Freedom of speech in America is under attack, not only when people are denied the right to speak, but when lies, intimidation and the deliberate distortion of facts make the truth harder to hear. This is nothing new for America. In the early 1950s, Senator Joseph McCarthy exploited the nation’s fear of communism, making sweeping accusations against government employees, journalists...

As our nation nears its 250th anniversary, an uneasy emotional connection to the past has returned—one rooted in fear, and the question of who gets to define the “real” America. Reading The Murrow Boys, by Stanley Cloud and Lynne Olson—which traces Edward R. Murrow’s journalistic coverage from World War II through the Red Scare of the 1950s—it’s hard not to...

Good Night, and Good Luck, starring George Clooney on Broadway is a wake-up call about the ethical courage we desperately need today—a timely parable based on a pivotal moment in American history when journalism was not only a public service, but a moral stand. The play recalls the courage of broadcast journalist Edward R. Murrow as he confronted Senator Joseph...

“You tried to destroy Trump; you tried to imprison Trump; you tried to break Trump. He’s not breakable. You couldn’t destroy him, and now he has turned on you.” That’s Trump’s favorite loyal lieutenant, Steve Bannon, from the former president’s first administration. This time around, he’s playing Lady Macbeth who’s role is fluffer to Donald Trump, making sure he feeds...

It’s getting harder and harder to see the light at the end of a dark, relentless tunnel of anger and war at home and abroad. However, another story reminds us of hope and opportunities. Not long after I completed my second book, What Do You Stand For?, I came across another book that closely paralleled my own. With a forward...

Embed from Getty Images Alarm bells go off on every page of former Congresswoman Liz Cheney’s book, “Oath and Honor,” . . . every page. At New Hampshire’s Dartmouth College last Friday, Cheney continued to press her message to primary voters. “Tell the world who we are with your vote. Tell them that we are a good and a great...

Moderate House Republicans have been run over by their hard-right colleagues who continue their reckless abandonment of reason—all in fealty to a demagogue who, if he returns to the White House, will tear apart democratic principles in service to himself. The country has faced demagogues before. On February 9, 1950, Senator Joseph R. McCarthy stood before the County Women’s Republican...

In 1940, journalist Edward R. Murrow stood in a church in England while the country endured German bombers night after night. Inside the church was a crudely written sign which read, “If your knees knock, kneel on them.” It’s time for Americans to get up off their knees and fight. Like a hamster on a wheel, we’ve become stuck going...

On February 9, 1950, Senator Joseph R. McCarthy stood before the County Women’s Republican Club in West Virginia and stated, “I have here in my hand a list of 205 [State Department employees] that were known to the Secretary of State as being members of the Communist Party and who nevertheless are still working and shaping the policy of the...

The only time I watch Fox News is when Shepard Smith is the anchor for the mid-day news, the factual news, the honest news, not the distortions put forth by those so-called opinion guys on the network. It really isn’t surprising that the vast majority of Fox revenues are brought in by those other guys that pander to the president,...