clash of the titans

i love watching public affairs programs.

shows like Imbestigador, XXX, and every show of the Tulfo brothers, where they expose various shades of wrongdoings by government officials through hidden cameras and confront them outright, never fail to get me worked up, and i like getting worked up. they never failt to give me a rise. unfortunately, these shows are an essential part of my couch potato existence.

on the other hand, i think it was The Elements of Journalism that said that in the US, hidden cameras are no longer considered ethical. its easy to figure out why. part of the ethics of the profession is to identify yourself as media in getting a story. but i think this should be the subject of another blog entry.

anyway, the topic of public affairs program occured to me as i await the next chapter in this town’s latest big ticket political bout: the Tulfos vs. Mike Arroyo.

like i said, i love public affairs programs. but i believe that media’s job is not to straighten out everything that ’s crooked about the system. we just write about it. so even if i really dig these kinds of programs, i object to them on a professional level. the sight of any of the Tulfos bulldozing their way into a public official’s office for a confrontation, or Raffy letting off a mouthful of expletives to an erring official over the phone, is exhilirating. imagine the powers that be finally getting their comeuppance. but another part of me cringes too. that part is screaming “its not our job to do stuff like that!!” i am also afraid shows like these will only reinforce the image of the journalist as a crusader who will do anything to get his way, damn the rest of the world.

alright, maybe hosts of these programs just want to help people. but there’s the rub. if the Filipino would cherish more his civic rights and stand up to the powers that be when he is pushed to the wall why would they even need to approach journalists to do the fighting for them? its probably all rooted in our history (indio vs. peninsulares blah blah, but dont take my effin word for it. i didnt get good grades in history hehehe)

anyway, being a true child of television, i’ll keep watching these shows to get my weekly fix.

PS: Mon used to defend FG. what gives is anybody’s guess.

12 Little Things Every Filipino Can Do to Help Our Country

A spirited discussion in one of the automotive forums i am a member of spurred me to Google Alex Lacson’s list. I had actually met the guy when i was in college and he struck me as a nice, easy-going guy. Shy and quiet, he is the type who never says anything bad about anyone.

for more details, readers can Google his name and find out the inspiring story of how his book “12 Things You Can Do to Help Our Country” came about.

1. Follow traffic rules. Follow the law.
2. Whenever you buy or pay for anything, always ask for an official receipt.
3. Don’t buy smuggled goods. Buy Local. Buy Filipino.
4. When you talk to others, especially foreigners, speak positively about us and our country.
5. Respect your traffic officer, policeman and soldier.
6. Do not litter. Dispose your garbage properly. Segregate. Recycle. Conserve.
7. Support your church.
8. During elections, do your solemn duty.
9. Pay your employees well.
10. Pay your taxes.
11. Adopt a scholar or a poor child.
12. Be a good parent. Teach your kids to follow the law and love our country.

oh and if you can, please pass the list on to your friends.

To Alex, may your tribe increase my friend.

SONA and the state of education

Much has been said by columnists and bloggers about the last SONA and how impossible the President’s goal is to fight corruption, set up the “super regions,” and build infrastructure.

I noted with some frustration, tinged with just about the right hint of righteous indignation, that she said barely anything about education. Only that ladderized education must be continued.

But what about basic education? Sadly, the President again has failed (as usual) to see or is glossing over the fact that the education system in the country is in crisis and that to save it, focus must be given to basic education.

Let us look at some basic facts. Resource gaps are unfortunately represented by the shortages in classrooms. At daily single shifts with one teacher per 50 students, there is a gap of around 10,000 classrooms. At double shifts, that’s still 4000 to 6000 classrooms.

There is a lack of teachers, or to qualify, a lack of really good teachers who can teach the subjects they majored in. Teachers are paid only basic wages and have to make do to survive in light of rising consumer prices. Yet the output expected of them, when they have to teach something like 50 to 100 students in a class in the worse conditions, is so high.

On the average, students’ mastery levels of even the most basic subjects like English, Math and Science is wanting. They average near the 50 percent level when mastery level is at 75 percent.

