I remember the day the Los Angeles Times decided to hire me. I’d been freelancing for the paper out of California’s Central Valley. Ashley Dunn, then the metro editor, came up to Fresno because no one had met me in … Read more
As I sat down to write this, I heard a gunshot. Two seconds later, another shot. Two more seconds, another. Then silence. Six months ago, in Los Angeles, the sound of gunshots would have meant two things: a crime, or … Read more
The failure of journalism and of polling to accurately reflect the electorate is not unique to this U.S. presidential election, or even to America. During the June referendum on Britain’s membership in the European Union, Faisal Islam, political editor of … Read more
The signs that someone like Donald Trump was coming were right there, in online comments lousy with creatively spelled racial slurs that slipped past even the best filters. They were in the vicious tweets and voicemail nastygrams aimed at journalists … Read more
It’s not news that a substantial segment of the American population despises the news media. We’ve heard allegations of elitism and bias since our industry’s infancy, though recently donned t-shirts advocating our lynching are among the most disturbing displays of … Read more
Sometime late last winter, I began to focus closely on what would happen in the primaries on Super Tuesday, March 1, 2016. I realized I really needed to get on top of Donald Trump’s policy proposals. My first step was … Read more
The chasm between the coastal media centers and the country’s heartland is laid bare. Deep discontent, long simmering in the manufacturing Midwest and Appalachian coal country, went largely unrecognized until this year’s populist primal scream. Even then, national coverage often … Read more
