-
The Implosion of Rupert Murdoch
This used to be a noble profession. Still is, to tell you the truth. To hear an editor debate whether a story is fair to some deplorable individual most would consider unworthy of the effort or watch a reporter rush toward danger to tell a story that needs telling is to be unalterably convinced of…
-
Where's Fox News on Rupert Murdoch?
Since news broke that reporters at Rupert Murdoch’s British tabloid News of the World routinely paid police sources for information and hacked into people’s cellphones, the media have covered the story nonstop. That is, except for Fox News. The Pew Research Center’s Project For Excellence in Journalism just surveyed reportage of the story in two…
-
Terror in Norway Sadly Predictable
Leonard Pitts, in his Miami Herald column, uses a quote from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar to highlight signposts leading up to Anders Behring Breivik’s alleged bombing of a government building and shootings at a youth camp in Norway. Cry ‘Havoc!’ and let slip the dogs of war.” —Julius Caesar, Act 3 Scene 1 The dogs of…
-
Why NAACP Call to End War on Drugs Matters
Miami Herald columnist Leonard Pitts writes about NAACP President Benjamin Todd Jealous’ call to end the nation’s “war on drugs,” calling it a monumental sea change for the old-guard civil rights organization. See, this particular quake was not of the Earth, involved no shifting of the planetary crust. No, what shifted was a paradigm, and…
-
Violence, Videotapes and Police
In his Miami Herald column, Leonard Pitts reflects on changes brought about by the videotaped beating of Rodney King by Los Angeles police officers. This all started with Rodney King. More to the point, it started with a plumber named George Holliday. Had he not been video recording from his balcony, that night in 1991…
-
GOP's Nasty 'Tar Baby' Politics
The Miami Herald columnist Leonard Pitts tackles the GOP’s “tar baby” rhetoric and calls on President Obama to realize it’s not politics as usual. Ladies and gentlemen, here he is, “your boy,” that “tar baby,” the president of the United Sates, Barack Obama: Ahem. The first title was bestowed upon Obama by political commentator Patrick Buchanan…
-
A Glimmer of Common Sense Toward Tea Party
Leonard Pitts writes in his Miami Herald column that the Tea Party movement is losing favor among Americans partly because of its loud and angry antics. Cheer up. Not everything went down over the last two weeks. Granted, most things did. The stock market tanked, government’s approval numbers fell, America’s credit rating slipped as if…
-
Someone Pays When Reality TV Goes Too Far
Leonard Pitts Jr., in his Miami Herald column, takes a look at problems surrounding reality TV in light of the suicide death of the estranged husband of a star of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. One imagines the promo will pretty much write itself. “Don’t miss a moment of the high fashion, high drama and…
-
MLK Fought for Poor and Unions, Scorned Today
Leonard Pitts Jr. of the Miami Herald reminds readers that when Martin Luther King Jr. died, he was fighting for fair treatment of the poor and the right of workers to form unions. Those struggles continue today. That is not a bedtime story from way back when. It is a headline from right now. Unions,…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
