH! FBI Asks Americans to Inform on Family Members and Friends What? Can that headline be correct? Regrettably, yes, it’s true! The Federal Bureau of Investigation is morphing into America’s version of Nazi Germany’s Gestapo. In a tweet on July 11, the FBI asked Americans to spy on “family members …
We hear a lot today about fake news in America. But what about “fake journalists?” Watch television, cable, or surf the Internet and we see a profusion of talking heads, political pundits, academics, bloggers, and news aggregators out there masquerading as journalists. Unfortunately, too many people can’t tell the difference between …
As angry parents coast to coast continue to rebel against leftist indoctrination of their children at school, the nation’s largest teachers’ unions have let it be known that they will support Marxist and socialist teachers who are teaching Critical Race Theory anyway. In other words, “damn you, parents, we have …
Well, what do you know? America is dead last among 46 nations in public trust of news media. Why am I not surprised by this? For most of my 28 years as a reporter, editor, and foreign correspondent with the Chicago Tribune, America’s news media were generally respected and trusted. …
A decade ago, when I was a professor and college dean at the University of Illinois, I picked up a book in the campus bookstore entitled: “Are We Rome?” Its message was compelling. In 262 pages, it suggested, with the persuasive and rational use of historical facts, that the United …