The Word Liberal Has Been

Ever Since Richard Nixon Walloped George Mcgovern In The Presidential Election Of 1972, Political Pundits Have Treated As A Truism The Proposition That Liberals Are Out Of Step With The Rest Of The Nation, And Therefore All But Unelectable Outside The Precincts Of The Northeast -- Give Or Take A College Town Here Or A Ski Resort There. During The Course Of Every Presidential Election For The Past Forty Years Now, Republicans Have Sought To Wield The Word Liberal As If It Were A Six-gauge Shotgun.

American Journalists Tend To Treat Inequality As A Fact Of Life. But It Needn't Be.

The White House And The Media Need One Another In Order To Be Successful In Their Jobs. The White House Depends On The Media To Make Its Case To The Public; The Media Need The White House To Fill Their Airtime And News Columns.

To Own The Dominant, Or Only, Newspaper In A Mid-sized American City Was, For Many Decades, A Kind Of License To Print Money. In The Internet Age, However, No One Has Figured Out How To Rescue The Newspaper In The United States Or Abroad.

We Live In A Media World Simultaneously Obsessed With Technology And Personality.