I was preparing to put Peter Turnley’s celebratory photos of Tahrir Square on this site when word came that Lara Logan of CBS had been brutally assaulted even as he was taking the pictures. The photos are ones of marvelous triumph. A 2001 Nieman Fellow, Turnley is an expert at this kind of thing: when [...]

I don’t like to criticize any Nieman Fellows but one of them, Gene Weingarten of the Washington Post, a 1988 Fellow, is just asking for it. In an open letter to Daniel Snyder, the owner of the Washington Redskins, Gene said he supports Snyder fully in a suit he filed against the Washingon City Paper. [...]

A world-wide thriller is taking place right now. We are all in the middle of it. These are the elements, more or less: Julian Assange began Wikileaks a few years ago and released important, secret documents, getting some attention but not a great deal, and attracting some followers. One of them was a young American [...]

How excellent it is that Media Matters for America devotes so much space to ridiculing Fox News. No group is more deserving. The individual stories are juicy, the news endless. Putting it all in one place is a public service. It won’t stop Murdoch and Ailes as they go about dumbing down America, but – [...]

Two letters in the Washington Post Nov. 27th told editors something they should know without reminding: Just because somebody says something stupid or crude that is picked up here and there doesn’t mean it has to go in the paper. The letters were referring to what ran as the “Quote of the Week” in a [...]

I got this note from a friend and colleague a little while after Roger Clemens was indicted by a federal grand jury on Aug. 19th: “And meanwhile, Condoleezza Rice, Donald Rumsfeld, CIA officials and others who lied to Congress in sworn testimony about Iraq go free. If we can ‘look forward, not backward’ on torture, [...]

Dear Chairman Waxman, I see where you commended the FCC for its new broadband plan. Maybe you should take another look? As chairman of the Commiteee on Energy and Commerce, and as a highly regarded investigator, you may find deep corruption and fraud in what you now refer to as “a comprehensive and forward-looking report.” [...]

A Jeopardy answer and question: Answer: You’re not a good liberal if you ask hard questions about this late Senator. Question: Who is Ted Kennedy, the liberal lion? Roger Mudd as far as I know has never claimed to be a liberal, but if people ever thought of him that way – after all, he [...]

As an old assignment editor I’m used to asking questions and not being embarrassed if they expose me as naïve or wrong minded, because sometimes there’s a good story lurking. So here are a few simple questions. The biggest financial institutions are said to be on the verge of issuing $145 billion in bonuses. My [...]

A friend and contributor to Nieman Watchdog, Martin Lobel, sent this emaiI with the suggestion that people pass it along. Looks worth passing along to me. Here’s Marty: “I don’t know whether you’re as upset with the Supreme Court’s legislating in Citizens United v. FEC as I am, but there is a simple solution that [...]