Recent Journalism Commentaries

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Fact-Checking a Reader – Rebuttal
Since last Friday (Jan. 27), when President Trump signed an executive order banning travel from seven countries for at least the next 90 days, this website has received a higher than usual response rate, largely due to a commentary I wrote last year. (Comments to this post are now closed.) Fact-Checking a Reader (Jan. 20, 2016), was written in response...
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February 3, 2017
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“Disgraceful”
Last week, President-elect Donald Trump held his first press conference since being elected. While the meeting was supposed to allow Mr. Trump to lay out his proposal on how he will unravel himself from his many conflict of interest issues, the conversation quickly turned to an intelligence briefing for Mr. Trump – specifically a 2-page synopsis of a 35-page report...
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January 16, 2017
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Dear Mr. Baker
Gerard Baker is The Wall Street Journal’s editor in chief. You have a strangely nuanced view of what is or is not a lie when it comes to the utterances and tweets of President-elect Trump. Here’s what you said (Trump, ‘Lies’ and Honest Journalism): “[A] ‘Lie’ implies much more than just saying something that’s false. It implies a deliberate intent...
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January 6, 2017
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Correction
“Journalists should accept moral responsibility for the foreseeable consequences of actions and inactions, including the example set for others and when in error, they should make full, fair, prominent and prompt corrections.”   – Michael Josephson, Ethical Principles of Journalism The New York Times, Wall Street Journal and other news organizations offer readers the opportunity to “correct the record” regarding errors...
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December 30, 2016
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If The Election Were Held Today, For Whom Would You Vote?
John Zogby is a pollster and author who has the ability to write analysis in a way most of us can understand. Recently, John sent me the following political conundrum: In the election of 2016, the candidates for President are: Republican, The Emperor Nero of Rome, narcissistic, extravagant, and tyrannical. He felt the burn almost 2000 years ago. Democrat, Catherine...
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October 7, 2016
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The First Priority
“I won’t insult your intelligence by suggesting that you really believe what you just said.”  — William F. Buckley, Jr. In Junior High, my mother announced that every day I would start reading at least two articles from our daily newspaper. The first was a news event of the day. Typically, I’d pick anything to do with the space program....
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October 3, 2016
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Ethics and the Powell E-Mails
The publication of Colin Powell’s private opinions of both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump – obtained from hacked e-mails from the former secretary of state’s private e-mail account – is only the latest example of the thorny ethical issues that journalists and media organizations must navigate. In this new universe, everything that’s been hacked appears to be fair game after...
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September 19, 2016
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Eat It!
October 2, 2015: a date… which will live… in infamy; at least for one journalist. That look of utter defeat on Washington Post Columnist Dana Milbank’s face comes as a consequence of a promise he made last year. “I’m so certain Trump won’t win the nomination,” Milbank wrote, “that I’ll eat my words if he does. Literally: The day Trump...
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May 16, 2016
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Standing on Principle
George Clooney’s compelling 2003 film, Good Night, and Good Luck, is about character assassination and the two men taking a principled stand against such tactics: CBS journalist Edward R. Murrow, and producing partner, Fred Friendly. After publicaly exposing U.S. Senator Joseph R. McCarthy for destroying careers and lives through rumor and innuendo – usually claiming guilt by association – the...
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April 29, 2016
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Et tu,Wolf? Et tu!?
Here are the comments I sent to CNN earlier this week: Dear CNN News Producers: (I know you won’t pay attention to this, but I’ll say it anyway.) Please, please, PLEASE STOP all coverage of Donald Trump “controversies.” We know his M.O. We’ve seen enough of his supporters drunk on his Kool-Aid defend him… to the death.  » Read more about:...
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March 30, 2016

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