Category: News and Opinion

‘Can you provide a definition of the word woman?’

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson never could have expected to be asked that simple question – ‘what a woman is’’ – by Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) Jackson’s response was by turns puzzled, nervously amused and then lawyerly in saying no. She said she couldn’t define the word without knowing the legal context. The brief confrontation was…

Local news outlets can help readers vet credible sources of information on invasion in Ukraine

This morning as soon as I woke up, I went immediately to search for news from Ukraine. It’s hard to imagine a more important, more devastating story gripping the world right now. It is not a local story for much of America, yet, and its significance is undoubtedly greater to those of us who lived…

Missouri Gov. Mike Parson’s unconstitutional attack on the press

From afar, Missouri Gov. Mike Parson’s attempt to prosecute a St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter looks like the folly of a vindictive politician who doesn’t understand computers or the First Amendment. But it is more serious than that. A governor trying to prosecute a journalist for reporting publicly available information poses a serious threat to press…

All news outlets should rethink field safety when sending reporters alone on assignment

A young TV reporter in West Virginia recently was struck by a vehicle while reporting on a water main break. The local NBC-affiliate where she worked never broke from the story, even as it was clear she had been run over.  WSAZ-TV  stayed live as Tori Yorgey yelped and exclaimed, “I just got hit by…