Archived Writing
Published: Thursday, May 15, 2008
THE TRUISM "THIS DEFIES DESCRIPTION" really can be used too easily - especially by broadcast journalists reporting “live” - but it certainly applies to the almost literally indescribable effects of China's vast earthquake. more >>
Published: Thursday, May 8, 2008
"Hard knocks ... and really hard knocks"
It was a joke, I know – but a journalist friend did say he was taking a hardhat to the Denver Democratic Convention. more >>
Published: Thursday, May 1, 2008
THERE’S BEEN A LOT OF MEDIA FUSS this week about being patriotic and “proud to be American”. more >>
Published: Thursday, April 24, 2008
"Welcome coverage, some less welcome - and some plain ridiculous"
IF WE FELT LIKE BEING Latinate, we could call it “in taedio veritas”. The tedium came through revealingly in news-anchor Steve Inskeep's voice on National Public Radio as he announced: “Just like the campaign itself, our coverage goes ON and ON – you’ll find it at our website …” more >>
Published: Thursday, April 17, 2008
"Food for thought - less for eating"
So they were at it again – this time at least with two of the more abrasive TV interlocutors out of a currently soggy bunch, Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopoulos of ABC News. But while Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama vied for more than a hundred minutes over a range of different issues and some egregious non-issues, as a reporter and a citizen I was disappointed not to hear the word "food" mentioned, not even once. more >>
- Thursday, April 10, 2008 "Bringing it home"
- Thursday, April 3, 2008 "Mercy in media megaphoning"
- Thursday, March 27, 2008 "Planning for inevitable stories – and surprises"
- Thursday, March 20, 2008 "Making history – one way or another"
- Sunday, March 16, 2008 "Face-on for fuller disclosure"
- Thursday, March 6, 2008 "Numbers games – closing and opening up"
- Thursday, February 28, 2008 "Running against the clock "
- Thursday, February 21, 2008 "Surface detail, and deep substance"
- Thursday, February 14, 2008 "Managing, or mismanaging, a myth"
- Thursday, February 7, 2008 "Can we expect clarity?"
- Thursday, January 31, 2008 "Once flashy, now fallen stars of "security" "
- Thursday, January 24, 2008 "Vital information - to and from crowds"
- Thursday, January 17, 2008 "Future uncertain – laughs grim"
- Thursday, January 10, 2008 "Reversals, stunning and otherwise"
- Thursday, January 3, 2008 "Voices of experience"
- Thursday, December 20, 2007 "Dueling differences - image and substance"
- Thursday, December 13, 2007 "Overseeing secrets "
- Thursday, December 6, 2007 "New news, but all-too-familiar"
- Thursday, November 29, 2007 "Chronicling the consequences"
- Thursday, November 22, 2007 "Thanks due to some, no thanks to others"
- Thursday, November 15, 2007 "Stars among the placards"
- Thursday, November 8, 2007 "A quota of quotable quotes"
- Thursday, November 1, 2007 "Rolling back distortions"
- Thursday, October 25, 2007 "Table Talk - what Churchill called "jaw-jaw""
- Thursday, October 18, 2007 "Pressure points for change"
- Thursday, October 11, 2007 "Super-rich, gifts and birthdays"
- Thursday, October 4, 2007 "Dispatches from the looking-foolish arena"
- Thursday, September 27, 2007 "Resounding horn-notes from history"
- Thursday, September 20, 2007 "Defining moments"
- Thursday, September 13, 2007 "Unsurprising paths of violence"
- Thursday, September 6, 2007 "The Report -- or What-You-Will"
- Thursday, August 30, 2007 "Complicity and recompense"
- Thursday, August 23, 2007 "Learning - from journalism?"
- Thursday, August 16, 2007 "No beating about this Bush"
- Thursday, August 9, 2007 "Lean Times, mean times "
- Thursday, August 2, 2007 "The GB Show"
- Thursday, July 26, 2007 "Stretching credulity"
- Thursday, July 19, 2007 "Unstoppable Big Brother?"
- Thursday, July 12, 2007 "Sound judgment?"
- Thursday, July 5, 2007 "Picturing advances in freedom"
- Thursday, June 21, 2007 "Tremors among the high-tech pinnacles"
- Thursday, June 14, 2007 "A sorry, sorry tale"
- Thursday, June 7, 2007 "Writing to influence"
- Thursday, May 31, 2007 "Thick-skinned, but sensitive communicators"
- Thursday, May 24, 2007 "Funny how things change"
- Thursday, May 17, 2007 "Kudos where it's due"
- Thursday, May 10, 2007 "Peace - and the price"
- Thursday, May 3, 2007 "Spinning the facts in play"
- Thursday, April 26, 2007 "Battling lies"
- Thursday, April 19, 2007 "How much (more?) do we know?"
