A lesson from Nigeria, on balancing the blessings of modernity and the celebration of an ancestral past.
Articles
The gradual, deadly constriction of freedom in one small country.
Digital omniscience meets “the crooked timber of humanity.”
Disney is hardly alone in groveling before the gates of the Middle Kingdom.
The campus free speech wars aren’t the only threat to American higher education.
Detroit rips open old wounds. Part of the Shadow Play article series.
The Trump presidency is giving Americans a crash course in civics. Are we capable of sharing the lessons with the world?
What the critics get wrong about RFE-RL’s Persian language news service, Radio Farda.
Dignity, not celebrity. Part of the Shadow Play article series.
VOA’s alleged mishandling of a Chinese insider’s interview shouldn’t overshadow the important work done by it and the other U.S. government-sponsored broadcasters.
And why some limits on speech are not only good but even necessary for a free society.
(Co-authored with Jeffrey Gedmin)
A memo to the new CEO of U.S. international media.
The Young Pope is a dazzling work of art. Part of the Shadow Play article series.
Why is the President-elect so good at getting the media to chase their own tails?
How Westerners misunderstand the Eurasian drift of former Soviet republics like Moldova.
The problem with our media isn’t “fake news.” It’s the absence of meaningful contexts for interpretation.
The Cold War novelist on the big and small screen. Part of the Shadow Play article series.
What does The Walking Dead say about American anxieties? Part of the Shadow Play article series.
How serious political reporting became a luxury good amid a mass-market media circus.
Truth, lies, and TV spies. Part of the Shadow Play article series.
(Co-authored with Jeffrey Gedmin)
President Donald Trump’s first State of the Union Address, televised January 2018 on the Daily Donald Trump (DDT) network.
Donald Trump's bad reality show. Part of the Shadow Play article series.
Democracy and transparency need each other. Part of the Shadow Play article series.
Two television shows' very different outlooks on war and prisoners of war. Part of the Shadow Play article series.