DES MOINES—Here in the heartland, much of the news coverage and commentary about the Iowa caucuses remains doggedly oblivious to the fact that their outcome will be determined by the religious right, which is at the controls of the Iowa Republican Party. Indeed, about the only ones who routinely acknowledge the dominance of the religious [...]

Franklin Graham is no different from many sons who insist that dad’s style is not for them. While the evangelist has followed the same calling as his famous father, the Rev. Billy Graham, he has tried to do it his way. Reviews are mixed, at best. Over the weekend, Franklin Graham visited tornado-ravaged Alabama representing [...]

Forget about judicial activism in the courts; consider instead its place in newspaper headlines and broadcast commentary. Too often, according to the headlines, judges are picking sides in a dispute, rather than interpreting the constitution or reviewing legislation Those thoughts came to mind as I took in news coverage of the U.S. Supreme Court decision [...]

DES MOINES—Granted, it was a one-word slip, an adjective out of place. But still its usage rankled — given how the religious right dominates politics in Iowa. So, within seconds of the close of the WHO-TV 6 P.M., news cast, I emailed the anchor and the news director: “Why on earth in its profiles tonight [...]

What would you think of a U.S. political leader who said, “I do not believe there is a problem in this country or the world today which could not be settled if approached through the teaching of the Sermon on the Mount?” In today’s environment, one might think such a person was courting votes from [...]

There are journalists and then there are so-called journalists. In the latter camp is Anthony Martin, featured in a hour-long program on Fox news recently, in which he was presented as a journalist. Martin is an obsessive critic of Barack Obama (he says Obama once trained to overthrow the government) and is the source of [...]

A couple of months ago, in the seniors column I write on my day job for Newsday, I rejected age as an issue in the presidential campaign. But I added, “if age is to be a factor in the coming race… perhaps the most important issue may be whom Sen. John McCain, 72, chooses as [...]

The election may depend upon it: How to instruct the average American voter to discern the difference between a poisonous lie and a truth based on evidence. A fine June 30 Washington Post story written by Eli Saslow vividly and painfully illustrates the point. The writer tells the tale of Jim Peterman, a 74-year-old retiree [...]

Being black didn’t make me any more susceptible to the Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s more outrageous theories. Being a lifelong Catholic, the fire-and-brimstone style of preaching was never my tradition. But the interpretations – too often through a racial prism, that have become as endless as the replays of his more fiery sermons – took me [...]

If you’re concerned about the state of journalism these days – and thereby also concerned about the state of the nation – you have to visit, or revisit, two recent delightful commentaries on press performance. “Commentaries on press performance” may reflect more my perceptions than what the authors intended, but judge for yourself. The material [...]