Best Of
Between 1987 and 2008, I wrote a few hundred weekly columns for The Palm Beach Post.
Most were as the paper’s news ombudsman. Many were columns of general interest. There also were innumerable essays as a member of the editorial board expressing the institutional view of the newspaper. And there were some special writing projects.
Some of those are linked here.
My thanks to the readers who encouraged me in this work, to the management of The Post which provided me the opportunity and support, and to dear colleagues who still are working to make the newspaper work.
OMBUDSMAN COLUMNS:
- ALL THE NEWS THAT’S FIT TO BLOG
- PHOTOS, LIKE LIFE, SOMETIMES SHOCK
- MEDIA FAILED SWIFT BOAT MISSION
- MEDIA FAILED SWIFT BOAT MISSION
- GETTING WHAT NEWSROOMS ASK FOR
- JARVIS: ‘IS THERE SHARED WATCHDOG ROLE?’
- AN OMBUDSMAN’S VIEW FROM BRAZIL
- ‘TIMES’ GOT OMBUDSMAN RELIGION
- WHERE RELIGION IS THE (U.S.) STATE
- WORKING AWAY DURING A TRAGEDY (9/11)
- GOSSIP VS. BALANCED REPORTING
- MEMO TO EDITORS: COVER MEMOS
- IS THE PAPER BEING PATRIOTIC?
- READERS WEREN’T SUPPOSED TO SEE NOTES
- STAGED NEWS, REPORTED AS SUCH
- FIRESTORM OVER ELECTION…COVERAGE?
- P.S.: AL-ARIAN HASN’T BEEN TRIED
- LET MORE READERS HAVE THEIR SAY
- ACTING AS THE READERS’ MIDDLEMAN
- READERS: TOO MUCH A.D. WITH ‘B.C.’
- TAKING PUBLIC CRITICISM ON THE CHIN
- IF YOU’RE A CRITIC, JOIN THE CLUB
- ‘THOUGHTLESS’ HEADLINE CREATES IRONY
- FOLEY IS GAY. WHEN WAS IT ‘RELEVANT’?
- THIS PALM BEACH PARTY WAS NEWS
- STRIP CLUB STORY WASN’T A TEASE
- EXPLAINING, BUT ALSO CRITICIZING
- CARTOONS, RELIGION: COMBUSTIBLE
- READERS STRIKE BACK AT CARTOON
- FAMILIAR FACE BUT A DIFFERENT NAME
IN TRIBUTE to LANGSTON HUGHES and JESSE B. SEMPLE:
ISLAM, MUSLIMS, FAITH:
- SMALL LADY, WORLDWIDE REACH
- AN AMERICAN IN MECCA
- AN AMERICAN IN MECCA
- IN RENEWED NATION, MUSLIMS MADE TO FEEL AT HOME
- MISSING THE ESSENCE OF A RELIGION
- The 70 VIRGINS, AND OTHER MYTHS