Journalism in the 21st Century

When I worked at a trucking magazine, Trump was President. I never had an opportunity to report on him, but shortly before I started, his apearance in one of the trucks we provided on the White House lawn became iconic. Not everyone I worked with supported him, but I remained neutral, happy to have a job. Besides, what harm could he really cause? Look at him playfully mock honking, as excited as an eight year-old skipping school. Flash forward to 2024. The world is aflame with wars and hunger and deforestation. Here in Connecticut, I worry about actual flames as wildfires blaze east of Hartford. This is no time for silence. When a famous science journalist I know spoke out against Trump and his followers, she was canned. Her carefully worded apology to readers made me want to scream, "Nooo! You were speaking the truth!" For Trump 2.0 is not a cute photo op, whether he poses in a garbage truck or the fry station at McDonald's. Since we first saw him take office in J...

Not everyone has a journalist brother detained in Russia, but as Danielle Gershkovich said today, many of us have brothers. Watching her speak at the National Press Club briefing (remotely) was even more moving than I had imagined it would be, in no small part for her composure and smile, her sweetness and calm in the face of unspeakable fear. Joining her were longtime Iranian captee, Washington Post's Jason Rezaian, Paul Beckett, Washington Bureau Chief of the WSJ and Jason Conti, general counsel with Dow Jones and a lawyer on the detainee's case. NPC President Eileen O'Reilly moderated the panel, which included both emailed and live questions from assembled press and Club members. Beckett began by sharing the power of the recent milestone, 100 days, memorialized on its front page. "Acknowledging the impact and reality" was punctuated by the milestone, Gershkovich's imprisonment following his March 29 apprehension on so-called espionage charges. Rezaian said...

Many niggling grammar mistakes, slang, acronyms and jargon rattle my cage. Here is a short summary: 1. Every day is two words when one means "every" as a determiner and "day" as a noun. Everyday is an adjective, as in "everyday occurrence". I just read a post from the World Health Organization, no less, in which everyday was used incorrectly! "Get 8 hours of sleep everyday!" (Cue nails on 20th century chalkboard.) 2. I am tired everyone "pivoting". When a boss first told me to pivot, I thought she meant do a little ballerina turn. Say "change your tack" or "try another way" etc. 3. A hundred percent. A joke of this is made beautifully in the opening scene between John Mayer's shallow character on the make and B.J. Novak's. Every question they pose over cocktails has one answer, "hundred percent." Please only use this if you are telling an eighth grader how well he did on his math test. 4. Acronyms...

Today, yet another rejection came into my e-mailbox. "We have found other candidates whose exoerience more closely ..." Blah blah blah, said the editor to a woman, 61, who has been published in far more news outlets than whatever 30-year-old she just hired. When I returned to university for my master's at 56, I really had no clue the job market would challenge me. I thought doors would fly open. Instead of flying open, they are stuck shut, only opening with elbow grease. Why do Americans have such a hard time with the ageing woman? The clue might lay in the revolutionary Sports Illustrated cover girl, Mar tha Stewart, 81. I do not expect to look that good ever, let alone in 20 years, but why is this even a thing? Are we asking Robert Kraft or Senator Sanders, her peers, to show us their taut muscles in less-than wear? Gosh, I get a little embarrassed iust thinking about it. Yea, I am old enough to remember when Mom bought the Burt Reynolds Cosmo issue in the 70s, too. ...

I don't know why this bothers me but if I read or hear one more journalist or talking head say "Let's pivot", I will scream. Just say "Let's change course" or "Let's scrap our plans to investigate Hunter Biden" or "Let's stop using tired jargon and show a little intellectual spark." I never heard anyone say pivot outside the ballet world before 2017. Then it was everywhere. I went to grad school in London and, mercifully, the dreaded "pivot" stayed back in America. Yah! But wait, I had to move back to the U.S. when my student visa expired ... and guess what awaited me. Probably someone at Customs was dusting it off as I - newly educated by real English speakers, poor in purse but rich in thought - arrived at Newark. I also cannot stand when anchors tell viewers they will talk to us "on the other side". They mean the commercial break, but for the past couple years, "pivoted" to saying other side....

In late November 2009, more than 1,000 e-mails between scientists at the Climate Research Unit of the U.K.’s University of East Anglia were stolen and made public by an anonymous hacker. Climate skeptics claimed the e-mails proved global warming was not real, completely made up by scientists. At the time, I had been freelancing for a very prestigious scientific magazine, Engineering & Technology in Stevenage, UK, formerly IEE Review. I had written a number of environmental stories, including on electronic waste recycling and auto emissions and standards. I was not, however, a household name. I was living in a one-bedroom apartment in West Haven, Connecticut with my cat, just going about my business, making probably $16,000 a year. So when I received an e-mail from a new editor at Fox News, I was flattered. Flattered and horrified. What had I done to attract such attention? The person told me they had read some of my articles and were impressed. Would I be interested in coming dow...