journalism

Current Issues  /  Morning Update  /  News & Comment  /  Personal  /  Politics  /  Social Commentary
Morning Update: 08/29/24
August 29, 2024

Too Hot For Summer [2010]

The saga of “what’s broken now” continues. Yesterday, the plumber finally arrived to fix the outside spigots. I had managed to stay awake all morning waiting for him. Fortunately, Kat was home by the time he finally gathered everything he needed and started working. He managed to finish shortly before the kids arrived home from school. This should stop the constant flow of water outside the house and lower our bill dramatically. The only real challenge is that I’ll have to actually watch and refill the water bowl the dogs use outside.

Today, the same plumber returns around 8:30 this morning to replace the water heater. Why? Because when he opened the closet where the water heater is, looking to turn off the water for the house, he noticed that there were multiple leaks. There wasn’t any question about it. Water was dripping everywhere. This repair is going to be more of a big deal. Chances are pretty high that he’ll have to take the water heaters in/out of the front door. You know, the one we never use because five litter boxes are sitting in front of it. I asked G to clean up around there last night, but I noticed this morning that there’s still a bit of work to be done before they get here. I’m typing as fast as I can.

Kat made a wonderful dinner last night! I have to take a moment and brag. She’s been making homemade chicken broth for the past couple of weeks so that she has soup to take to work with her. The side effect of that was that we had extra chicken breasts that needed to be cooked. The chicken, the wine-based sauce, over very nice rice, beat out any restaurant that I’ve been to. I’m not sure the kids appreciate how lucky they are that their mom is such a wonderful cook.

There’s a lot that kids don’t notice about their parents, though, such as how tired and rundown they get trying to take care of everyone. Everyone knows that being a parent has never been easy, but now it’s been codified. The US Surgeon General made it official that being a parent is bad for your health. Cue the childless cat ladies who are now grinning from ear to ear. This puts a spotlight on how parents are treated at work, the difficulty of getting time off to care for sick kids, the need for personal days away from the kids, and the overwhelming cost of childcare. The entire report is here if you’re interested in reading it.

Have you been following the whole kerfuffle over the Orange Felon’s campaign taking pictures at Arlington Cemetery on Monday? I’d been largely ignoring it because, at its core, it’s just another incident where the Felon is showing disrespect for the military. he’s good at that. The only reason he was even at the cemetery on Monday was trying to score political points over the way troops left Afghanistan. Now, it seems that cemetery officials had warned the campaign beforehand that they were not allowed to take pictures. That takes away the “we didn’t know” excuse. Don’t be surprised, though. This whole campaign is built on lies and deceit. Expect it, but don’t fall for it.

SpaceX had a boo-boo and now it’s grounded. Literally. the FAA grounded all Falcon 9 launches pending an explanation of why one of them fell over and burst into flames while landing. This immediately affects a number of planned launches, including that one where the billionaire is going to try walking in space. No one was hurt in the accident and peripheral damage was minimal. Still, after having completed several successful missions where the returning rocket didn’t fall over, having one do so raises some serious safety questions.

Journalism took a serious hit yesterday. A Hong Kong court on Thursday found two editors of the now-defunct Stand News media outlet guilty of conspiring to publish seditious articles in a case that has drawn international scrutiny amid a security crackdown in the China-ruled city. Stand News was once a beacon of what a Free Press could do. As China has increased its chokehold on Hong Kong, though, those freedoms have been severely stifled. Be sure that China wants this case to serve as a warning for anyone else who might want to challenge its dominance over the city.

China hasn’t exactly been playing nice for quite some time. Yesterday, a top Chinese military official told White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan that the US needs to stop “colluding” with Taiwan. China desperately wants to reunite Taiwan with the mainland. Taiwan, however, doesn’t want to go and the US has long held that China doesn’t have the right to take away their independence. I think it’s pretty certain that the US response to China will be a big “fuck you,” only in more diplomatic language.

Greedy investors caused AI stocks to stumble a bit yesterday after chip maker NVIDIA posted gains that dramatically beat forecasts, but not as much as investors had hoped. Mind you, the company reported a net income of $16.6 billion. Adjusted for one-time items, net income was $16.95 billion. Revenue rose to $30 billion, up 122% from a year ago and 15% from the previous quarter. The problem? “Well, it wasn’t as much above forecasts as other quarters have been.” Greedy much? Growth forecasts for the entire industry are still quite strong. There’s plenty of time here for investors to squeeze out insane profits and buy all their yachts before there’s even a hint of a downturn.

I wish I had something pithy and cute to end with this morning, but there’s nothing really that interesting in this morning’s headlines. The rain that seemed inevitable yesterday morning never developed, staying well to our North. Our next chance for moisture comes with the cool front moving through Friday night. We’ll see how that goes.

I have to get things moved around for the plumber now, so you take the day and run with it, okay? It’s all you. No pressure.

Continue Reading

Current Issues  /  Morning Update  /  News & Comment  /  Personal  /  Politics  /  Social Commentary
Morning Update: 08/05/24
August 5, 2024

The Machine Isn’t Working [2019 original with AI background]

Weekends, especially Sundays, go by entirely too quickly. I tried fragmenting my naps so I could spend more time with the kids, but even with that, there wasn’t enough time to get into all the conversations we wanted to have. G did a complete washdown of the kitchen, complaining about how much grease was everywhere. I tried explaining to him that without a working ventilation hood, which we’ve never had, the spread and accumulation of oil droplets is inevitable. I’m not sure he believes me. Still, he did a fantastic job!

We got most of the mowing done. Tipper was working on the last part when she somehow ran over the electric cord. How she did that “accidentally” is still a mystery to me even after she attempted to explain it. All she would have had to do was let go of the handle and the blade would have stopped. Color me suspicious. I looked at the cord this morning and with all the other cuts it has had I think it best to just replace the whole thing.

G is getting into watching the stock market, so that enabled a fun conversation this morning about recessions, how they happen, and how they help correct over-inflation in the market. While the US markets aren’t open yet, the Nikkei is down 13%, the lowest since 1987, and European markets are at six-month lows. He has a list of stocks he’s watching and none of them have done well this past week. This could end up being a very interesting lesson for him, even if it is bad news for the elections.

Debby finally became a category 1 hurricane yesterday and is taking out her angst all over Florida and the Southeast. While no one is expecting extended power outages like what we saw in and around Houston earlier this year, the storm could still cause a great deal of damage not only in Florida but Georgia and South Carolina. Worst case scenario: the storm could quickly cross Florida and reform out in the Atlantic, wreaking havoc all up the eastern seaboard. We’ve seen it happen before. No one’s completely ruling out anything.

