The Daily Herald sets five conditions for permitting the use of an anonymous source in our reporting. The New York Times editorial board’s decision to permit the writer of a scathing insider view of the Donald Trump administration clearly met three of them. On two others, there’s much room for debate — and, though we Read More …
Category: Blog
These are random thoughts about topics that interest me — including books, rock and roll, philosophy, culture and daily life. I update it whenever the mood strikes me, shooting for at least once a week but often more frequently than that. I welcome your comments on anything I may discuss here and, when appropriate, will reply as promptly as possible.
Looking for a new way to define ‘debate’
I’m not sure what I’m about to say is realistic, but I think it merits some thought. It occurred to me as I was listening to a fellow speaker on a panel discussion in which I participated this week in Arlington Heights. The speaker, Jeannine Love, a social policy professor at Roosevelt University, was answering Read More …
Two interviews and a look at real news
The notion of objective, truth-seeking journalism is a hotly debated topic these days, often under the umbrella of the term “fake news.” If you want a vivid examination of the issue, consider two separate interviews on the Trump-Putin press conference in Helsinki — both, interestingly, from Fox News. One is real news; one is not. Read More …
It’s not always so easy to know what is, isn’t news
It could be said this week that if you want to understand news, you would consider Jimmy Fallon. Here’s what happened: In 2016, the late-night comedian playfully tousled the hair of then-presidential candidate Donald Trump, who was a guest on his show. Sometime recently, Fallon told the Hollywood Reporter podcast he regretted doing that, and Read More …
The also-common news stories we’re really thankful for
A too-common criticism of the news business is that it is built on the rancorous, the controversial, the sensational, the tragic, as if what interests people — what sells newspapers — is only that which stirs their fears or anger. Today is a day to remember that this is not so. All of these elements Read More …
Toss the mailers and vote with pride
I would never urge anyone not to vote in an election, but I’ve been reviewing campaign mailers from candidates for county, legislative and congressional races throughout the suburbs and this conclusion is inescapable: If you base your voting decision on the political advertising you see, that may be worse than if you did not vote Read More …
From the Daily Herald to a New York Times’ foreign beat
The late Democratic U.S. speaker of the House Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill famously observed that “all politics is local.” Now, a one-time Daily Herald staff writer may be showing that all news is, too. Rukmini Callimachi began her newspaper career in 2001 covering Streamwood for the Daily Herald. Today, she is a three-time Pulitzer Prize Read More …
Forest View to host ‘Facts Matter’ series
To read Twitter or listen to some people these days, you would think that the concept of “fake news” is something fresh to our generation. Yet, even Thomas Jefferson, the Founding Father who famously said he would prefer newspapers without government to the opposite, once called them a “polluted vehicle,” and wrote to a colleague Read More …
Anonymous sources and a newspaper’s bond of trust
The Daily Herald sets five conditions for permitting the use of an anonymous source in our reporting. The New York Times editorial board’s decision to permit the writer of a scathing insider view of the Donald Trump administration clearly met three of them. On two others, there’s much room for debate — and, though we Read More …
Looking for a new way to define ‘debate’
I’m not sure what I’m about to say is realistic, but I think it merits some thought. It occurred to me as I was listening to a fellow speaker on a panel discussion in which I participated this week in Arlington Heights. The speaker, Jeannine Love, a social policy professor at Roosevelt University, was answering Read More …