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media



  • How One News Desk Got Iraq Right When Others Failed

    by John Walcott

    The former head of Knight-Ridder's national security desk explains how his agency passed by the agency bigshots, interviewed experts and analysts closer to the intelligence, and followed up on red flags that others missed in the runup to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, instead of protecting their access to the administration. 



  • Fox's Handling of the "Big Lie" was Cowardly, but Not Unusual

    by Kathryn J. McGarr

    News organizations' standards of objectivity have long allowed public figures and politicians to proclaim lies without pushback, leaving the public to be arbiters of truth and falsity. 



  • On "Cancel Culture"

    by Thomas Zimmer

    The alleged "cancellation" of Scott Adams shows that many pundits decrying "cancel culture" from the center are actually more interested in holding the power to declare ideas out of bounds than in letting the marketplace of ideas sort them out. 



  • America's Lost Faith in the News

    by Louis Menand

    Politicians' success in demonizing and discrediting unfriendly news media threatens to undermine "the facts" as a shared social reality. Is anyone prepared to live in that world? 



  • Posthumous Limbaugh Book Skirts His Toxic Legacy

    The collection of transcripts from Rush's radio program emphasizes the positive ways he built solidarity with his audience while occluding the negative ways he maintained it by stirring resentments against others and lying about his political opponents. 



  • Ms. Magazine Turns 50

    The current editors of Ms. consider the publication's legacy as a maker, not just a reporter, of news. 



  • Are Conservatives Really Pulling Ahead in the Comedy Race?

    Does a ratings boost for Greg Gutfeld's late-night show mean that today's conservatives are the funny ones and liberals are too "woke" to laugh? Answering the question means looking past party loyalty to ask what makes humor, says humor historian Teresa Prados-Terreira. 



  • How a Major Christian News Organization Lost its Way

    by Marvin Olasky

    The Christian news magazine "World" once combined a religious perspective with editorial independence and investigative reporting. Today's Christian nationalist climate has no room for that, says the former editor. 


  • Who and What to Believe about Ukraine?

    by Walter G. Moss

    Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the ongoing war test our ability as citizens to be aware of our biases in search of information and understanding.