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About jerrylanson

I teach, write, coach and sing, though you're not required to listen to the latter. I'm a journalism professor at Emerson College in Boston. My third book, "Writing for Others, Writing for Ourselves," was published in November by Rowman & Littlefield Publishing. You can read a sample chapter at www.jerrylanson.com. My passions are politics (generally liberal in outlook), music, mountains, golden retrievers and my grandchildren, though not in that order. Please stop by and mix it up with me. I always answer those who post.

Barack Obama’s historic gamble

Posted on May 12, 2012

Barack Obama has once again assured his place in the history of the American presidency. Obama acted courageously, if carefully, this week in becoming the first American president to openly support gay marriage. In doing so, he took substantial risks – with … Continue reading →

Posted in civil rights, election 2012, gay rights, Obama, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Remembering Mom

Posted on May 9, 2012

My Mom had opinions on just about everything. And she wasn’t shy about sharing them either. Ethel Lanson was a teacher — first biology and then, when I was growing up on Long Island in the ’50s and ’60s, a … Continue reading →

Posted in family, Mother's Day, Mothers, Parenting | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Moving on

Posted on April 29, 2012

Dear friends, Though I’ll keep this address for the occasional family piece or travel piece, I’ve moved most of my blogging to the Huffington Post. From there, I’ll push it out to those who are Facebook friends or follow me … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Is it time to consider new standards for news?

Posted on April 20, 2012

Investigate. Verify. Publish. Journalism used to seem so much simpler. As a graduate student at the University of Missouri in the mid-1970s, I memorized the somewhat lofty language of the Hutchins Commission, which in 1947 urged American journalists to “provide a … Continue reading →

Posted in ethics, journalism, news, news and speed, news media, social media, twitter | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Media need to establish clear ethics codes on using, posting tweets

Posted on April 11, 2012

Don’t retweet this yet. Don’t post it on your news site. Not until you check to see if I am who I claim to be. That I’m a professor and not a charlatan. That my links are real. That I didn’t make up this … Continue reading →

Posted in ethics, news media, newspapers, social media, twitter | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Can the Red scares of the ’50s mount a comeback?

Posted on April 11, 2012

Nothing in politics should surprise me anymore.  This, after all, is a country in which, polls suggest, millions of Americans still believe our president was born in another country and practices the Muslim faith. That said, I was nonetheless surprised … Continue reading →

Posted in Congress, mccarthyism, news media, red baiting | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

In Trayvon Martin case, news media need to examine their own role

Posted on April 3, 2012

Last spring, the Association of News Editors (ASNE) announced that the percentage of minority news employees at American newspapers and news websites had declined for the third consecutive year, even as the overall percentage of non-white Americans continued to rise rapidly. It … Continue reading →

Posted in institutional racism, media coverage, news, news media, race relations, trayvon martin | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Will Occupy Make a Comeback in 2012?

Posted on March 28, 2012

So what now? Six months ago, the Occupy Wall Street movement swept across the country, encapsulating growing economic inequities through chants and slogans, even as it failed to cohere in formulating plans to address them. The movement, with its encampments … Continue reading →

Posted in Occupy Boston, Occupy Movement, Occupy Wall Street, the 99% declaration, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Mitt Romney: Dogged by that pet on the roof

Posted on March 20, 2012

So how did the story of Mitt Romney’s dog go from being an asterisk in this campaign to one of the hottest stories in American political journalism? The tale of Seamus, the Irish setter, is hardly new. On June 27, … Continue reading →

Posted in dogs, election 2012, Mitt Romney, Republican primaries, Republicans | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Civics lessons from the nation’s monuments

Posted on March 13, 2012

WASHINGTON, D.C.– Amid the first flowers of spring, Kathy and I circled the Capital’s Tidal Basin this weekend, visiting the monuments dedicated to our country’s greatest leaders, reading their words. Some contemporary leaders might benefit from a similar walk through … Continue reading →

Posted in civics, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Jr., Thomas Jefferson, Uncategorized, Washington monuments | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment