Tag Archives: Newspapers

J school tricks: Making jaundice look ‘balanced’ 1.1

By Joel Thurtell In my lecture today, I’ll show you budding young journalists how to do what might seem impossible to many writers with less skill than you will have once you complete your training here in Joel’s J School. … Continue reading

Posted in Bad government, Joel's J School | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Playing dumb

By Joel Thurtell Like everyone else in Michigan, I’ve been following Kwamegate pretty religiously. How can you not? The stories are everywhere, even when there’s not a story. Occasionally, when my reactions to media coverage become too powerful to control, … Continue reading

Posted in Bad government, Joel's J School, Kwamegate | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

‘Freedom of information,’ except…

By Joel Thurtell After all the hoopla about the Detroit Free Press and Detroit News’ battle to open more of the Kwamegate text messages to public view, I wanted to learn what the legal issues were. So I headed for … Continue reading

Posted in Bad government, Kwamegate | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

No files? It’s circus court

By Joel Thurtell Who ever heard of a court that works without files? Sounds like something Franz Kafka would make up. You know, that insane novel of his, “The Trial,” where a guy spends his life trying to make contact … Continue reading

Posted in Bad government, Kwamegate | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Figuring it all out

Control. That’s what I wanted. Before we left for vacation on August 1, I wrote enough columns to post a new one each day that I was gone. Well, almost. True, I recycled one. Hey, Bob Talbert did that. Remember … Continue reading

Posted in Bloggery, Kwamegate | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

A TRUE ethics policy revisited

By Joel Thurtell Still on vacation. Hope you don’t mind another retread. I think this essay on ethics is important and I plan to follow with more thoughts on what’s important and what’s not important to credibility for journalists. With … Continue reading

Posted in future of newspapers, Joel's J School | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Double standard at the good ol’ Freep

By Joel Thurtell Back in 2003 when I was investigating U.S. Rep. John Conyers Jr.’s abuse of staffers, I had anonymous sources for the first stories, and that was very okay with editors. Something changed, though, and I was prohibited … Continue reading

Posted in Bad government, censorship, JC & Me, Joel's J School | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Message from the Messenger: You’re fired!

By Joel Thurtell Guess they showed me who’s boss. The door did not slam behind me — I got the news at home, by phone. After three months of writing for a liberal blog, I’m out. Liberal or conservative, it … Continue reading

Posted in Joel's J School, retirement | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Stifling Free Press Conyers coverage

By Joel Thurtell [donation] On Nov. 21, 2003, The Detroit Free Press ran the first of what I believed would be a steady series of exposes of U.S. Rep. John Conyers Jr.’s abuse of congressional aides to further his own … Continue reading

Posted in censorship, JC & Me, Joel's J School | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Kwamegate + Sludgegate = elitism, entitlement

By Joel Thurtell A few minutes after six this morning, having brought the day’s issues of The Detroit Free Press and The New York Times in and while I measured coffee into the java machine, it occurred to me that … Continue reading

Posted in Adventures on the Rouge, Bad government, Bloggery, censorship, JC & Me, Kwamegate, People | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment