Fiscal Cliff

. 

Who’s in Charge Here?

“If the people of the entire United States could be informed every day of exactly what happens at Washington and the reason for it, the peculiar stranglehold that the corporations have upon national legislation would last no longer than the next election.” 

—Charles Edward Russell (1860-1941), journalist, politician, Pulitzer winner and NAACP co-founder, in La Follette’s Magazine, 1910 

• Editorial Comment: He has more faith in both the press and electoral change than I do...

• Yesterday’s WORD: Did you miss yesterday’s WORDs from longtime press critic and teacher Ben Bagdikian on newspapers and ukuleles? Click here.

News from USU’s award-winning student news site, The Hard News Café 
• Hyde Park man sentenced on marijuana charge, by Curtis Lundstrom 
• Aggie TV News (11/20/12)—Aggies go for WAC championship, is it the end of the Twinkie? Sports, Turkey weather & more, anchored by Brianna Bodily & Ryan Humphries 
• Legally Blond: USU professor smooches student in stage drama, by Heidi Smith 
• Mendon must raise $1.2 million for water well; sets public hearing, by Brandon Fonda 
• Country swing dance emporium coming to Smithfield? Stay tuned, by Katie Swain 
• Silent auction set for ‘found bikes’ in Smithfield, by Katie Swain  
• ‘Botanizing Utah’—scientist follows 1890s photo safari of the West, by D. Whitney Smith 
• Reporter’s Notebook: Night in a cop car with ‘hell trying to break loose,’ by Dani Hayes

PeezPIX by Ted Pease

PeezPix featured throughout December at Caffé Ibis. Opening Dec. 7.

(Be)Friend Dr. Ted, Professor of Interesting Stuff 

Ukulele

. 

Instrumental

“Trying to be a first-rate reporter on the average American newspaper is like trying to play Bach’s St. Matthew Passion on a ukulele: The instrument is too crude for the work, for the audience and for the performer.”

  —Ben Bagdikian, journalism educator and media critic, 1985

• Editorial Comment: Me fix iPad with rock!



• Yesterday’s WORD: Did you miss yesterday’s WORDs from Nieman Fellow Henry Banta on news as entertainment? Click here.

News from USU’s award-winning student news site, The Hard News Café 
• Hyde Park man sentenced on marijuana charge, by Curtis Lundstrom 
• Aggie TV News (11/20/12)—Aggies go for WAC championship, is it the end of the Twinkie? Sports, Turkey weather & more, anchored by Brianna Bodily & Ryan Humphries 
• Legally Blond: USU professor smooches student in stage drama, by Heidi Smith 
• Mendon must raise $1.2 million for water well; sets public hearing, by Brandon Fonda 
• Country swing dance emporium coming to Smithfield? Stay tuned, by Katie Swain 
• Silent auction set for ‘found bikes’ in Smithfield, by Katie Swain  
• ‘Botanizing Utah’—scientist follows 1890s photo safari of the West, by D. Whitney Smith 
• Reporter’s Notebook: Night in a cop car with ‘hell trying to break loose,’ by Dani Hayes

PeezPIX by Ted Pease

PeezPix featured throughout December at Caffé Ibis. Opening Dec. 7.




(Be)Friend Dr. Ted, Professor of Interesting Stuff

That’s Entertainment

. 

Sugar Puffs

 

“More and more, the news that Americans are fed looks like entertainment. The difficult and complex aspects of issues are left out because they are incompatible with meeting the public’s entertainment needs—which, unlike the needs for thoughtful reporting, are insatiable. 

“Our political commentators can endlessly amuse us by treating political campaigns and elections as sports events—we get unending discussions about who’s up and who’s down. Absurdly irrelevant gaffes by politicians are treated as serious events and subjected to detailed analysis. We are given minute analyses of the current polls—how are the candidates doing with blue collar Armenian Catholics versus Latino Presbyterians versus Mormon lesbian polygamists. 

“At the same time, increasing amounts of ink and air time are consumed by sentimental ‘feel good’ stories of no real consequence.” 

—Henry Banta, attorney, columnist and Nieman fellow, “Lessons on covering politics from the late David Foster Wallace,” Nieman Watchdog, 2012 

• Editorial Comment: Sugar rush—that’s why the news gives me a headache.


• Yesterday’s WORD: Did you miss yesterday’s WORDs from 1920s Kansas newspaper publisher E.W. Howe, on his God-given right to talk nonsense? Click here.

