Category: Journalism
Anonymous NY Times Op-Ed Not Very Enlightening (BTW, is Mattis the writer?)
Today the NY Times has taken the extraordinary step of publishing an unsigned, anonymous opinion piece that is another appalling, damning inside-the-White House report on the unfitness of our president by “a senior official in the Trump administration.” Everyone wants to know: who wrote it? But is it the stroke of truth we need to begin to untangle the deceptive web of an unfit … Read More Anonymous NY Times Op-Ed Not Very Enlightening (BTW, is Mattis the writer?)
Journal Sentinel to be swallowed by a giant shareholder-driven media holding company. But it’s all good
Call me a progressive skeptic, but the news that the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is to become a member of the largest media conglomerate in the nation does not bode well for the state of journalism in the state of Wisconsin. If the lite news quality of USA Today, Gannet’s most prominent franchise, is any indication, (at the moment, some of the leading national news … Read More Journal Sentinel to be swallowed by a giant shareholder-driven media holding company. But it’s all good
Candidate debates: Get journalists more involved
The typical presidential debate involves a number of candidates being asked a number of general questions which all are expected to answer. The journalists involved (usually TV types) are there to “moderate” the debate: ask the general question and step back, allowing the candidates to say whatever they wish. If the answer is challenged, it is the other candidate or candidates that does/do the challenging. … Read More Candidate debates: Get journalists more involved
Time to reinstate (and argue with) Marquette’s banned conservative professor
Though an article in September’s Milwaukee Magazine, written by a freelance writer who is also an English instructor at Marquette University, sheds not much new light on the “banishment” of the tenured political science professor and conservative blogger John McAdams, it does bring the topic to the fore again, and as McAdams’ fate is being decided, it’s time to weigh in. For while Marquette is a private, Catholic … Read More Time to reinstate (and argue with) Marquette’s banned conservative professor
Rumple Oxbridge: “A Controversial Poem”
(Photo copyright: Public Domain–U.S.) By Rumple Oxbridge, a man of few and controversial words, a few of which rhyme “Controversial” is a dodge that journalists use to avoid the having to choose a better, truer word like “kooky.” To wit: “The law put forth by Sen. Crooky that requires everyone to vote for him is controversial. Support for it is slim.” By which our reporter … Read More Rumple Oxbridge: “A Controversial Poem”
Forget the “Center.” We Need Conviction & Truth
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere The ceremony of innocence is drowned; The best lack all conviction, while the worst Are full of passionate intensity. W.B. Yeats, from “The Second Coming” By John Kaufman In his “Editor’s Note” of May 10, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Editor George Stanley discusses the … Read More Forget the “Center.” We Need Conviction & Truth
The Journal Sentinel’s Missing Endorsement
Having opted out of explicit political endorsements two years ago, preferring to err on the side of some newfangled neutrality (as if such were possible), the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Editorial Board has essentially censored itself. This limiting of its critical intelligence leads to some strenuous maneuvering to avoid any appearance of “express advocacy.” What the editors hold up as a virtue (journalistic objectivity) in practice becomes a failure … Read More The Journal Sentinel’s Missing Endorsement
