When I was getting my Master’s degree in Marriage and Family Therapy, one of the major messages I learned was that words matter. Not just the words that clients use to each other, but the words the therapist uses in … Continue reading →
I’ve written before about journalist Seymour Hersh, whose work presently appears mainly in The New Yorker. Mr. “hardly ever met a source he was willing to name” Hersh (I’m quoting myself, by the way) has recently expanded his oeuvre by … Continue reading →
John McCain was once a media darling. The last time he ran for President, long ago and far away in 2000, the press couldn’t restrain itself from slobbering over him. Slobbering? Don’t blame me, it’s not my word. No lesser … Continue reading →
I’m reading a fascinating book by Robert Kagan entitled Dangerous Nation: America’s place in the world from its earliest days to the dawn of the twentieth century. A mouthful, I know–and that’s only Part I, which goes up to the … Continue reading →
As Blair announces and Britain prepares a phased pull out from Iraq, I noticed this list of our allies who are still there. It’s a somewhat varied and lengthy group, considering that basically this has been a US effort. And … Continue reading →
I’ve written before about Peter Braestrup’s book Big Story: How the American Press and Television Reported and Interpreted the Crisis of Tet 1968 in Vietnam and Washington. It describes how the media got the Tet Offensive wrong. Braestrup’s conclusion is … Continue reading →
I could probably spend all my time on this blog just analyzing the myriad variations on one theme: how the MSM skews the news by editorializing when it should just be reporting. Sometimes it’s done overtly. Far more often, though, … Continue reading →
[Part I here.] In his introduction to that Cronkite interview featured in Part I, Dick Gordon writes: It was February 1968, and in a three minute editorial essay on the CBS Evening news Cronkite quite simply changed the course of … Continue reading →
While Bush formulates a new plan for Iraq, and others say all is lost there no matter what, I’m reminded of a famous “all is lost” moment from that ever-festering sore of history, the Vietnam War: Walter Cronkite’s editorial on … Continue reading →
One major element in my political change process was my loss of faith in the MSM based on something as simple, and easily checkable, as its reporting of the speeches of public figures. I say “easily checkable,” because, with the … Continue reading →
Since last week’s election, I’ve been thinking about Vietnam. Again. Back in earlier installments of my “A mind is a difficult thing to change” series (and no, readers, I’ve not given up on composing new installments; they’re just so lengthy … Continue reading →
Bob Woodward has done an about-face from the relatively Bush-approving stance of his last two books on the administration. The present one, State of Denial, is by all accounts a description of a quarrelsome and conflict-ridden administration, with Rumsfeld, Cheney, … Continue reading →