Diane Ravitch poses a dozen piercing questions on education and school policy. Some of them turn conventional thinking on its ear, and each could be a starting point for reporting on elections, from the presidency on down to local school boards. Read more
Analysts liken fighter plane to a WWII Messerschmidt, saying it is a technological marvel with the latest weapons but that it will be poor in combat. Read more
President Bush still believes the Iranians are developing nuclear weapons — and so do the Israelis. So for journalists to assume that neither the U.S. nor Israel will attack Iran before the November election could constitute another failure of imagination. Cato’s Leon Hadar suggests questions the press should ask the presidential candidates about what they think the American response should be to various scenarios in the region — including a Gulf-of-Tonkin-like alleged provocation. Read more
Photo by Arthur Rothstein. Courtesy of the Library of Congress. To the extent that there has been any attention paid to public policy issues amid all the mud-slinging in the 2012 … Read more
The national news media almost totally ignore homefront protests of the Afghanistan war, killer drones, torture, and more, regardless of their newsworthiness. By its lack of coverage, isn’t the press thus helping perpetuate an endless war? Read more
On the 30th anniversary of the brutal assassination of Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero, a veteran reporter looks back at some extraordinary and daring close-in coverage that was spurred by personal anger at the murder of the priest. Read more
From liars' loans to liars' liens, the financial and foreclosure crisis has been one big story of banks defrauding their customers — a vast criminal enterprise. You wouldn't know it from a lot of the media coverage, though. Regulatory hero and criminologist William K. Black helps connect the dots. Read more
Among the changes at the Nieman Watchdog Project is a closer alliance with Nieman Reports. Dan Froomkin, formerly deputy editor of the Nieman Watchdog website, is a new contributor to both the print magazine and the Nieman Reports website. Froomkin is a senior Washington correspondent for The Huffington Post who previously wrote a White House politics column for The Washington Post’s website. Read more
An expert military interrogator wants to know why the president's legal advisers were so intent on rationalizing the violation of longstanding law in order to adopt an approach — coercion — that experienced interrogation practitioners agree is not just ineffective, but counterproductive. Read more
After decades of planned neglect, mismanagement and ideological attack, the American government, across the board, has gotten out of the way of corporate America – and the country is paying a heavy price. Obama promised to make government service “cool” again. Ask him to show where he's doing that. Read more