The rest of the world is simply insane. I’m not going to elaborate on any of these headlines, but they’re all important:

I will take some time with this one because it’s important. If you thought Project 2025 was going away, think again. One of the document’s architects, Russel Vought, is stepping up to the podium and saying some things that should send chills down your spine. Among the highlights: “We’re not going to save our country without a little confrontation.” He wrote in 2016 that Muslims “do not know God because they have rejected Jesus Christ his Son, and they stand condemned.” This fool could become the President’s Chief of Staff should the Orange Felon win a second term. Keeping up the pressure on Project 2025 and everyone connected with it is important. It’s not going away. Vought and others like him are dangerous threats to our democracy and must be stopped.

It’s a Monday, so you know the chances for everything to become all the more chaotic. Maybe we should all take some time to calm ourselves, have an extra cup of coffee this morning, perhaps some ice cream this afternoon, and try to find some time to breathe.

And maybe we won’t look at the headlines again until in the morning.

Continue Reading

Current Issues  /  News & Comment
Out Of Control
February 17, 2017
charles i. letbetter - out of control

The president complains about the press which means the press is doing its job

 

charles i. letbetter - out of control

The Short Version

The 45th president, in a rambling 77-minute press conference that resembled the chaos of his administration, repeatedly picked on, attempted to bully, and called out specific members of the press. “Out of control” and “fake press” he calls them. Yet, whether the president likes it or not, they’re doing exactly what they’re supposed to do: keep the government from lying about what it’s doing.

A Little History

Ever wonder why the freedom of the press is guaranteed in the US Constitution? The founders had seen the fallacies of a government-controlled press not only under King George III but all across most of Europe at that time. Kings of the 18th century kept very careful control over the information that the public received regarding matters of the crown, and often the picture that was painted was nowhere close to the truth. When framing the amendments of the Constitution, those early patriots wanted a press that would be part of the checks and balances of government.

Of course, that ultimately meant they would sometimes write what presidents didn’t want people to know. Thomas Jefferson was perhaps the first to call the press liars. “Nothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper. Truth itself becomes suspicious by being put into that polluted vehicle,” he wrote in 1807. Whether Mr. Jefferson was correct in his assertion is now a matter of historical debate. No one is around to set the record straight.

Other presidents have had difficult relationships with the press as well. Richard Nixon’s tirades are well documented, as are his attempts to bug the phones of journalists. Bill Clinton and George W. Bush had their moments of frustration with the press as well.

What’s worth noting, however, it that every time this has happened, the dominant reason for the feud is the press doggedly calling out the president and, in some cases, his administration, for what they are doing. The Washington Post blew open Watergate. The New York Times closely reported on both Clinton and Bush. The high degree of surveillance given the current president is no different than his predecessors.

The difference is that there’s more for the press to write.

A Difficult Relationship

There’s little question that the relationship between the press and the president has become more adversarial over the years. Gone are the days when the White House press corp would help keep a secret as significant as President Roosevelt’s polio disability or John F. Kennedy’s extramarital dalliances. The modern press is more aggressive in looking for their stories and less trusting of official White House communications.

What makes the relationship with the 45th president more thorny that before is the fact that even before he was elected this president was repeatedly caught in outright lies as he attempted to skew information in his favor and cover errors he had made. The candidate who would become president wasn’t alone in using that tactic, however, and lies and misstatements became so commonplace within the campaigns that fact-checking became a regular requirement after ever speech by every candidate.

Even now, the Associated Press still fact checks every statement coming out of the White House. This morning’s article checks the validity of the president’s statement that he “inherited a mess” from the Obama administration. The AP finds that the president’s statement, once again, the president is either lying, misleading, or totally ignoring evidence to the contrary. You can read the full article for yourself here.

Is the AP out of control? No, they’re just doing their job in keeping the president and his White House honest.

Is every member of the press so responsible? Of course not.

Long before there were websites totally given to biased accounts of the news, there were tabloids that filled their pages with nothing but lies and nonsense. We knew that they were nothing but lies and nonsense even when they ran stories as ridiculous as Elvis Presley being alive and waiting tables in some rural backwater town. Yet, people kept buying the tabloids carefully positioned at the checkout of the local grocery store. The difference between then and now is that people would read the stories and laugh. Now, people read the same kind of nonsense and believe it.

The fact that there are millions of people who are willing to believe ridiculous stories from the most dubious of sources gives credence to the president’s assertion that the press is lying. He stands in an incredibly long press conference that seems to have no central purpose and after several minutes declares, “I’m not ranting and raving. I’m just telling you. You know, you’re dishonest people. But I’m not ranting and raving. I love this. I’m having a good time doing it.” The same people who once believed the tabloid stories about werewolf babies from Mars are all too willing to believe that the press is intentionally being dishonest.

However, the majority of press members, including but not limited to the hundreds of local daily newspapers, are not dishonest. Instead, they are finding and reporting the dishonesty of the president’s administration, a level of oversight to which the president is not accustomed. In his previous life, the man who is now president could easily enough blow off questions from the press, retreat to his gold-encrusted penthouse, and let any potential storm blow over. His actions then rarely affected anyone outside his business dealings. Now, every word he tweets and every off-hand remark he makes has the potential to become a national crisis, and much of it has.

Contrary to his assertion that he is running “a well-oiled machine,” the chaos of his administration is so evident that one doesn’t really need the filter of the press in order to see what is happening.

From the Associated Press:

[The president’s] first month has been consumed by a series of missteps and firestorms, and produced far less significant legislation than Obama enacted during his first month.

Republican-led congressional committees will investigate the [president’s] team’s relations with Russians before he took office and the flood of leaks that altogether forced out his national security adviser in record time. His pick for labor secretary withdrew because he didn’t have enough Republican support.

By many measures, the administration is in near paralysis in its earliest days, leaving allies unsettled and many in Congress anxious about what Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., called the “constant disruption.” To many Republicans — never mind Democrats — the “fine-tuned machine” seems in danger of its wheels coming off.

Perhaps what the president means when he asserts that the press is “out of control” is that it is out of his control, which is exactly the way it should be. The press is doing its job and for a president who made his way into office on lies and misinformation, the harsh glare of honest light is one he finds painful.

