The VSIs at the Oxford Literary Festival 2009
Some photographs from the Oxford Literary Festival.
Spring Training and Senatorial Appointments
Donald Ritchie looks at the connection between spring training rookies and Senatorial appointees.
Who Moved the Inauguration? Dispelling an Urban Legend
Donald Ritchie looks at how the Presidential Inauguration moved from the East Front of the Capitol to the West Front.
Why Does the Transition Take So Long?
Donald Ritchie looks at the gap between the Presidential election an inauguration day.
If Not Perfect, At Least Excellent: The Electoral College
Donald Ritchie looks at the Electoral College.
Bloggers Challenge the Rules of the Game
Donald Ritchie looks at political resistance to changes in the press.
Scoops, Packs, and Clubs
Donald Ritchie shares his National Press club speech.
Annie Lee Moss and Joe McCarthy
AANB contributor Donald Ritchie writes about Annie Lee Moss and Joe McCarthy.
Women in the News
Donald Ritchie looks at the history of women reporting the news.
Follow the [Ad] Money
Donald Ritchie takes a closer look at newspapers.
The Rise and Fall of the First Internet
Donald Ritchie looks at the telegraph.
The Constitution and the 4th of July
Donald Ritchie helps us celebrate 4th of July.
The Media and Congressional Investigations
Tune in tomorrow morning from 8 to 9 a.m. to see Donald Ritchie on C-Span’s Washington Journal. In the post below Ritchie puts the current Congressional committee investigations into the Bush administration in historical perspective.
Scooter Libby: A Guilty Verdict in Perspective
A historical look at Scooter Libby’s conviction.
Journalism Past and Present
Until the age of 50, Mencken was called “America’s Foremost Bachelor,” praised for being the patron saint of single men. When H. L. Mencken married Sara Powell Haardt in 1930, the press concluded that the author of “In Defense of Women” was probably in the most embarassing position of any fiancee in recent years. They were bent in trotting out the old quotes. How, reporters insisted with glee, will Mencken explain that he had once said “A man may be a fool and not know it –but not if he’s married.” Long before, he had defined love as “the delusion that one woman differs from another.” To these queries Mencken replied; “I formerly was not as wise as I am now….the wise man frequently revises his opinions. The fool, never.”
Awards for Exposing Government Secrets
by Don Ritchie It is richly ironic that during the same week the Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting was awarded to Susan Schmidt, James V. Grimaldi, and R. Jeffrey Smith of the Washington Post, for their coverage of the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal, news reports also revealed that the FBI has been seeking to comb […]