Public Enlightenment

“[P]ublic enlightenment is the forerunner of justice and the foundation of democracy. Ethical journalism strives to ensure the free exchange of information that is accurate, fair and thorough.”

—Preamble, Code of Ethics, Society of Professional Journalists, 2014. Image: Thomas Ashlock.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Editorial Comment: Sounds right.

 

 

PeezPIX 

SUMMERTIME! We Celebrate Summer in the June issue of Senior News. Check it out!
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FREE! TODAY'S WORD ON JOURNALISM This free “service” is sent to rafts of subscribers worldwide more or less every weekday morning during WORD season. If you have recovered from whatever illness led you to subscribe and don’t want it anymore, send “unsubscribe” to ted.pease@gmail.com. Or if you want to afflict someone else, send me the email address and watch the fun begin. (Disclaimer: Don’t shoot the messenger. I just quote ’em, I don’t necessarily endorse ’em.)

 

“I don’t think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones, in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.”—Tom Stoppard

_____________
Edward C. Pease, Ph.D.
Professor & Department Head Emeritus
Department of Journalism & Communication
Utah State University
Today's WORD on Journalism

 

President-Press

“If one morning I walked on top of the water across the Potomac River, the headline that afternoon would read: ‘President Can’t Swim.’”

—Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973), 36th U.S. President (1963-69).

 

 

• Editorial Comment: See our in-depth investigation, film @11.

 

 

PeezPIX 

SUMMERTIME! We Celebrate Summer in the June issue of Senior News. Check it out!
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FREE! TODAY'S WORD ON JOURNALISM This free “service” is sent to rafts of subscribers worldwide more or less every weekday morning during WORD season. If you have recovered from whatever illness led you to subscribe and don’t want it anymore, send “unsubscribe” to ted.pease@gmail.com. Or if you want to afflict someone else, send me the email address and watch the fun begin. (Disclaimer: Don’t shoot the messenger. I just quote ’em, I don’t necessarily endorse ’em.)

 

“I don’t think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones, in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.”—Tom Stoppard

_____________
Edward C. Pease, Ph.D.
Professor & Department Head Emeritus
Department of Journalism & Communication
Utah State University
Today's WORD on Journalism

Poster Children for Liberal Education

“We journalists make it a point to know very little about an extremely wide variety of topics; this is how we stay objective.”

―Dave Barry, idiot savant.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Editorial Comment: And makes us highly valued as bartenders and Trivial Pursuit partners.

 

 

PeezPIX 

SUMMERTIME! We Celebrate Summer in the June issue of Senior News. Check it out!
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FREE! TODAY'S WORD ON JOURNALISM This free “service” is sent to rafts of subscribers worldwide more or less every weekday morning during WORD season. If you have recovered from whatever illness led you to subscribe and don’t want it anymore, send “unsubscribe” to ted.pease@gmail.com. Or if you want to afflict someone else, send me the email address and watch the fun begin. (Disclaimer: Don’t shoot the messenger. I just quote ’em, I don’t necessarily endorse ’em.)

 

“I don’t think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones, in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.”—Tom Stoppard

_____________
Edward C. Pease, Ph.D.
Professor & Department Head Emeritus
Department of Journalism & Communication
Utah State University
Today's WORD on Journalism

 

GRRM

“I think there are two types of writers, the architects and the gardeners. The architects plan everything ahead of time, like an architect building a house. They know how many rooms are going to be in the house, what kind of roof they're going to have, where the wires are going to run, what kind of plumbing there’s going to be. They have the whole thing designed and blueprinted out before they even nail the first board up. The gardeners dig a hole, drop in a seed and water it. They kind of know what seed it is, they know if planted a fantasy seed or mystery seed or whatever. But as the plant comes up and they water it, they don't know how many branches it's going to have, they find out as it grows. And I’m much more a gardener than an architect.”  

―George R.R. Martin (aka GRRM), avid gardener and author of the “Song of Ice & Fire” series, in “Getting More from George R.R. Martin,” The Guardian, April 14, 2011.

• Editorial Comment: A garden is a thing of beauty and job forever.

 

 

PeezPIX 

SUMMERTIME! We Celebrate Summer in the June issue of Senior News. Hits newsstands today!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
FREE! TODAY'S WORD ON JOURNALISM This free “service” is sent to rafts of subscribers worldwide more or less every weekday morning during WORD season. If you have recovered from whatever illness led you to subscribe and don’t want it anymore, send “unsubscribe” to ted.pease@gmail.com. Or if you want to afflict someone else, send me the email address and watch the fun begin. (Disclaimer: Don’t shoot the messenger. I just quote ’em, I don’t necessarily endorse ’em.)