Continue Reading

Current Issues  /  News & Comment  /  video
5 Things You Should Know: 01.12.2017
January 12, 2017
charles i. letbetter - 5 Things You Should Know

04:31:02 01/12/2017

 

Sponsoring 5 Things You Should Know won’t make bad news go away, but it can help us be more accurate. Contact us today!

 

Some days you need a compass

charles i. letbetter - 5 Things You Should Know

Wow! Here it is Thursday and the wind is back as it blows us toward a weekend of freezing temperatures and possibly icy conditions across the Midwest. The Northwest is still getting pummeled by rain and snow in record-setting amounts. In fact, they’ve had so much snow that officials closed Crater Lake National Park due to avalanche concerns.

Trying to look at the world through media reports is confusing as hell. When there’s no actual news, we get a lot of news-looking articles that don’t really tell us anything of value. Sometimes you have to piece the information together to get the full picture. That’s what we’ve done this morning. We’ve sifted through the actual facts and have 5 Things You Should Know.

 

Making corporate crime personal

charles i. letbetter - 5 Things You Should Know

Americans are known for having notoriously short-term memories so don’t feel too bad if you thought the whole mess over the Volkswagon emission-cheating scandal was over. Nope, far from it. These things take time to wind their way through the court and it gets all the more complicated when multiple countries are involved. The US can’t just reach across the Atlantic ocean and demand that someone from another country follow our laws. So, the fact that we’re just now seeing a resolution to the scandal really isn’t that surprising.

What we’ve seen in the past two days is that VW has pled guilty to criminal charges after installing software in diesel engines on nearly 600,000 VW, Porsche and Audi vehicles in the U.S. that activated pollution controls during government tests and switched them off in real-world driving1. The software allowed the cars to spew harmful nitrogen oxide at up to 40 times above the legal limit. As a result, the US has fine the company $4.3 billion, the largest fine against an automaker ever, and yes, VW is going to pay the fine.

What you should know, though, is that the Department of Justice also indicted six high-level VW executives yesterday, which is seen as a major step in holding individuals responsible for corporate crimes, something that has been extremely difficult in the past. Now, since all six are German citizens, actually arresting them is difficult. Germany doesn’t extradite their own citizens outside the EU. However, it effectively prevents those executives from traveling outside Germany. This is a huge win for consumers and the Justice Department.

 

They China Syndrome

charles i. letbetter - 5 Things You Should Know

While everyone has been distracted by possible spying and interference from Russia, another larger and potentially far greater danger has been growing in the South China Sea as China has made some very strong and deliberate moves that the US should find more than a little worrisome. Earlier this week, Taiwan was intimidated into launching fighters and naval vessels as China’s only aircraft carrier sailed through the Strait of Taiwan in a very obvious display of power2. This is just the latest in a series of military events where China essentially shakes its fist at the small country.

Then, yesterday, Secretary of State nominee and former head of Exxon Mobile, Rex Tillerson, told the Senate Confirmation Committee that China should be denied access to the islands it built and then militarized in the South China Sea3. Tillerson didn’t state what legal justification the US might use in interfering in matters in the South China Sea, but it puts further stress on the relationship between China and the incoming administration.

What you should know now is that earlier this morning China launched a new electronic intelligence ship4. Care to guess where they put it? That’s right, the South China Sea. The activity we’ve seen in that region over the past few months is some of the strongest China has made in the past 50 years. We need to remember, though, that China is also deeply embedded in the US economy. Any action we might take against them would likely be met with a response from Beijing that could send the US economy into a tailspin. The ramifications are extremely troubling.

 

Redefining the press

charles i. letbetter - 5 Things You Should Know

If it seems as though every media outlet on the Internet is talking about the president-elect’s news conference yesterday5, the reason may be because not since the Nixon administration has the relationship between the press and the White House been so strained. While I strongly agree that the exchange between the Great Orange and CNN’s Jake Tapert was one of the most childish displays of narcissistic bullying we’ve seen to date, the fact remains that he is the new reality and media needs to adjust to deal with him more effectively.

One of the ways that is happening is that Facebook has decided to take on a larger role in journalism6. What makes this something you should know is that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was very adamant in defending the social media powerhouse against charges that fake news posted on the site may have contributed to the outcome of the presidential election. What we now know is that roughly 40% of American adults get their news from Facebook7. What we see on Facebook we generally consider to be true, whether we admit it or not.

The Facebook Journalism Project, which was announced on the website yesterday, works in three ways:

  1. The collaborative development of news products
  2. Training & tools for journalist to enable better use of Facebook
  3. Training & tools for the general public, including efforts to curb hoaxes

Exactly how legacy media outlets will respond to the project is still uncertain, but at least Facebook is stepping up and recognizing its role in the dissemination of news. This won’t make presidential press conferences any less vile, but hopefully, it will prevent the kind of unsubstantiated news stories at the center of that exchange from becoming a problem.

 

Up, up and away

charles i. letbetter - 5 Things You Should Know

So, with all the stress and anxiety going on across the US at the moment, perhaps you’re thinking it might be nice to get away for a while, maybe enjoy a Spring Break somewhere different, even if you’ve not been a college student for 30 years or more. The problem is, you’re an adult. You have too many responsibilities and too little expendable cash. How can you afford to go anywhere? The Icelandic airline WOW would like to solve that problem for you by offering tickets from the US to Europe for as little as $708.

Oh yeah, there are some catches to that price. What you should know is that not every seat on the plane qualifies for the severely discounted rates. You’ll pay to check your bags and if you want anything to eat or drink during the long trip you’ll need to bring those yourself. WOW is only offering the service from LAX and SFA to Stockholm, Sweden; Bristol, England; Copenhagen, Denmark; and Edinburgh, Scotland. Oh, and there’s no Wi-Fi on the planes, either.

Still, this low-cost discounted rate for international travel may be the wave of the future. WOW’s CEO Skuli Mogensen thinks that eventually you might not pay for a ticket at all and that airlines will make their profit through ancillary costs and fees. Norwegian Air plans to make similarly discounted flights available later this year when it adds new planes9. This particular sale only last through April 5, though, so if you’re going you might want to make that reservation sooner rather than later.

 

And finally …

charles i. letbetter - 5 Things You Should Know

I’m beginning to think that there’s not anything that Taco Bell won’t try to stuff into or wrap around a taco. The fast food favorite of munchie-ridden stoners and college students everywhere has announced, and I swear I am not making this up, that it plans to go nationwide later this month with a taco shell made entirely of—are you ready?—fried chicken9. You may now take a moment and pick your jaw up off the floor. This is really coming to a Taco Bell near you.