News from USU’s award-winning student news site, The Hard News Café 
• Legally Blond: USU professor smooches student in stage drama, by Heidi Smith
• Mendon must raise $1.2 million for water well; sets public hearing, by Brandon Fonda

• Country swing dance emporium coming to Smithfield? Stay tuned, by Katie Swain
• Guest column: Don’t come to Canada, American secessionists, by Sherry King
• Silent auction set for ‘found bikes’ in Smithfield, by Katie Swain
• Aggie TV News (11/14/12)—No parking! After-school program boosts reading, Aggies go weightless on the ‘vomit comet,’ sports & more!, anchored by Kelsey Keller & Emily Landeen
• ‘Botanizing Utah’—scientist follows 1890s photo safari of the West, by D. Whitney Smith
• Reporter’s Notebook: Night in a cop car with ‘hell trying to break loose,’ by Dani Hayes

PeezPIX by Ted Pease

PeezPix featured throughout December at Caffé Ibis. Opening Dec. 7.




(Be)Friend Dr. Ted, Professor of Interesting Stuff

No Apologies!

. 

Express Yourself

“I express many absurd opinions. But I am not the first man to do it; American freedom consists largely in talking nonsense.” 

—E.W. Howe, newspaper publisher, 1926

• Editorial Comment: Freedom is just another word . . . for a foot in the mouth.



• Yesterday’s WORD: Did you miss yesterday’s WORDs from constitutional law professor Laurence Tribe, who says Big Brother is fast making free expression a quaint idea? Click here.

News from USU’s award-winning student news site, The Hard News Café 
• Legally Blond: USU professor smooches student in stage drama, by Heidi Smith
• Mendon must raise $1.2 million for water well; sets public hearing, by Brandon Fonda

• Country swing dance emporium coming to Smithfield? Stay tuned, by Katie Swain
• Guest column: Don’t come to Canada, American secessionists, by Sherry King
• Silent auction set for ‘found bikes’ in Smithfield, by Katie Swain
• Aggie TV News (11/14/12)—No parking! After-school program boosts reading, Aggies go weightless on the ‘vomit comet,’ sports & more!, anchored by Kelsey Keller & Emily Landeen
• ‘Botanizing Utah’—scientist follows 1890s photo safari of the West, by D. Whitney Smith
• Reminder: Overnight parking ban starts Nov. 15 in Logan, by Brandon Fonda
• Reporter’s Notebook: Night in a cop car with ‘hell trying to break loose,’ by Dani Hayes


PeezPIX by Ted Pease

Houda Beach, Humboldt County, California


(Be)Friend Dr. Ted, Professor of Interesting Stuff

Big Brother

. 

Those Were the Days

“The more people grow accustomed to a listening environment in which the ear of Big Brother is assumed to be behind every wall, behind every e-mail, and invisibly present in every electronic communication, telephonic or otherwise . . . [t]he background assumptions of privacy will be gradually eroded to the point where we’ll wake up one day, or our children will, and it will seem quaint that people at one time, long ago thought that they could speak in candor.”

—Laurence Tribe, constitutional law professor, 2006

• Editorial Comment: War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.





• Yesterday’s WORD: Did you miss yesterday’s WORDs on why Arab high school student  Rabiah Abdullah says he has to become a journalist? Click here.

News from USU’s award-winning student news site, The Hard News Café 
• Legally Blond: USU professor smooches student in stage drama, by Heidi Smith
• Mendon must raise $1.2 million for water well; sets public hearing, by Brandon Fonda

• Country swing dance emporium coming to Smithfield? Stay tuned, by Katie Swain
• Guest column: Don’t come to Canada, American secessionists, by Sherry King
• Silent auction set for ‘found bikes’ in Smithfield, by Katie Swain
• Aggie TV News (11/14/12)—No parking! After-school program boosts reading, Aggies go weightless on the ‘vomit comet,’ sports & more!, anchored by Kelsey Keller & Emily Landeen
• ‘Botanizing Utah’—scientist follows 1890s photo safari of the West, by D. Whitney Smith
• Reminder: Overnight parking ban starts Nov. 15 in Logan, by Brandon Fonda
• Reporter’s Notebook: Night in a cop car with ‘hell trying to break loose,’ by Dani Hayes


PeezPIX by Ted Pease

On quiet pond




(Be)Friend Dr. Ted, Professor of Interesting Stuff