“I don’t think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones, in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.”—Tom Stoppard

_____________
Edward C. Pease, Ph.D.
Professor & Department Head Emeritus
Department of Journalism & Communication
Utah State University
Today's WORD on Journalism

Tenuous Connections

“People everywhere confuse what they read in newspapers with news.”

—A.J. Liebling (1904-1963), journalist, author & critic.

• Editorial Comment: Well, then why the heck do they call ’em newspapers?

• Bonus: “Reporting It All: A.J. Liebling at One Hundred,” David Remnick, The New Yorker, March 21, 2004; “Pete Hamill on A.J. Liebling,” Library of America, 2009.

 

PeezPIX 

Sadie Beachhound, 2010.

 

 

 

 

 

GET GREEN A Good Time for Growing in the May issue of Senior News.

FREE! TODAY'S WORD ON JOURNALISM This free “service” is sent to rafts of subscribers worldwide more or less every weekday morning during WORD season. If you have recovered from whatever illness led you to subscribe and don’t want it anymore, send “unsubscribe” to ted.pease@gmail.com. Or if you want to afflict someone else, send me the email address and watch the fun begin. (Disclaimer: Don’t shoot the messenger. I just quote ’em, I don’t necessarily endorse ’em.)

 

“I don’t think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones, in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.”—Tom Stoppard

_____________
Edward C. Pease, Ph.D.
Professor & Department Head Emeritus
Department of Journalism & Communication
Utah State University
Today's WORD on Journalism

Apply Arse to Chair

“Don’t let the terror of the white page shrink-wrap your mind. The excuse that you have writer’s block is far too easy. You have to show up for work. You have to sit in the chair and fight the blankness. Don’t leave your desk. Don’t abandon the room. Don’t check the sports pages. Don’t open the mail. Don’t distract yourself in any way until you feel you have fought and tried.

“A writer is not someone who thinks obsessively about writing, or talks about it, or plans it, or dissects it, or even reveres it: a writer is the one who puts his arse in the chair when the last thing he wants to do is have his arse in the chair.”

—Colum McCann, novelist, “So you want to be a writer? Essential tips for aspiring novelists,” The Guardian, May 13, 2017.

 

 

 

 

• Editorial Comment: I wonder what's in the fridge?

 

 

PeezPIX 

There were a lot more sea stars around back in 2010.

 

 

 

 

 

GET GREEN A Good Time for Growing in the May issue of Senior News.

FREE! TODAY'S WORD ON JOURNALISM This free “service” is sent to rafts of subscribers worldwide more or less every weekday morning during WORD season. If you have recovered from whatever illness led you to subscribe and don’t want it anymore, send “unsubscribe” to ted.pease@gmail.com. Or if you want to afflict someone else, send me the email address and watch the fun begin. (Disclaimer: Don’t shoot the messenger. I just quote ’em, I don’t necessarily endorse ’em.)

 

“I don’t think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones, in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.”—Tom Stoppard

_____________
Edward C. Pease, Ph.D.
Professor & Department Head Emeritus
Department of Journalism & Communication
Utah State University
Today's WORD on Journalism

Nothing to It

“The purpose of a writer is to keep civilization from destroying itself.” 

—Bernard Malmud (1914-1986), writer, in Joseph Wershba, “Not Horror but Sadness,” The New York Post, Sept. 14. 1958.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Editorial Comment: Get me rewrite!

 

 

PeezPIX 

A Lupine Fog.

 

 

 

  

 

GET GREEN A Good Time for Growing in the May issue of Senior News.

FREE! TODAY'S WORD ON JOURNALISM This free “service” is sent to rafts of subscribers worldwide more or less every weekday morning during WORD season. If you have recovered from whatever illness led you to subscribe and don’t want it anymore, send “unsubscribe” to ted.pease@gmail.com. Or if you want to afflict someone else, send me the email address and watch the fun begin. (Disclaimer: Don’t shoot the messenger. I just quote ’em, I don’t necessarily endorse ’em.)

 

“I don’t think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones, in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.”—Tom Stoppard

_____________
Edward C. Pease, Ph.D.
Professor & Department Head Emeritus
Department of Journalism & Communication
Utah State University
Today's WORD on Journalism

First Day

“I just want to say a few words about how honored I am to be here with all of you today in this role, in this room, standing behind this podium. I am obviously acutely aware that my presence at this podium represents a few firsts. I am a Black, gay, immigrant woman, the first of all three of those to hold this position. 

“I would not be here today if it were not for generations of . . . barrier-breaking people before me. I stand on their shoulders. I benefit from their sacrifices. I have learned from their excellence, and I am forever grateful to them. Representation does matter.”

—Karine Jean-Pierre, White House press secretary at her first press briefing, May 16, 2022.

 

• Editorial Comment: Welcome to the Animal House, Ms. Jean-Pierre.

 

 

PeezPIX 

See? Star.