This new culinary curiosity is being called the Naked Chicken Chalupa and, according to the chain, the entire shell is made of all-white seasoned chicken. They then fill that thing with lettuce, tomatoes, cheddar cheese and avocado ranch sauce. Apparently, this mess has tested well for two years in Bakersfield and Kansas City, though I don’t know that I would necessarily consider either of those places culinary capitals by any stretch of the imagination.

There’s no word yet as to how much this new source of indigestion might cost you. Remember that you’ll want to eat the thing immediately and not let it sit on your dashboard or coffee table overnight. Being chicken, it should be consumed hot to avoid any chance of contracting salmonella. Of course, if you’re eating at Taco Bell you’re probably not too worried about food poisoning in the first place, are you?

 

That’s all the time and space we’re willing to commit to this morning. If you’re in the Midwest, watch out for possible Thunderstorms midday. Wherever you are, please stay safe. We like you. Both of you. Until tomorrow, good day!

 

###

Continue Reading

Current Issues  /  Mythology  /  Social Commentary  /  studio nudes
Things That Make Me Want To Scream
November 9, 2016
charles i. letbetter - things that make me want to scream

I have yet to actually lift my head up and scream, but after yesterday’s staggering results I reserve the right to do so repeatedly

 

charles i. letbetter - things that make me want to scream

I had to take a break from my vain attempt to keep up with world reactions to yesterday’s disgusting election results. Not only have we elected the embodiment of hate to both the positions of President and Vice President, we have armed them with a Republican-controlled Congress and an increase in the number of Republican governors scattered across the nation. While I know that some see this as a good thing, for people of reasons this is a very dangerous event with global ramifications. However, I had to take a break.

You see, we have a dog. We recently put a fence around the entire yard so that the dog, who is a mix of hunting breeds, would have plenty of room to run without having to be on a leash. He loves it out there. The downside is that he tends to be a little aggressive toward anyone who isn’t me. While he’s never bitten anyone hard enough to break the skin, he does have an awesome takedown move. Once you’re down, he’s not letting you back up until I come to your rescue. So, I needed to put “Beware of Dog” signs out on the fence, just to be safe. This is part of being a reasonably responsible dog owner.

Given yesterday’s election results, I’m wondering if we might not do well to place a series of “Beware of Politicians” signs around our country to other countries, businesses, and would-be immigrants can be informed and take evasive action if necessary. Such a move would seem to be the responsible thing to do.

Beware Of Falling Economy

 

charles i. letbetter - things that make me want to scream

Not everyone had finished voting last night before the global markets started getting the jitters. When the Asian markets opened around 10:00 PM Tuesday evening, currency was what took the biggest hit as both the dollar and the Mexican peso suffered on the uncertainty that the election might introduce a slew of unknown factors to the market. Markets prefer to maintain the status quo. Disruption is met with negativity and values decline sharply as a result.

Among the biggest points that have global analysts screaming is the fear that the new President could embolden Iran’s hardliners.  This could lead to further instability in the Middle East and might possibly threaten the fragile Iranian nuclear deal. Continued instability worries investors as the price and availability of energy resources, specifically oil, has the ability to immediately impact markets, driving costs well out of anticipated range with no warning.

At the same time, Wall Street economists are concerned that the new administration might make changes to the Federal Reserve that would remove its autonomy from political influence. Such changes would further erode trust in and the power of the Fed, which in turn could trigger yet another global recession. Stability, again, is what the markets need and the threat of significant change at the Fed could send much-needed investment funds looking elsewhere.

While we’re over-simplifying some very detailed topics, the screaming point is this new administration has absolutely zero experience in monetary policy and the President himself has a proven record of failed business dealings and bankruptcies that erode faith in his ability to appoint staff capable of keeping things calm and moving forward. Recession could hit quickly and painfully once he is in office.

Danger: War Is Knocking

 

charles i. letbetter - things that make me want to scream

The concerned was raised in Europe a couple of days before the election. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) put 300,000 ground troops on alert as fears of Russian aggression are growing significantly. The move represents a return to Cold War status for European NATO troops as Russian propaganda, a build-up of Russian forces along NATO borders, and aggression in places such as Syria remind long-memoried Europeans of the Soviet threat after World War II.

Now, add in that whole Iran nuclear deal thing, the situations in Syria, Afghanistan, Yemen, Egypt, and other hotspots, and mix those with campaign rhetoric that has threatened to not honor the NATO treaties while making friends with Russia’s Vladimir Putin, and one can see where our allies might not be feeling all that confident about our ability to keep the peace. In fact, there is more than a little worry that a shift in US policy might actually support Putin rather than trying to keep him and Russia in place.

All this comes on top of concerns about Daesh and Al Queda having possibly infiltrated the United States. As the father of an active-duty U.S. Marine, the proximity to war we now face has me worried not only for my safety but that of my son as well. Should something happen to him as the result of an unjust or politically-motivated war, I will not be forgiving.

Warning: Freedom of Expression At Risk

 

charles i. letbetter - things that make me want to scream

The back-stepping has already started. A number of news and media outlets did not take it easy on the Republican campaign. The Huffington Post even went so far as to include the following statement at the end of each article about our new President-elect:

“Editor’s note: Donald Trump regularly incites political violence and is a serial liar, rampant xenophobe, racist, misogynist and birther who has repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims — 1.6 billion members of an entire religion — from entering the U.S.”

Care to guess what is being retracted today? HuffPo’s editors claim that their move is an effort to start the new Presidency with a “clean slate” and give him a chance. However, in a campaign that was filled with direct threats to members of the media, insults toward reporters, and a general lack of cooperation with and respect for the press, There aren’t too many people feeling as though criticizing the new President and/or his administration is going to be met with the usual denials and rebuttals. Just a few weeks ago, National Press Club president Thomas Burr criticized the Republican campaign for “journalist intimidation.” The insults and direct attacks against the news media and press have been unrelenting.

Now, the person at the heart of those attacks is, somehow, President-elect. Does anyone trust that the rough rhetoric of the campaign will just go away? Of course not! Instead, what we anticipate is a lack of journalistic access to the White House that we’ve not seen since the Nixon administration. Our reasonable fear is that anyone who dares to openly criticize the President might face a personal lawsuit, which, justified or not, no journalist can afford to fight.

