It does seem, doesn’t it?, that until some period of calamity, we humans are disinclined to step back and recall that, as poet Max Ehrmann famously declared, “with all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.” Our own modern day of thanksgiving was born out of the nation’s most horrendous Read More …
Tag: Journalism
Why, even in an age of negativity, kids can have reason to be hopeful
If you were to ask some of the suburbs’ most politically engaged young people to describe the state of Illinois in a single word, what do you suppose it would be? I attended a program Wednesday at Ela Area Public Library in Lake Zurich at which individual groups from about 30 such high school students Read More …
It bears repeating: Beware the polls
Read at Daily Herald website Some random thoughts, briefly stated: I read a poll yesterday showing Donald Trump holds a slight lead over Hillary Clinton. Over the weekend, I read one saying Clinton was clinging to a slight lead over Trump. A week ago, nearly every political commentator, even the Trump supporters and sympathizers, was Read More …
On this, the Trump watchers have gone too far
Read at Daily Herald website I am a strong believer in free speech, and I am not easily offended by words or ideas, especially from nationally syndicated pundits. But I spiked a syndicated column this week that I thought was an insult to, of all people, Donald Trump. It’s not that the tone was rude. Read More …
Local news is all about community involvement
Read at Daily Herald website The quote that is probably best known when referring to the Daily Herald’s mission is Hosea Paddock’s objective to “Fear God, tell the truth and make money” that tops our Opinion Page. But his son Stuart R. Paddock Sr. offered an addendum that may strike even more at the soul Read More …
Making sure news rhetoric is not ‘out of whack’
Read at Daily Herald website I was casting about vainly for a powerful and appropriate lead to a column about perspective and police-community relations, when what should fall out of cyberspace but, from rock-and-roll reactionary Ted Nugent, the perfect object lesson. Interviewed by a rival publication, Nugent was asked his opinion about the subject, and Read More …
Designing a news front-page as events unfold
When editors were mapping out last Friday’s print editions in our Thursday afternoon news meeting, we faced an option regarding the issue of police shootings. Wire news budgets included a selection of second-day follows about the circumstances and victim in the case involving Philando Castile in suburban St. Paul, Minnesota, plus a more analytical look Read More …
Information is power; newspapers must use it responsibly
Read at Daily Herald website Following the terrorist attacks on the Brussels airport in March, news organizations, including the Daily Herald, faced an achingly familiar quandary. What pictures should we publish that vividly depict the horror of the crime without offending readers’ sensitivities or sensationalizing the act? The dilemma had an added dimension in the Read More …
The role of eloquence to nudge the world
Read at Daily Herald website One gropes, one claws, one prays for eloquence. For some of us, words are all we know, our only tool for taking the measure of an often beautiful, often miserable world. How impotent they seem in the presence of awe. A sunrise in the Rockies, for instance. Or a concert Read More …
Awards or no, newspapers aim to make life better
Read at Daily Herald website Today, some random thoughts journalistic: The Daily Herald works hard to help better the suburbs and the communities we serve. Projects big and small with that purpose in mind won 10 prestigious honors last week in the Peter Lisagor Awards for Excellence in Journalism. But we also make the world Read More …