- Thursday, April 12, 2007 "To be a people's tribune – a risky course"
- Thursday, April 5, 2007 "Truth vis-a-vis experience"
- Thursday, March 29, 2007 "A world LESS wired?"
- Thursday, March 22, 2007 "Community of interest?"
- Thursday, March 15, 2007 "At risk - and yet over-protected too?"
- Thursday, March 8, 2007 "Preserving the evidence – and often not"
- Thursday, March 1, 2007 "Authenticity - in some very varied forms"
- Thursday, February 22, 2007 "Joint web action for 2008"
- Thursday, February 15, 2007 "Amazing gracefulness"
- Thursday, February 8, 2007 "Inexact Justice?"
- Thursday, February 1, 2007 "A daunting, often tragic role: The Go-Between"
- Thursday, January 25, 2007 "Punchy messenger, from a punchy history"
- Thursday, January 18, 2007 "Paranoia a-plenty"
- Thursday, January 11, 2007 "For appearances' sake"
- Thursday, January 4, 2007 "Across the partisan divide?"
- Thursday, December 21, 2006 "Children’s stories at Christmas-time"
- Thursday, December 14, 2006 "Battling bigotry"
- Thursday, December 7, 2006 ""Realism" rears again - to a slap-down?"
- Thursday, November 30, 2006 "Diff'rent strokes ..."
- Thursday, November 23, 2006 "Decisions in a debacle"
- Thursday, November 16, 2006 "The heights of hype – and depths, too"
- Thursday, November 9, 2006 "When reality breaks through"
- Thursday, November 2, 2006 "Ten-year taboo-breaker broadens net"
- Thursday, October 26, 2006 ""Show-me" midwest media maelstrom"
- Thursday, October 19, 2006 "Big changes among the millions"
- Thursday, October 12, 2006 "Giving their all"
- Thursday, October 5, 2006 "Classy sitcom plot?"
- Thursday, September 28, 2006 "Regal reality"
- Thursday, September 21, 2006 "Uncovering another hidden cost of war"
- Thursday, September 14, 2006 "Media memorials – opportunism, or value?"
- Thursday, September 7, 2006 ""Live!" - Oh, and electronic too"
- Thursday, August 31, 2006 "Putting the record straight - even if belatedly"
- Thursday, August 24, 2006 "Consider the source(s)"
- Saturday, August 19, 2006 "The art of contradictory communication"
- Thursday, August 10, 2006 "The demons behind death and brutality"
- Thursday, August 3, 2006 "NOT running with the herd"
- Thursday, July 27, 2006 "An essential job – the "Explainer""
- Thursday, July 20, 2006 "Lebanon - war's global face"
- Thursday, July 13, 2006 "The W eye-test -- how reliable can it be?"
- Saturday, July 8, 2006 "Death calls for commemoration and communication"
- Thursday, June 29, 2006 "Vile and duplicitous - Can anything be done?"
- Thursday, June 22, 2006 "Long views of insurgency"
- Wednesday, June 14, 2006 "Managing the message means redefining the terms"
- Wednesday, June 7, 2006 "Reputations - rough, but real and principled"
- Friday, June 2, 2006 "Repulsive ideas - in some odd minds"
- Thursday, June 1, 2006 "Pictures - even mere lines - portray problems powerfully"
- Thursday, May 25, 2006 "The biz in showbiz shuns brave talent"
- Wednesday, May 24, 2006 "With friends like these..."
- Thursday, May 18, 2006 "Touchy-feely do-gooding? No, just business"
- Thursday, May 11, 2006 "Live, and unskippable! – The latest hard-sell"
- Thursday, May 4, 2006 "Mine, yours – or really theirs?"
- Monday, May 1, 2006 "Through a glass darkly - memory and journalism"
- Thursday, April 27, 2006 "Desperate for recognition"
- Saturday, April 15, 2006 "Taxman’s e-vote of confidence"
- Wednesday, April 12, 2006 "Unacknowledged masses, untapped market"
- Thursday, April 6, 2006 "Do no evil, but at least get a lobbyist"
- Thursday, March 30, 2006 "The perennial contest – Open vs. Not-so-open"
- Thursday, March 23, 2006 "Fast change – and those left behind"
- Thursday, March 16, 2006 "How are mighty fallen, as E-geeks rise!"