We have fought long and hard for freedom of expression. The right of citizens to know everything their government is doing is inalienable. Without the press, a democracy quickly falls to a dictator. We are in grave danger.

Beware: Hate Is Claiming A Victory

 

charles i. letbetter - things that make me want to scream

This one may be what causes me to tear out my hair and do damage to my vocal cords. The instant media outlets declared that the Republican nominee had more than the required 270 electoral votes, former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard, David Duke, said, “Make no mistake about it, our people have played a HUGE role in electing Trump!” Never mind that the President-elect’s campaign officially distanced itself from the KKK and any other recognized hate group that tried to ride campaign coattails. No one ever believed those denials were sincere in the first place. Hate has always been standing right next to the Republican nominee as evidenced by his choice of running mates.

Of course, not all hate groups look like hate groups. The Washington Post ran an article this morning regarding the overwhelming role of specifically white evangelicals in electing the new President. They may not look like a hate group, but these are the people who have marginalized LGBTQ people for years. Evangelists such as Pat Robinson have vilified any and every Democrat they’ve come across. These are the same people who have spent the past eight years ridiculously attempting to accuse President Obama of being a Muslim. They are bigoted, homophobic, xenophobic, nationalistic, racist, and classist in the worst possible way.

Understand, none of these radicals may actually take an official seat in a cabinet post, but be sure that they are there, talking, advising the new President, and making sure that hate remains a part of the new administration’s agenda.

Who does this put at risk? Women. People of color. Immigrants. Children. The elderly. The poor. The homeless. Science. Reason. Our allies. The planet.

We have given power to the most ignorant, the most hateful, the most prejudiced, the most selfish, and the most diabolical group of people to ever set foot in our nation’s capitol. The dangers are very real. Ignore the warnings at your own peril.

I think we’re going to need more signs. And I still reserve the right to scream.

Continue Reading

Current Issues  /  pop culture  /  PotD
Excessive Media Erodes Our Trust
September 27, 2016
charles i. letbetter - excessive media erodes our trust

There’s a danger in the internet and social media. The notion that information is enough, that more and more information is enough, that you don’t have to think, you just have to get more information – gets very dangerous. —Edward de Bono

 

charles i. letbetter - excessive media erodes our trust

If you don’t trust media it might be because you’re using too much of it.

CAUTION: YOU ARE CONSUMING MEDIA. PROCEED WITH CAUTION.

We changed brands of dog food this morning. We felt the dog wasn’t getting enough from his previous brand, so we did a little bit of research and switched. This morning, I didn’t feel we’d done enough research. The dog normally comes in from our morning walk, eats a little, then falls fast asleep because 4:00 AM is early even for a dog. Except this morning, after inhaling the new food, he didn’t go to sleep. He’s been bouncing around all over the place, terrifying the cats, and getting himself into trouble. So, I hit the brand’s website to double-check the ingredients. I needed specific information and found it on the brand’s website. That makes the dog food company a media provider.

A number of my friends in journalism were sharing this article from the Washington Post decrying how that there really is no such thing as “the media” and, if there is, WaPo certainly isn’t part of it. The argument author Paul Farhi attempts to make is that the term “the media” is too broad to be defining. If one defines “the media” according to the constraints given by The Oxford Dictionary, then practically everything around you is, technically “the media.” Here’s the definition:

(the media)
the main means of mass communication (broadcasting, publishing, and the Internet), regarded collectively
See the problem? If “the media” is the vehicle for all communication, all communication is “the media.”

Not Your Grandfather’s Newspaper

When I first woke up this morning, I knew that the headlines would be dominated by spin on last night’s presidential debate. Among the myriad of headlines was this one: The Media Calls Debate For Clinton. I’d link you to the article, but it has since been removed (apparently an editor woke up). My point is that the article was a case of one information source blamed another information source for communicating information. Seems rather silly, doesn’t it?

When one puts something on the Internet, whether it’s a Facebook status or a tweet or your grandmother’s cookie recipe, there is one underlying purpose: to communicate. When one puts something on the Internet, one is engaging in the digital form of publishing. That makes you part of “the media” and a consumer of media at the same time. Therefore, taking this circular logic all the way around, when one criticizes “the media” online, they are ultimately criticizing themselves.

Yeah, stop and let that sink in for a moment. Hurts the brain a little, doesn’t it?

Believe it or not, all these media sources are less than 100 years old. Only newspapers and printed leaflets existed in 1916. Even the first talking movie, The Jazz Singer, was over a decade away. With so few choices for information, trust in those sources ran high. Chances are, in most areas, your grandparents or great-grandparents knew who published the local newspaper. They probably went to the same church, were members of the same civic groups. Few people would have thought of publishing their own paper or printing their own leaflets. Information needed to be important if it was going to be distributed.

Contrast that to current standards where “if you think it then you must tweet it,” or something like that.

What We Say

Gallup released a poll earlier this month with the headline: American’s Trust In Mass Media Sinks To New Low. Here’s the actual question and how the long-term graph looks:

Notice that Gallup attempts some nebulous framing of the question by adding the qualifier “mass” to “media,” so as to restrict opinions to what might once have been regarded as “legitimate” news sources—the ones your grandparents would have trusted. Given the overwhelming number of “news” sites, especially when one includes aggregators such as Huffington Post and Breitbart, Gallup’s question is still too broad to have any real, definitive meaning. If the survey tells us anything, and that point would certainly be arguable, it is that we only trust a limited number of the information sources we access.

Similarly, Hart Research, acting on behalf of NBC News and The Wall Street Journal, asked half the respondents of a 1,000-person survey to “rate your feelings” toward “several public figures, groups, and organizations.” In the total list, “the news media” ranked toward the bottom with only a 19% positive response, between Donald Trump (28% positive response) and Vladimir Putin (6% positive response). However, once again, the lack of a narrow definition calls the results into question. Some people might consider satire sights such as The Onion part of the news media. Others might consider aggregators part of the news media. Neither is there any delineation between sources that provide a majority of reporter-based editorial content and those that are merely an omnibus of collected opinion. 

What We Mean

What is generally considered “news” in this Internet-driven age is a far cry from the traditional expectations of journalism. There are millions of websites that distribute information related to current topics. For many people, that makes those sources “news.” Never mind the fact that they’re opinions we’ve written ourselves, largely to amuse ourselves. By the broad contemporary definition, this website might, at least on some days, considered a news source. That scares me because, despite the sometimes excessive amount of research we put into an article, it is never our intent to provide anything more than an opinion.

