Our writers and editors strive constantly to make sure that the people at the center of the news events we report are indeed recognized as people — not just names or faceless statistics. In cases of tragedy and great personal sorrow, the pursuit of that goal can require some delicate balancing. Some of our coverage Read More …
Tag: Journalism
Commenting online? Great. But remember who may be reading
Imagine a family in mourning. A beloved 12-year-old child — their daughter, granddaughter, sister, cousin — has just died in a tragic accident. What kind of person would walk up to one of them and belittle their religious faith or condemn their circumstances? The answer: A certain kind of person who comments on social media Read More …
Listening, respect and the flow of democracy
Last month, we opened the door to an expanded way of thinking about Daily Herald editorials when we hosted a meeting of the new members of a Sounding Board we assembled to help ensure that we consider a broad range of arguments in the editorials we write. Around a conference room table, men and women 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 …
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 …