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On the Newsstand:Journalism
Tweet Summary of Halperin/Heilemann Forum
Can you blog Tweets? I don’t know, but let’s give this a try. For those of you who couldn’t spend an hour and a half at the Halperin/Heilemann forum last night, here’s a minute-and-a-half tweet rundown…. Waiting for Halperin/Heilemann forum to start. Definitely not packed. Maybe people are over the 2008 gossip? What about midterm gossip? Bill Purcell just said ... Read More
Population Control: Gaza v. China
Following Kramer’s comments the other day, an interesting conversation has arisen that compares Kramer’s proposal to end pre-natal subsidies with China’s one child policy. The reason for this debate originates in the UN’s definition of genocide, as found in Article 2 of the Convention on the Preventment and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide: “In the present Convention, genocide means any ... Read More
Weighing In: Harvard’s Supposed Crisis of Faith
In his post “Harvard’s Supposed Crisis of Faith,” Sam Barr criticizes Lisa Miller’s recent Newsweek article about the study of religion at Harvard: “Of course religion is important to study, …even or especially if you’re a nonbeliever. But I also said, or implied, that she was wasting her time with this article, because religion is not in nearly such dire ... Read More
Harvard’s Supposed Crisis of Faith
Newsweek’s Lisa Miller spills a lot of ink and raises a lot of dust in her article on “Harvard’s Crisis of Faith.” But her conclusion is small-bore and uncontroversial. Of course Harvard and all other colleges should offer and even require some exposure to religion and its attendant issues and debates. I have seen no evidence that Harvard thinks otherwise. ... Read More
Welcome to Israel
On December 23rd, 2009, Harvard Law student Hebah M. Ismail’s ’06 landed at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport with the intention of joining Clinical Instructor and Global Advocacy Fellow Ahmad Amara, as well as another fellow student, for research on land disputes between the Israeli government and Bedouin communities in the Negev desert. At airport security, Ismail was interrogated for ... Read More
Paterson’s Problems
The NYT’s expose on Governor David Paterson is riveting and ultimately damning. This is the kind of journalism we need more of. Maybe individual pieces of evidence suggesting Gov. Paterson is a narcissist and a flake wouldn’t hold up in court, but the preponderance of the evidence is conclusive on that score. To sum up: He can’t be reached during ... Read More
Martha Coakley and the Politics of Despair
Here’s the deal: if Martha Coakley loses tonight then it’s good news for Lloyd Blankfein, who’s worried about financial regulation reform, for the super rich, whose taxes will remain low, and for everyone generally interested in preventing Obama from governing this country. On the other hand, her loss is bad news for those of us who care about adequate health ... Read More
This Is Not Journalism: Politico Edition
When a Politico article gets an approving link, with no additional comment, from Kathryn Jean Lopez at the National Review, you know something’s wrong. The only substantive difference between Lopez’s take on the president’s budget and that of Politico reporter and ostensibly objective observer Jeanne Cummings is that the former calls it “class war” while the latter calls it “class ... Read More