Perhaps even more frightening is how frequently people refer to social media, specifically Facebook and Twitter, as part of the news media. Neither site has reporters or editors controlling what you see or don’t see. All the information flowing through those sites is curated by one person: you. You decide what is “news” and what is “information” and what is “entertainment.”  What’s telling is that a very large number of people make absolutely no distinction between those categories. They simply toss everything under the general heading of “the media.”

And they don’t trust it. Which, again, using that circular logic, means we don’t trust ourselves. We probably shouldn’t. We don’t know what we’re doing. We’ve proven that we’re not terribly judicious in the media we consume. If we were, debunking sites like Snopes wouldn’t get nearly as much traffic. On any given day, we publish more false information through our own social media accounts than all the newspapers and news networks combined. We distrust “the media” because we know, secretly, that we are complicit in spreading rumor more than fact.

A Difficult Diet

Like a person whose health deteriorates from eating only fast food, the solution to our media loathing starts with a very harsh reality: we need to cut back. Continuing the fast food metaphor, we need to pay more attention to the source of what we’re consuming. Sure, there are days when ordering pizza makes sense for our schedule, but that doesn’t happen every day. Most days we’re more conscientious about what we consume. The same is true of media. Some days I need the smile I get from a video on Funny Or Die. Making that my source for breaking news and information, though, is just silly. I’m going to check my local paper, then local television news, then national news sources if applicable. I’m damn sure not going to rely on Facebook or Twitter.

We have a preponderance of choice. Media surrounds us already and as the Internet of Things grows the amount of media being thrown at us is going to get worse. We need to start making those tough choices now. Back off the Buzzfeeds and TMZs, limiting them to inconsequential topics that we probably shouldn’t care about in the first place. Pay more attention to the source of our information. Hint: anytime you see an article tagged as “sponsored,” know that it was written by someone, or on behalf of someone, who has a vested financial interest in the topic. Therefore, it’s not news. Recognise opinion for what it is: someone else’s viewpoint, not news.

If we don’t trust media it’s because both the media we create and our choice of media to consume are not trustworthy. The problem is us. We’ve gotten fat on easily available, always accessible media. Saying we distrust “the media” is like saying we don’t like mac & cheese while a fresh bowl sits in front of us. We need to put ourselves on a media diet and see just how much our opinions change.

Continue Reading

Current Issues  /  Hashtag Philosophy  /  PotD  /  Social Commentary
The News In 140 Characters
July 30, 2016
charles i. letbetter - the news in 140 characters

It’s amazing that the amount of news that happens in the world every day always just exactly fits the newspaper. —Jerry Seinfeld

 

charles i. letbetter - the news in 140 characters

Does anyone read the news anymore or do they just look at the tweets and the headlines?

I saw an interesting editorial cartoon yesterday, which, of course, I didn’t have the foresight to actually save so that I could accurately reference this morning. The cartoon lamented the fact that when historians look back at the exchanges of this presidential election, it will be candidates 140-character tweets they’ll examine rather than anything like the Lincoln-Douglas debates.

The comparison is stark. How news and information is delivered has changed not only in terms of media, but the brevity with which news is delivered. Sure, there will be debates during this campaign cycle,  but even those will ultimately be reduced to sound bites of 140 characters or less.The Twitter limit applies not only to the application, but to the reduced size of our attention spans.

Once upon a time, the details of the news and the excellence of reporting and writing were honored. Winning a Pulitzer prize was an exception because of talent and skill. Now, winning a Pulitzer is an exception because someone actually put in more than 300 words worth of effort. Long-form reporting still happens at places such as the New York Times and Washington Post, but then the media departments of both newspapers instantly find ways to reduce thousands of words to a 140-character tease.

Even here, I create a 140-character excerpt that appears in social media links to the article. Hundreds of people view that excerpt, but only a fraction of those read the article. We frequently use nude imagery not because it has anything to do with the article, but because it is a quick way to get attention.

Tweeting The News

Almost every newspaper of any size now has a media department. That staff is responsible for not only creating 140 character descriptions of articles, but managing and measuring the responses they get to those descriptions. Read through the comments on almost any provocatively written tweet or  Facebook post and it becomes evident that many of the most volatile remarks are made by people who never actually read the article; they’re just responding to their interpretation of what the article might say based on the structure of that tweet.

Great tweet writing is a skill and in today’s media it is just as important as headline writing and copy editing. A well-constructed tweet can bring thousands of eyes to a topic, or can leave one totally ignored. Knowing which hashtag to include, the precise verbiage that is easily understood, is not something that was traditionally taught in journalism schools. Rarely does anyone notice when a tweet is done well. Let a newspaper or politician miscommunicate online, though, usually through a poor choice of words, and watch the shit hit the fan.

To illustrate my point, let me share some of the most recent news tweets across a variety of topics. There’s more information behind each tweet, but how many people will actually bother to click through and read the articles? I’m betting not many. Fewer than 10 percent of readers ever click a link, here or anyplace else on the Internet. Let’s see how you do.

Politics

 

 

 

Information

 

 

 

 

Society

 

 

 

Putting Things In Perspective

How many of those articles did you click through to investigate? Any? Consider that a few short years ago those nine stories would have been enough to fill a 30-minute television newscast (sports and weather aside). In print, they would have dominated the A section of any newspaper. Yet, here you have it all in 140 characters and some well edited GIFs.

I’m old, so it is difficult for me to see this shift as anything other than a loss of information and understanding. Reading through a flurry of tweets, we might come away feeling more intelligent and informed, but we don’t actually know enough about any of those stories to speak knowledgeably and authoritatively. Not that such a lack of information ever stops us. We’re quite willing to go ahead and open our mouths anyway, facts be damned.

What probably bothers me most about this change in how we receive information is that without all the details we are more likely to react harshly, sarcastically, and with suspicion. We don’t trust the tweet because we don’t allow ourselves to gain enough information to understand the full story. We lack compassion. We lose the opportunity to learn. We fail to consider different perspectives. We wander around so ignorant that we don’t recognize ignorance.

If you’ve made it this far into today’s article, you likely already understand. Of the few people who started the article, less than five percent finish. Again,that’s not just true here, but for most any online reading.

Perhaps one day the pendulum will swing back the other direction and we’ll appreciate well-written and ardently-reported stories again. This 140-character world doesn’t work for me. We need more information, not less. I suppose that’s every individual’s choice, though, isn’t it?

