Gerard Baker has coined a new term describing the much too often response to a real or perceived crisis in the world in which we now live: He calls it catastrophism, a condition produced in abundance despite a paucity of genuine catastrophy.  And everyone participates, whether they have anything meaningful to say or not.  And […]

After reflection on the events following the grand jury no-bill in the Ferguson, Missouri case and its aftermath, it occurs to me that the main culprit in the story is the media, which desperately must fill its voracious news cycle with provocative material and which predominantly is not interested in balanced coverage, preferring instead coverage […]

The recent tribulations and mea culpa of Oprah Winfrey over her endorsement of James Frey’s A Million Little Pieces, a book of fabrications sold as a true story of triumph and redemption, brought together for me several strands related to the current state of truth and objectivity in our culture. For example, the movie “Munich”, […]

David Broder said it well: “Once upon a time, the media knew better. The first sign of wavering confidence came when news organizations began offering their most prestigious and visible jobs not to people deeply imbued with the culture and values of newsrooms, but to stars imported from the political world.” In the wake of […]