Selected Op-Eds
In a season of bad ideas, one stands out
The Hill - 09/26/20“Throughout this period of national unease, debates about changing how Americans vote have continued uninterrupted, even intensified given the high stakes accompanying the election and the unique challenges presented by the pandemic. Although …”
Van Drew and the lost art of constructive dissent
The Hill - 12/18/19“Interviewing Rep. Jeff Van Drew in September for the first time — just two months before he would be launched into the national spotlight as one of the lone congressional Democrats …”
How the power of pictures can move us from ‘ought’ to action
News & Observer - 12/26/15“Newspapers around the world deliberated the appropriateness of publishing such a graphic photograph. The image, now famous, showed a lifeless toddler wearing …”
Democratic critiques of Sanders miss the mark
The Hill - 02/05/20“Although some may argue that this is nothing new, the volume of the critiques has increased in proportion to Sanders’ recent ascent in the polls. Criticisms have focused on the degree to which Sanders’ policy goals …”
2020 is not a family affair, for a change
The Hill - 09/14/19“With the exception of 2008 and now 2020, the 21st century's presidential elections thus far have been something of a family affair. From George W. Bush to Hillary Clinton to Jeb Bush to Mitt Romney, the son of 1968 presidential candidate George Romney …”
Personal stories pack a wallop - but should they lend credence?
Orlando Sential - 12/14/18“WKMG-Channel 6 anchor Matt Austin gave a powerful testimony before the Florida Legislature’s Judiciary Committee in late January. The Orlando-area reporter began by making the point that though he had covered the Legislature many times in the past …”
How amateurism can combat political correctness
The Post and Courier - 03/26/21“Among his various reflections, Dyson chose also to provide a word of counsel to younger people, just starting their careers: ‘do not imagine that you have to know everything before you can do anything. My own best work was done when I was most ignorant.’”
Additional Op-Eds
“Ignore the empty ‘working people’ rhetoric”
The Courier-Journal - 07/30/21“More than anything though, in the weeks to come, as our politicians tell us that “working people” demand we pass the infrastructure bill, abolish the filibuster, or do any number of other things, it might be worth recalling that it’s a term abused time and again historically—and a meaningless one at that.”
The United States v. Tucker Carlson
Media Village - 03/16/21“During his March 9th broadcast of Tucker Carlson Tonight, Tucker Carlson drew attention to remarks delivered by President Joe Biden the evening before, in which the President had indicated his administration was focused …”
Why News Media Must Reconsider Terms Like "Officials" and "Authorities"
Media Village - 03/05/21“Prepositions and conjunctions aside, if one were to count the most frequently appearing words in news articles, "officials" and "authorities" -- nouns, they happen to be -- would likely be close to the ones most often …”
The Trade-off Between News Journalism Quality and Clickability
Media Village - 02/18/21“Although philosophy and the business of news do tend to occupy their respective realms and often concern themselves with vastly different questions, once in a great while a debate within philosophy can shed light …”
In Defense of the Odd Man (or Woman) Out in News: Juan Williams, Rick Santorum, Meghan McCain
Media Village - 02/02/21“During their 2019 campaign for seats on the Philadelphia City Council, candidates from the Working Families Party campaigned, in part, under the slogan: "We can end the Republican Party in Philadelphia." (The Philadelphia …”
Why Even Some Journalists Support News Moderation
Media Village - 01/28/21“When Andrew Sullivan was a PhD student at Harvard, he traveled to Dorset, England to visit the home of the philosopher Michael Oakeshott, who was then in his 80s. Sullivan was at work on his dissertation, which explored”
News Journalists and the Pretense of Partisan Neutrality
Media Village - 01/06/21“During his 2016 presidential campaign, then-candidate Donald Trump joined George Stephanopoulos for an interview on ABC's Good Morning America. During the course of their May 13th conversation, in which Stephanopoulos”
The Unintended Consequences of Subscriptions
Media Village - 12/23/20“In March of this year, I alluded to a trend that a number of commentators were also sensing and expressing unease about: the possibility that an increasing reliance on subscription-based revenue might imperil impartiality …”
The Unbearable Lightness of News Coverage
Media Village - 12/21/20“Upon learning that topless photographs taken of her by paparazzi while she was vacationing in St. Barts had been published in various tabloids, actress Natalie Portman, then a student at Harvard, brushed off the episode …”