Articles filed under Slusher, Jim

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  Changes aim not just to interest but to engage May 23, 2013 12:00 AM
  Columnist Jim Slusher: It's always been important for us as a source of information and entertainment to catch and keep your interest. But it's even more important for all of us as a society to have you actively involved.
  

   

• Why you should care about secret subpoena of APMay 16, 2013 12:00 AM
  Columnist Jim Slusher: The problem with things like the Justice Department's broad and secret subpoenas of press agencies isn't that they make reporters' jobs more difficult. The problem is that they make your job more difficult.
  

   

• Shooting the rapids of dual playoff runs May 9, 2013 12:00 AM
  Columnist Jim Slusher: In the constantly undulating rhythms of the news cycle — now elections take center stage, now a flooding crisis; now, a sensational kidnap story is all the rage, now a controversy over the state budget — there is something especially gratifying about the swell we're mounting right now. Not one but two playoff runs simultaneously
  

   

• As pension debate heats up more, forum was timely start May 2, 2013 12:00 AM
  Columnist Jim Slusher:The panelists and the audience at our recent forum on pensions proved it is possible to have a civil and engaging conversation about the topic. In any well-functioning democracy, that's a start.
  

   

• Forum provides a chance for all views on pensions to growApr 18, 2013 12:00 AM
  Columnist Jim Slusher: Our only objective for the Pension Forum scheduled for next Wednesday night is to add depth and detail to the discussion over what to do about the state's pension crisis.
  

   

• A small step to uphold our contract of trust Apr 11, 2013 12:00 AM
  Columnist Jim Slusher: It’s hard to discount what media blogger Craig Silverman dubbed the “Summer of Sin.” That would be the summer of 2012, during which he accumulated a litany of at least 17 acts of plagiarism or fabrication from across the country.
  

   

• Celebrating some of the copy editor’s work you do see Mar 28, 2013 12:00 AM
  Columnist Jim Slusher: Today I come to praise the headline writer's art.
  

   

• The seeds of inspiration are all sizes Mar 21, 2013 12:00 AM
  Columnist Jim Slusher: A newspaper sometimes spotlights the small seeds, and they, like Christ's mustard seed, can stand with the biggest of stories. Such was the case with Rob Komosa.
  

   

• News decisions involve more than hits and clicks Mar 14, 2013 12:00 AM
  Columnist Jim Slusher: I promise not to devote yet another entire column to coverage of the April 9 election, but I couldn't help shuddering at a true fact that emerged during an editors' discussion on measuring the popularity of particular stories.
  

   

• Endorsements built on sincerity, care for suburbsMar 7, 2013 12:00 AM
  Columnist Jim Slusher: On Sunday, we launched into a three-week period of election endorsements with an explanation of why we do them. Today, I want to give you a little closer look at how they work and, perhaps most important, why they're valid.
  

   

• Random thoughts on deadlines, fiction and fraudFeb 21, 2013 12:00 AM
  Columnist Jim Slusher: Ours is a business of constant online deadlines throughout the day with that one overriding capital-D Deadline of the daily press start ever looming. So journalists know a lot about setting, keeping and missing deadlines
  

   

• The process of talking with -- and listening to -- each other Feb 14, 2013 12:00 AM
  Colimnist Jm Slusher: People like to share their ideas about public issues, and the new commenting process at dailyherald.com ai s to help
  

   

• Protecting the currency of trust in all we publish Jan 31, 2013 12:00 AM
  Columnist Jim Slusher: With everyone who writes for us, we must by the nature of our work accept a fundamental bond of trust, a trust that says what you write is what you honestly saw, heard or believe and it is your own.
  

   

• An addition helps strengthen the 'mysterious' editorial board Jan 17, 2013 12:00 AM
  Columnist Jim Slusher: Renee Trappe, the Daily Herald's assistant managing editor for local news, joined the newspaper's editorial board this week, and that gives me a dual opportunity today.
  

   

• Stunt shows what papers do — engageJan 10, 2013 12:00 AM
  Columnist Jim Slusher: All right, pay attention. Ah, well, actually, I may not have to ask that of you. If a stunt pulled by a Belgian advertising agency is any indication, you're already pretty well engaged with your local newspaper.
  

   

• The anatomy of a distinction on lame-duck votes Jan 3, 2013 12:00 AM
  Columnist Jim Slusher: Daily Herald editorials have tended to disdain legislation that surfaces in a lame-duck session, but in the current state of the Illinois General Assembly, this disdain has produced some difficult reflection for our editorial board.
  

   

• Events that test the limits of the goal of restraintDec 20, 2012 12:00 AM
  Columnist Jim Slusher: In the Sandy Hook School shooting, newspapers impose restraint on themselves as they seek to tell a story no one would really want to tell -- or to hear. It is, in short, disconcerting to see how that impulse itself has limits. What a sad thing it is to contemplate the kind of event that tests them.
  

   

• Seeking sanity in definition of news judgment Dec 13, 2012 12:00 AM
  Columnist Jim Slusher: I have grown, over time, to be very skeptical about what is considered obvious in the way of judgment calls and to try to maintain some humility in assessing the work and judgments of others. "Judge not, lest ye be judged," says the Good Book, after all. But it's not fear I'm operating on so much as the recognition of what a moving target being right is.
  

   

• Keeping excellence in the equation of school coverage Dec 6, 2012 12:00 AM
  Columnist Jim Slusher: Great things are going on in suburban schools every day. It's always been a hallmark of the Daily Herald's commitment to our communities that we weave them into the routine of our coverage.
  

   

• Random thoughts as long campaign finally ends Nov 8, 2012 12:00 AM
  Columnist Jim Slusher: If everyone is so bitterly outraged by the sleazy innuendo and purposeful distortion of negative political campaigning, why are candidates so quick to embrace it? The obvious answer is that it works. But again, why -- if everyone is so turned off by it?