Good grief, it’s no wonder the world is in such a state! When I started out as a cub reporter at The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead in the early 1960s, I recall The Associated Press Stylebook was little more than a pamphlet of a few pages, 30 at most. I recently had cause to buy the latest copy, a 612-page tome, …
The short paragraph in a recent Star Tribune’s Nation and World section hit me in the gut. “2020 was a deadly year for journalists.” The three sentences stated: ——— Mexico 2020 was a deadly year for journalists The number of journalists killed as a result of their work more than doubled in 2020, an international media watchdog group said Tuesday, …
You’re not helping. I know, you heard from a friend of a friend of a friend whose dad knows a guy, but let me tell you what reporting is like from the professional side of things. We can’t print it, or broadcast it, or blog it, if we can’t document it. Why? Because it would be irresponsible. After you’ve worked …
Every once in a while, something pops up on your computer screen that just punches you in the gut, leaving you breathless for a few moments. That happened to me Saturday morning. One of my early morning routines is to scan the state’s newspapers online to see what’s going on around the state. If you send $9.99 a month to …
I’ve been quiet for a while. Not because I haven’t been paying attention but because work has been overwhelming and I haven’t had the time to digest what has been an unbelievably painful week. These are just a few of the things that happened. There was an abhorrent Mideast “peace accord” that essentially endorsed apartheid for Palestinians and a destruction …
A year or so ago, someone approached me at a party and said, “So how about this fake news?” By her tone and facial expression, I knew she was really saying something to the effect of, “If the president is saying it, it must be true.” This person, of course, knew that I had spent most of my career as …
I don’t know why, but as each passing year draws to a close, I get a little verklempt. For me, one of the saddest things this year was learning that WDAZ-TV newscasts would no longer originate from Grand Forks but rather from WDAY in Fargo. No surprise, but still very sad. I suppose because I worked at Channel 8 for so …
Getting Bad News (From the Online Journal of Everett Charles Albers, Friday, Sept. 20, 2002) “A few weeks ago — but about 20 days past — I turned yellow, most jaundiced in eye and skin. Damning whatever gods may be, convinced I had somehow contracted infectious hepatitis, I went to see a general practitioner. I did tests, ultra-soundings, CT scans, …
The other day, Dorette and I watched a television interview with the journalist Seymour M. Hersh, broadcast in connection with the release of his new book “Reporter.” It’s getting great reviews. So Wednesday, I hustled over to the nearest Barnes and Noble. The book had just arrived and was already sold out in the store. But a clerk was kind …
Our first Uber driver was a former journalist, so the midnight conversation from Pittsburgh International Airport turned to the unprecedented attacks on the press by the president. Wearied by weather delays, airport sprints and the uncertainty of our travels, India and I were content to let him deliver a treatise I knew by rote — the preposterous notion journalists intentionally …
In January 2016. I sent off an email to an acquaintance of mine, Saad Mohseni, one of three brothers who own Tolo-TV in Kabul, Afghanistan. Tolo is the most-watched television station in the country. It creates its own information and entertainment programs and has a vast dubbing operation to give Dari soundtracks to Western programs. It also has a large …
Jim and I attended the 49th Annual UND Writers Conference this week, where he was a presenter on a panel entitled “What’s News? The State of Journalism in North Dakota and Beyond,” convened by Chuck Haga of Grand Forks. I seized the opportunity to do some research at UND’s Chester Fritz Library, reading from dozens of reels of microfilm on …
Fake news is a phrase that wasn’t uttered in April 1997 when the Red River swamped the neighborhoods of Grand Forks, N.D., and East Grand Forks, Minn. When my Grand Forks Herald colleagues and I reported on the devastating flood damage and the fire that ravaged 11 downtown Grand Forks buildings, nobody took to social media to attack our news …
I’ve been thinking lately about what I really want for Christmas … especially this year, when “peace on earth, good will to all” seems in such short supply. My family tells me I’m tough to shop for. I like what I have; I certainly don’t need more. So in the interest of making life easy for anyone who’s thinking of …
Americans have lost confidence in just about everything The USA, Americans say, basically sucks right now. The latest Gallup Poll says Americans over the past two years have lost confidence in, well — name it: Congress (8 percent); the presidency (33 percent); Supreme Court (32 percent); big friggin banks (“institutions” that made $4 billion charging customers for money transactions … 28 …
