I will admit to being one of the 17.8 million Americans who tuned in last week to the Fox love-fest that was “Idol Gives Back.” I will even agree with much of the hype surrounding the show; it did accomplish its mission of awareness and inspiration. Having spent time living in Africa, I have [...]

Everyone has probably heard by now that Prince will now be appearing at this year’s Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival. And many have also likely heard that it cost Goldenvoice - the event’s promoter - $4.8 million to get the star of Purple Rain to ditch the Rio for a night to come [...]

This is some ridiculous bullshit.
The deluge of responses to the now-infamous Off The Bus article by Mayhill Fowler on The Huffington Post have been an exercise in putrid American punditry. With a few weeks of downtime in this already absurd primary process, it was like a freshman fratboy had gone [...]

We may take our fair share of shots at the Brits and to a lesser degree, the Aussies, with their Parliaments and funny wigs, but I think the US takes the cake when it comes to a convoluted general election process.
Want a brief refresher? Newstopia- the Aussie version of The Daily Show- has this [...]

They way you communicate is about to be revolutionized…again.

When considering the strengths and weaknesses of Sen. John McCain’s presumed Republican presidential candidacy, there are two quotes that merit serious consideration.
The first comes from McCain himself: “We are succeeding in Iraq. I don’t care what anybody says.”
McCain’s straight talk came a day after four American soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb, rockets rained [...]

It’s safe. You can get help there with your homework and become a hip-hop star. It’s A Place Called Home.

It has become obvious that Richard Cohen will not be satisfied until Barack Obama joins the Klan. Until then, the fact that some (and perhaps more than “some”) whites won’t vote for him due to his skin color will remain Obama’s own fault. Per Cohen’s column in the Washington Post, it is Obama’s [...]

In the wake of the scandal surrounding the LATimes’ coverage of Tupac Shakur’s death and the related Sean “Puffy” Combs’ “conspiracy,” I keep thinking about all these accusations of “unprofessional journalism” and the lack of “appropriate verification.” Is it readers’ disappointment? Self-loathing on the part of the Times? Other media outlet’s schadenfreude? Perhaps all of [...]

More than a week after Zimbabwe’s latest presidential elections, President Robert Mugabe’s administration has yet to release the results. Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has appealed to the High Court, the president of neighboring democracy South Africa and the U.N. to pressure the president to make an announcement.
Word on the street seems to be that Mugabe [...]

On two different occasions my media law professor at USC Annenberg asked our class of aspiring journalists whether we would be willing to go to jail to protect a source. As prosecutors force more reporters to either hand over the names of anonymous sources or risk going to jail, the question takes on greater importance. [...]

I’ve grown tired of the self-serving and sanctimonious invocations of “King’s Dream.” Since his death, its reference has been mired in cheap sentiment and easy virtue, recognizable to the daytime TV chat show set accustomed to camera-induced catharsis and the promises of fulfillment just awaiting those who “buy this book” and follow “these easy steps.”
King’s [...]

MLK was assassinated today, 40 years ago. He was a mere 39-years-old. He had gone to Memphis to support black garbage collectors— ie, the sanitary public works employees who had been on strike for a month, the work conditions they faced every day unbelievably horrific, men getting crushed in compactors that they were forced to [...]

If I’ve heard it once, I’ve heard it a thousand times: “I like everything— except country.” Beyond the “all A’s but one A” inconsistency of the phrase, it’s a flippant indicator of cultural elitism, a way to keep us divided.
In an election season celebrating change (including more room for women at the top!), [...]

 

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I hadn’t seen my aging grandfather in over four years. Two weeks ago, it turned out he was waiting for my return to die, passing into the Illinois night in a quiet, debilitated fashion that belied every minute of his happy-go-lucky existence.
He said good-bye to us one week before his 92nd birthday and one [...]