Jim Slusher
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In ‘rough draft,’ we err on the side of inclusionJul 12, 2012 10:10 am - The newspaper is sometimes called a rough draft of history. In that sense, the Letters to the Editor column, or Fence Post in the Daily Herald, can be very much like a r...
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Watergate and watchdogs — the duty remainsJun 14, 2012 5:00 am - It would be less than accurate to suggest that The Washington Post’s reporting on the Watergate scandal initiated modern-day investigative journalism, but it certainly g...
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Newspapers and the role of listening in public debateJun 07, 2012 5:00 am - And listen to others. Even the dull and ignorant. They too have their stories. --”Desiderata,” Max Ehrmann What is so bad about listening, especially about listening to ...
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The delicate art of keeping letters lively, civilizedMay 24, 2012 5:00 am - Letters, we get letters. And most of them need the close attention of an editor. And sometimes they don’t get as much as they should. In the first case: The mission of F...
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Sometimes, ‘the funnies’ aren’t just about funMay 17, 2012 1:09 pm - My grandmother used to call them “the funnies.” The diminutive term suggested both that everyone agreed on the mission of the comics and that that mission was more frivo...
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It’s not we who do the comforting and the afflictingMay 10, 2012 5:00 am - It may be true, as some suggest, that one function of a newspaper is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable, but it’s probably more true that our job is to...
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Whatever’s behind it, transparency push is welcomeMay 03, 2012 1:00 am - Who knew that giving up information about their spending habits could be such a joy for government officials? It’s not unusual to find newspaper types calling for more t...
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Requiem for one of life’s true storytellersApr 26, 2012 5:00 am - We talk often these days in almost mystical tones of “storytellers” and “storytelling.” I don’t like the term. It is a glaze that calls attention to itself more than the...
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A public storm, reassurance all on one front pageApr 12, 2012 9:04 am - Is it possible that an emotional uproar can reinforce confidence in the stability of our democracy? I think so. Consider these two very different stories — the furor ove...
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Is this evidence of political agenda?Apr 05, 2012 5:00 am - Yes, I know you see two pictures of U.S. Rep. Joe Walsh with this page, but this is not a column about him. The photos are attached to illustrate another issue. After ea...