- Thursday, March 9, 2006 "Reversals of fortune"
- Thursday, March 2, 2006 "Following the E-money"
- Thursday, February 23, 2006 "How free a free market?"
- Thursday, February 16, 2006 "Web of lies"
- Thursday, February 9, 2006 "Traffic from tube to net"
- Thursday, February 2, 2006 "Reporters reporting risks to reporters"
- Thursday, January 26, 2006 "Scornful as ever, Rupert is sure of his future"
- Thursday, January 19, 2006 "TV to Web -- and back again"
- Thursday, January 12, 2006 "Tiny fees - big money"
- Thursday, January 5, 2006 "Ever ooooonward!"
- Thursday, December 15, 2005 am New York, "Strike strife"
- Friday, December 9, 2005 am New York, "Baghdad Bribes"
- Thursday, December 1, 2005 am New York, "Small ads, big panic"
- Friday, November 25, 2005 am New York, "Thanks to Mike"
- Thursday, November 17, 2005 am New York, "Listening changes"
- Thursday, November 10, 2005 am New York, "Rupert's rough time"
- Thursday, November 3, 2005 am New York, "Terminator switches"
- Thursday, October 27, 2005 am New York, "Fighting Google"
- Thursday, October 20, 2005 am New York, "Moral in Miller’s tale"
- Thursday, October 13, 2005 am New York, "Inaccessible horror"
- Thursday, October 6, 2005 am New York, "Friendless heroine?"
- Thursday, September 29, 2005 am New York, "War to last, whatever its name"
- Thursday, September 22, 2005 am New York, "Patchy revelations on Gitmo"
- Thursday, September 15, 2005 am New York, "Time for ethics"
- Thursday, September 8, 2005 am New York, "The big roll-back"
- Thursday, September 1, 2005 am New York, "Healing from horror"
- Thursday, August 25, 2005 am New York, "A women's war?"
- Thursday, August 18, 2005 am New York, "Missing pieces"
- Thursday, August 11, 2005 am New York, "History - and loss"
- Thursday, August 4, 2005 am New York, "Ultimate price"
- Thursday, July 28, 2005 am New York, "Watching the US"
- Thursday, July 21, 2005 am New York, "Trust them?"
- Thursday, July 14, 2005 am New York, "Bush brain on the block?"
- Thursday, July 7, 2005 am New York, "The job, and jail"
- Thursday, June 30, 2005 am New York, "Voices in danger"
- Thursday, June 23, 2005 am New York, "Slashing - and fighting back"
- Thursday, June 16, 2005 am New York, "White House "editor" gets oily job"
- Wednesday, June 8, 2005 am New York, "Blurring the Bush-Blair bickering"
- Friday, June 3, 2005 am New York, "Secret agents tell all"
- Thursday, May 26, 2005 am New York, "Hue and cry … and over-reaction"
- Thursday, May 19, 2005 am New York, "Arab television’s take on the world"
- Thursday, May 12, 2005 am New York, "Honor rises above dishonor"
- Thursday, May 5, 2005 am New York, "Aussie power, in UK and US"
- Thursday, April 28, 2005 am New York, "Soft peddling the Pope"
- Thursday, April 21, 2005 am New York, "Following the Code"
- Thursday, April 14, 2005 am New York, "NYT - Columbia trade-off? Unlikely"
- Thursday, April 7, 2005 am New York, "The Pope and his women"
- Thursday, March 31, 2005 am New York, "Authority vs journalists"
- Thursday, March 24, 2005 am New York, "Texan takeovers in Washington"
- Thursday, March 17, 2005 am New York, "War - poetry and pity"
- Thursday, March 10, 2005 am New York, "Reporters front-line casualties too"
- Thursday, March 3, 2005 am New York, "Combating Aids … Oppression … and Disrepute"
- Thursday, February 24, 2005 am New York, "Making quotes fit ideology"
- Thursday, February 17, 2005 am New York, "Bloggers claim another "victory""
- Thursday, February 10, 2005 am New York, "Voices - some flaky, one profound"
- Thursday, February 3, 2005 am New York, "Catastrophes compared"
- Thursday, January 27, 2005 am New York, "Who follows Powell?"
- Thursday, January 20, 2005 am New York, "Hail to the chief - in time of war"
- Thursday, January 13, 2005 am New York, "Reporters: sounding off, or finding out?"
- Thursday, January 6, 2005 am New York, "Vlogging the tsunami"
- Friday, December 24, 2004 am New York, "Truth-seeking, always"
- Thursday, November 18, 2004 am New York, "The meaning of "collateral""
- Sunday, January 28, 2001 The New York Times, "An Unreliable Witness"