Category Archives: Ethics

Posted on March 6, 2025 | Comments Off on


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Posted in Ethics, Future of news, journalists

Our nobler resolves

Posted on October 29, 2018 | Comments Off on Our nobler resolves

Ralph McGill (left) and Eugene Patterson (right)

A Sept. 16, 1963  column by Atlanta newspaper editor Eugene Patterson is still remembered as one of the finest responses to racial and religious hatred in history.   Along with fellow Atlanta editor Ralph McGill, Patterson won the Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing and was effective in turning the media away from hostility and  towards compassionate coverage of the civil rights movement in the 1950s and 60s.  The genius of their writing, the depth of their human feeling,  as evident in this column,  helped reach hearts that had been hardened by hate-spewing politicians.  Its a good lesson for the 21st century.   

A Negro mother wept in the street Sunday morning in front of a Baptist Church in Birmingham. In her hand she held a shoe, one shoe, from the foot of her dead child. We hold that shoe with her.

Every one of us in the white South holds that small shoe in his hand.   Continue reading →

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Posted in Ethics, journalists

Enemies of the people?

Posted on August 3, 2018 | Comments Off on Enemies of the people?

Even though his presidency has come to a close, Donald Trump is still claiming that the press is “the enemy of the people.” The small but fervent crowds at his rallies continue to boo and heckle and roar their hated at the brave souls who stand before the cameras. 

So, what is it about the press that incites these dark emotions?

Nothing.  That is to say, this is not really about the press.  Trump’s rhetoric is not aimed at trying to correct the many well-known faults of that institution.  The rhetoric is, rather obviously, designed to arouse intense emotions among people whose destructive impulses are easily reached by bombastic cliches. Continue reading →

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Posted in Ethics, Future of news

Bad news for the news biz says Oliver

Posted on August 8, 2016 | Comments Off on Bad news for the news biz says Oliver

In this hilarious but sobering take on the demise of real news, Oliver takes on Tribune media’s human wrecking ball Sam Zell, and its ‘tronc’ rebranding (you cant make this stuff up).  Then there’s Sheldon Addleson the casino owner who took over the Las Vegas newspaper and edits everything that appears about him in the newspaper. And there’s Jeff Bezos … Well, you’ll just have to watch it.

The Pew report Oliver mentions is at journalism.org. This was part of a long string of reports from similar institutions about the impact of the digital Continue reading →

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Posted in Ethics, Future of news