Media Criticism

Radley Balko has an article about the killing of Cheryl Lynn Noel, who died from gunshot wounds during an early morning SWAT raid of the house where she lived. When the officers burst into her bedroom, she pointed a gun at them and they shot her down. Given that the raid only found small personal-use quantities of marijuana, it seems likely that Noel, a wife and mother of … [Read more...] about A Minor Shooting

You know, if Samuel Alito is confirmed as the next Justice of the Supreme Court, he will be making decisions about freedom of speech, the rights of the accused, the scope of government powers under the commerce clause, the elements of procedural due process, eminent domain, the war on drugs, guns, commerce clause issues affecting online trade, and a whole bunch of other things. … [Read more...] about Abortion, Abortion, Abortion.

I'm not a real believer in blogger triumphalism: I don't believe bloggers are the new movers and shakers of the media world. It's true that some of the bloggers at the top of the ecosystem can influence the daily news cycle, but even then the story becomes big only when the mainstream media catches on. Nevertheless, this from Eric's Grumbles Before the Grave seems about right … [Read more...] about Pamphleteers of the Cyber Age

When I read Kathleen Parker's Chicago Tribune article about free speach, I had some doubts that she had ever heard any of Kanye West's music. Michael M. Davis at Garfield Park would seem to agree. … [Read more...] about Kathleen Parker’s Musical Awareness

Here's how you write a newspaper column. Find a topic that engages you. Then bang your head against a computer screen until what you've written no longer makes you want to hurl. My words are important to me. I struggle with them, obsess over them. Show me something I wrote and I can tell you stories of how it came to be, why this adjective here or that colon there. Actually, … [Read more...] about Steal From the Best