 

 

 

GET GREEN A Good Time for Growing in the May issue of Senior News.

FREE! TODAY'S WORD ON JOURNALISM This free “service” is sent to rafts of subscribers worldwide more or less every weekday morning during WORD season. If you have recovered from whatever illness led you to subscribe and don’t want it anymore, send “unsubscribe” to ted.pease@gmail.com. Or if you want to afflict someone else, send me the email address and watch the fun begin. (Disclaimer: Don’t shoot the messenger. I just quote ’em, I don’t necessarily endorse ’em.)

 

“I don’t think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones, in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.”—Tom Stoppard

_____________
Edward C. Pease, Ph.D.
Professor & Department Head Emeritus
Department of Journalism & Communication
Utah State University
Today's WORD on Journalism

Can We Talk?

 

“I want people to talk to one another no matter what their difference of opinion might be.”

—Studs Terkel (1912-2008), author, broadcaster and Pulitzer winner for “The Good War” (1984).

• Editorial Comment: Oh, Studs. . . .

• Bonus: “The Art of Conversation,” Studs Terkel WFMT archive.

 

PeezPIX 

Pewetole Evening.

 

 

 

 

 

 

GET GREEN A Good Time for Growing in the May issue of Senior News.

FREE! TODAY'S WORD ON JOURNALISM This free “service” is sent to rafts of subscribers worldwide more or less every weekday morning during WORD season. If you have recovered from whatever illness led you to subscribe and don’t want it anymore, send “unsubscribe” to ted.pease@gmail.com. Or if you want to afflict someone else, send me the email address and watch the fun begin. (Disclaimer: Don’t shoot the messenger. I just quote ’em, I don’t necessarily endorse ’em.)

 

“I don’t think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones, in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.”—Tom Stoppard

_____________
Edward C. Pease, Ph.D.
Professor & Department Head Emeritus
Department of Journalism & Communication
Utah State University
Today's WORD on Journalism

Role Model

“I know of a lot of girls who grew up basically standing in front of a mirror and holding their hair brushes and pretending to be Shireen. That’s how lasting and important her presence was.”

—Dalia Hatuqa, Palestinian American journalist and friend of Shireen Abu Akleh, “Trailblazing Palestinian Journalist Killed in West Bank,” The New York Times, May 11, 2022.

• Editorial Comment: Tragic.

 

• Related: “Slain Al Jazeera journalist was icon of Palestinian coverage,” AP.

• “Israeli Police Attack Mourners Before Funeral for Palestinian American Journalist,” NYTimes.

 

PeezPIX 

Good night.

 

 

 

 

GET GREEN A Good Time for Growing in the May issue of Senior News.

FREE! TODAY'S WORD ON JOURNALISM This free “service” is sent to rafts of subscribers worldwide more or less every weekday morning during WORD season. If you have recovered from whatever illness led you to subscribe and don’t want it anymore, send “unsubscribe” to ted.pease@gmail.com. Or if you want to afflict someone else, send me the email address and watch the fun begin. (Disclaimer: Don’t shoot the messenger. I just quote ’em, I don’t necessarily endorse ’em.)

 

“I don’t think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones, in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.”—Tom Stoppard

_____________
Edward C. Pease, Ph.D.
Professor & Department Head Emeritus
Department of Journalism & Communication
Utah State University
Today's WORD on Journalism

Evil Journalism?

“He is the personification of evil in journalism. We think he was like the originator of fake news.”

—Oksana Piaseckyj, Ukrainian-American activist, “The New York Times can’t shake the cloud over a 90-year-old Pulitzer Prize,” NPR, May 8, 2022.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Note: NYT Moscow correspondent Walter Duranty won a Pulitzer in 1932 for “largely discredited” work acknowledged to have been filled with Stalin's propaganda, and that ignored conditions and policies that led to famine that killed millions in Ukraine. “New York Times Statement About 1932 Pulitzer Prize Awarded to Walter Duranty.”

 

• Editorial Comment: An early Tucker Carlson.

 

 

 

PeezPIX 

Ceanothus, Wedding Rock

 

 

 

 

 

 

GET GREEN A Good Time for Growing in the May issue of Senior News.

FREE! TODAY'S WORD ON JOURNALISM This free “service” is sent to rafts of subscribers worldwide more or less every weekday morning during WORD season. If you have recovered from whatever illness led you to subscribe and don’t want it anymore, send “unsubscribe” to ted.pease@gmail.com. Or if you want to afflict someone else, send me the email address and watch the fun begin. (Disclaimer: Don’t shoot the messenger. I just quote ’em, I don’t necessarily endorse ’em.)

 

“I don’t think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones, in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.”—Tom Stoppard

_____________
Edward C. Pease, Ph.D.
Professor & Department Head Emeritus
Department of Journalism & Communication
Utah State University
Today's WORD on Journalism