Sigh. At least there’s a nude picture at the top.

Continue Reading

Current Issues  /  PotD
Protecting The Press
June 2, 2016

An able, disinterested, public-spirited press, with trained intelligence to know the right and courage to do it, can preserve that public virtue without which popular government is a sham and a mockery. —Joseph Pulitzer

charles i. letbetter - protecting the press

The power of the press to remain critical of a government and its leaders is the cornerstone of a free country

For the past several years, we’ve bemoaned the doom and gloom of a press that has seen its influence wane, its integrity challenged, and its profitability eroding. Critics rightly claim that what passes as journalism today is hardly a shadow of what it was a mere twenty years ago. Amidst the glut of twenty-four-hour cable and online streaming news, even the once powerful homes of Murrow, Cronkite, and Brinkley are now forced to battle for ratings. It is sad to see the Fourth Estate in such sad condition.

There is, however, an even worse situation on the horizon, one that’s been quietly building in smaller countries and now beginning to rear its ugly head at the top of powerful governments. While we as Americans have always honored the concept of a free press, we are seeing an increasing threat of violence against those who dare to report the truth.

I felt a chill yesterday morning when I read that Philippine president-elect Rodrigo Duterte said Tuesday that, “Just because you’re a journalist you are not exempted from assassination, if you’re a son of a bitch.” This comes after yet another reporter was shot dead in the streets of Manila last week. 174 journalists have been killed in the country over the past three decades. Duterte is one of those people who dislikes the press challenging him, which they have done often. His response is violent and unconscionable. Yet, he’s not alone.

Reporters Without Borders released their 2016 World Press Freedom Index a month ago and some of the numbers contained therein are extremely disconcerting:

  • Venezuela has had 16 journalists attacked, one editor imprisoned, and 22 media bosses are forbidden to leave the country.
  • In Russia, 70 journalists have been attacked, 81 arrested, and even social media users are being harassed.
  • Turkey prosecuted over 1000 people for “insulting the president,” arrested over 100 journalists, and have critical editors imprisoned.
  • Egypt has 23 journalists in prison where they are tortured and beaten on a regular basis.
  • Iran completely closed six media outlets and has 32 journalists in inhumane prisons.
  • China has over 100 journalists imprisoned, their families harassed, and many tortured.

We used to think, “that couldn’t happen here,”   but it is. The foundations are being laid with the rhetoric of a major presidential candidate that is decidedly anti-press. The latest came Tuesday when he called ABC’s Tom Llamas, “a sleaze.” A few seconds later he sarcastically called CNN’s Jim Acosta, “a real beauty.” While the insults may seem harmless, they are indicative of a would-be leader who dislikes being criticized and considers himself above scrutiny. He has also booted Univision anchor Jorge Ramos from a press conference with a warning that he “holds grudges.” He’s called Fox News analyst Charles Krauthammer “totally overrated,” blasts reporters who challenge him on any issue, and perhaps most famously called Fox’s Megyn Kelly a “bimbo.”

While the temptation is to dismiss this nonsense as just that: nonsense, the fact is that such continual bashing of the press builds up a resentment toward all media that would attempt to investigate and report on the truth in any form other than what has been government-approved. This is no slippery slope. This is outright repression of the press and, should this horrible person actually be elected, we can only assume that press freedoms would further erode.

Former CBS News anchor Dan Rather, who himself took some pretty heavy criticism from the Nixon administration, took to Facebook last night and expressed what I think a lot of us are feeling. I don’t often quote large passages like this, but in this instance I feel his words are far superior to anything I might concoct, not to mention more authoritative. Here’s what he said:

I felt a shudder down my spine yesterday watching Donald Trump’s fusillade against the press. This is not a moment to be trifled with. It wasn’t his first tirade and it won’t be his last.

I was reminded of my college journalism professor, the late Hugh Cunningham, who would exhort his young charges in a thundering voice to “never let them scare you.” It was his most important lesson. One of Edward R. Murrow’s favorite words was “steady.” That also bears repeating today.

This is a dirty, nasty election. And it is only going to get worse. The reporters in the trenches need no lecture from me. They are walking through daily minefields, bracing themselves against winds of discontent whose effects no one can predict.

I know what it is like to sit in those seats and feel the scorn and even wrath of politicians of all political persuasions. Attacking the press for unfair coverage has long been a bipartisan pursuit. Sometimes it works. I am happy to say that more often it doesn’t. But Trump’s brand of vituperation is particularly personal and vicious. It carries with it the drumbeats of threatening violence. It cannot be left unanswered.

This is not about politics or policy. It’s about protecting our most cherished principles. The relationship between the press and the powerful they cover is by its very definition confrontational. That is how the Founding Fathers envisioned it, with noble clauses of protection enshrined in our Constitution.

Good journalism–the kind that matters–requires reporters who won’t back up, back down, back away or turn around when faced with efforts to intimidate them. It also requires owners and other bosses with guts, who stand by and for their reporters when the heat is on.

I still believe the pen is mightier than the sword. And in these conflicted and troubled times, we should reward the bravery of the men and women not afraid to ask the hard questions of everyone in power. Our nation’s future depends on it.

We, as citizens of a country that might best be described as tumultuous, are dependent upon the press. Despite the shortcomings of infotainment-based newscasts, we still need them to be our eyes and our ears within the halls of power. Governments that act secretly ultimately enslave their people. If we are to preserve our democracy, with must protect the freedom and sanctity of the press and all those who in any way participate in the reporting of the news.

Otherwise, we are every bit as bad as Russia, China, and the Philippines.

Update, June 5: The Republican candidate is ever more firm in his intent to destroy the rights of the press guaranteed by the first amendment. Should he win, anyone who says anything he doesn’t like would be a target. Don’t take my word for it. Watch the words come from his own filthy mouth.

Continue Reading

Current Issues  /  Photography
Pulitzer Prize Depression
April 19, 2016
charles i. letbetter - pulitzer prize depression

The Pulitzer Prize is an idea; it’s a vote of confidence. Like literature, it exists purely in the mind. —Jeffrey Eugenides

 

charles i. letbetter - pulitzer prize depression

I’m not eligible for a Pulitzer Prize, but if I were I’m not sure I’d want the honor

The annual Pulitzer Prizes were awarded yesterday and, as with every year for the past 30, I had just a momentary touch of jealousy. There was a very brief period in my life where I thought I wanted that particular recognition, or at least, the money that goes along with it. The cash would always come in handy, but I no longer truly desire that prize because what one has to photograph to win the damn thing doesn’t suit me particularly well.

