Commentary

Drone Journalism After A Disaster
Drone Book, Oct. 18, 2017
People shouldn’t rush to the judgment that every aerial photo or video they see in the news after a natural disaster was obtained illegally by drone. That attitude undermines the quality visual journalism being produced by conscientious drone pilots, like Josh Haner for The New York Times.

Jay Leno Was Wrong About West Virginia
The Intelligencer/Wheeling News-Register, Jan. 16, 2012
Jay Leno apparently holds to the comedic philosophy that when all else fails — and his “Tonight Show” has been one big fail after another for the past two years — just tell a West Virginia joke. He resorted to that stereotypical tactic again after West Virginia’s record-setting Orange Bowl victory.

New On The Web: Politics As Usual
The New York Times, Dec. 1, 2006
Candidates across the country found plenty of “outsiders” in the blogosphere ready and willing to move inside their campaigns this year. They hired some bloggers to blog and paid others consulting fees for Internet strategy advice or more traditional campaign tasks like opposition research.

Journalists vs. Bloggers
Beltway Blogroll, July 8, 2005
Bloggers are like inspectors general, the independent watchdogs of government. Just as IGs are not part of the agencies they oversee, bloggers are neither part of government nor journalism, but they keep a wary and watchful eye on both. And in so doing they provide a valuable check against the arrogance, inadequacies and abuses of all four estates.

The Lincoln-Douglas Debates Revisited
Journal Star (Peoria, Illinois), Sept. 8, 2000
The legacy of America as a nation that has produced statesmen able and willing to tackle the meaty issues of the day both eloquently and with dignity in the heat of a campaign is pure bunk. It rests almost entirely on the historically blind deification of the infamous Lincoln-Douglas debates in the 1858 Illinois Senate race.

Balanced Budget Both a Blessing and a Curse
The Palm Beach Post, March 14, 2000
Budget hawks might want to mute their celebration of the first federal budget surplus since the 1830s. America enjoyed what President Andrew Jackson called “the rare blessing of a revenue sufficiently abundant” in the 1830s. But that blessing created as many problems as it solved.