If you’re not sure what I’m talking about, let’s take a look at the Pulitzer winners in the photography categories for the past ten years. Stop me when you notice a pattern.

2007 Breaking News Photography: Oded Balilty of Associated Press For his powerful photograph of a lone Jewish woman defying Israeli security forces as they remove illegal settlers in the West Bank.

Feature Photography: Renée C. Byer of The Sacramento Bee For her intimate portrayal of a single mother and her young son as he loses his battle with cancer.

2008 Breaking News Photography: Adrees Latif of Reuters For his dramatic photograph of a Japanese videographer, sprawled on the pavement, fatally wounded during a street demonstration in Myanmar.

Feature Photography: Preston Gannaway of Concord (NH) Monitor For her intimate chronicle of a family coping with a parent’s terminal illness.

2009 Breaking News Photography: Patrick Farrell of The Miami Herald For his provocative, impeccably composed images of despair after Hurricane Ike and other lethal storms caused a humanitarian disaster in Haiti.

Feature Photography: Damon Winter of The New York Times For his memorable array of pictures deftly capturing multiple facets of Barack Obama’s presidential campaign.

2010 Breaking News Photography: Mary Chind of The Des Moines Register For her photograph of the heart-stopping moment when a rescuer dangling in a makeshift harness tries to save a woman trapped in the foaming water beneath a dam.

Feature Photography: Craig F. Walker of The Denver Post For his intimate portrait of a teenager who joins the Army at the height of insurgent violence in Iraq, poignantly searching for meaning and manhood.

2011 Breaking News Photography: Carol Guzy, Nikki Kahn and Ricky Carioti of The Washington Post For their up-close portrait of grief and desperation after a catastrophic earthquake struck Haiti.

Feature Photography: Barbara Davidson of Los Angeles Times For her intimate story of innocent victims trapped in the city’s crossfire of deadly gang violence.

2012 Breaking News Photography: Massoud Hossaini of Agence France-Presse For his heartbreaking image of a girl crying in fear after a suicide bomber’s attack at a crowded shrine in Kabul.

Feature Photography: Craig F. Walker of The Denver Post For his compassionate chronicle of an honorably discharged veteran, home from Iraq and struggling with a severe case of post-traumatic stress, images that enable viewers to better grasp a national issue.

2013 Breaking News Photography: Rodrigo Abd, Manu Brabo, Narciso Contreras, Khalil Hamra and Muhammed Muheisen of Associated Press For their compelling coverage of the civil war in Syria, producing memorable images under extreme hazard.

Feature Photography: Javier Manzano of Agence France-Presse For his extraordinary picture, distributed by Agence France-Presse, of two Syrian rebel soldiers tensely guarding their position as beams of light stream through bullet holes in a nearby metal wall.

2014 Breaking News Photography: Tyler Hicks of The New York Times For his compelling pictures that showed skill and bravery in documenting the unfolding terrorist attack at Westgate mall in Kenya.

Feature Photography: Josh Haner of The New York Times For his moving essay on a Boston Marathon bomb blast victim who lost most of both legs and now is painfully rebuilding his life.

2015 Breaking News Photography: Photography Staff of St. Louis Post-Dispatch For powerful images of the despair and anger in Ferguson, MO, stunning photojournalism that served the community while informing the country.

Feature Photography: Daniel Berehulak of The New York Times For his gripping, courageous photographs of the Ebola epidemic in West Africa.

2016 Breaking News Photography: Mauricio Lima, Sergey Ponomarev, Tyler Hicks and Daniel Etter of The New York TimesFor photographs that captured the resolve of refugees, the perils of their journeys and the struggle of host countries to take them in. Also receiving the prize is the Photography Staff of Thomson Reuters For gripping photographs, each with its own voice, that follow migrant refugees hundreds of miles across uncertain boundaries to unknown destinations.

Feature Photography: Jessica Rinaldi of The Boston Globe: For the raw and revealing photographic story of a boy who strives to find his footing after abuse by those he trusted.

There you have it: ten years worth of Pulitzer prizes for photography. Every one of those entries represents not only amazing photographs, but unbelievable amounts of pain, sacrifice, loss, and incredible risks, including their own lives. One doesn’t get the pictures awarded here without going where no sane person would want to go and taking pictures that, in a perfect world, would never need to be taken.

Therein lies the reason I don’t want a Pulitzer. If I’m winning a Pulitzer prize for photography, it is because someone else has suffered to such an extent that their suffering is visible through the photographs awarded. Of all the pictures on the list above, only the 2009 award for images of President Obama’s first presidential campaign didn’t come with someone facing death, disease, and/or destruction. Yes, we need to see those pictures, and they almost certainly need to be pushed to the front so that we have to visually confront the horrible reality that faces people other than ourselves. We need to know that while we’re complaining about a WiFi signal, Somali refugees are dying by the hundreds in cold ocean waters. We need to see the suffering caused by a pandemic such as Ebola. Without those pictures, we are not able to appreciate the horrible conditions and we are not as inclined to help rectify those problems.

I’ve known Pulitzer prize winners over the years, though, and those people don’t come out of long-term assignments like that without a few scars, both physical and mental.  Not all of them are able to continue. Ghosts of their subjects, some of whom have died in the photographer’s arms, haunt them every time they raise a viewfinder to their eye. Nightmares of bombs going off or people in need tugging at their clothes prevent them from being able to sleep. Some winners refer to the prize as a curse for they can never shake those images and the heart-wrenching emotions that go with them.

Maybe my pictures of a little girl sitting on a stump and being silly are not earth-shatteringly important. Maybe my pictures don’t open people’s eyes to horrible conditions around the world. Maybe my pictures are sometimes simplistic portraits of people who hold no other significance than just wanting to have their picture taken. I’m okay with that.

There are photographers whose pictures are frightening, whose pictures bring your worry, and whose pictures maybe even induce some level of guilt. Those are the ones that win Pulitzers. But if my pictures make you smile, give you a reason to feel confident or good about yourself, or bring back a happy memory, then is that not its own prize? And most the time, I’m not at risk of contracting a deadly disease and dying six months later. I’m good with that.

However, should you feel the need to give me $10,000 for my effort, I won’t turn it down.

Continue Reading