The education budget, which the Constitution mandates should be the biggest, is only at P119 billion in the last national budget that has yet to be passed. Around 80 percent of this amount is already spent to pay the salaries of around half a million teachers. While an improvement over the last amount given to the education department (P112 billion), this amount is not enough to turn things around. Just to cope with the increase in population, the system needs more than P120 billion. To achieve any real significant improvement, the budget has to be so much more.

It was also frustrating to note that even if she had already had her cabal of local executives inside the Batasan during her SONA, she said nothing to push them to invest and focus on education. Nothing for them to eschew the usual PR picture-taking of dear Mr. Mayor giving out school supplies to school children and instead to put their thinking caps on (if they have one) to figure out how to improve the performance of their schools.

Infrastructure and fighting corruption is all and good. But for the country to move forward, there must be a serious and focused program to close the resource gaps in education and improve the performance of the students or the problems plaguing the sector will never ever go away.

More than building infrastructure (and spreading the largesse around in the process), the country must first develop its most valuable asset, human resources, or else this country will never budge an inch. It’s ironic that the President, who once taught in college, failed to see what is literally in front of her perky little nose. Or is it she isn’t tall enough?

fake idealism?

While clearing my office email inbox, i stumbled across this email from the young Magdalo soldiers. Three of the undersigned have already been captured from a safehouse in Fairview while San Juan had already apologized and “returned to the fold.”

In fulfillment of our sworn duty
January 19, 2006

We have bolted from the repression of a bogus regime. We will no longer go along with the repression that this regime has to impose in order to continue its illegitimate rule. It is a repression that continues to prevent the members of the armed forces from, and even punishes them for, carrying out their sworn duty: to defend the Filipino people.

Our oath is clear: Our place is with our people; the people’s will is sovereign. All our actions in the performance of our duties must demonstrate this bias in all instances.

Those who insist on the neutrality of the military, and who now occupy the positions of power, are those who would rather that we stay silent, betray our oath, and in effect even help them perpetuate their own selfish interests. They are the enemies of the people. We refuse to be their pawns.

The people’s mandate is clear: Corruption, illegitimacy and neglect must end. Therefore, we do not merely seek a change in personalities. We seek the change of a system that installs the people’s enemies in power and perpetuates the exclusion of the majority. We seek the change of a system that reduces the people to being mere spectators, and a change in the kind of politics that lulls the masses into inaction and acquiescence with noise; petty quarrels, distracting issues and cosmetic reforms.

We are not alone in this struggle. Most of the armed forces are still loyal to their oath and are one with us in our vision. We make up the New AFP. And we join our fellow Filipinos who now refuse to be cowed. We are a force that grows stronger by the day, working in solidarity to usher a new nation where the people’s interests are truly supreme.

The imperative is on all of us. The time to act is now.

Capt. Nathaniel Rabonza
1st Lt. Lawrence San Juan
1st Lt. Patricio Bumidang
1st Lt. Sonny Sarmiento

armed journalism

I am neither averse nor intimated by guns. The fact is, I once owned a firearm. It was a gift from my father. Well sort of. Actually, he wanted to buy a new gun, so he gave me his old one, a 9mm pistol.

Unfortunately, I don’t think I was a “gun” kind of a person. With my quick temper, I was afraid that one day, I would do some real harm if I continued to keep my firearm. So I sold it to a policeman (my father never got wind of this).

The only good thing that came out of that experience is that it trained me to use a firearm in the event that the need arises, which I think is actually a very remote possibility right now. At least I learned something, no matter how insignificant. I’m being defensive here (harhar).

By the way, I bought a motorcycle from the proceeds of the gun. My friends tell me I merely exchanged one dangerous thing for another. At least riding a big bike has less to do with machismo (okay okay, I hear howls of protests here) than with plainly indulging my need for speed.

Frankly, I am not amused at all by pronouncements by journalists that they should be allowed to arm themselves. And I am shocked that the government would even suggest that arming journalists is one way for the killings of mediamen to stop.

The fact of the matter is that most journalists are already armed. Also, nothing, not even the fact that you do have a firearm with you, will discourage any assassin intent on finishing you off.

In my dealings with people who carry and brandish firearms, I also realized that the gun is nothing more than a symbol of machismo to the extreme, a throw back to the Wild Wild West where men lived and died by the gun. But is this the type of society we are living in now? Wild west? Nope. Machismo abounding, yes. Case closed, sell the gun.

It’s a role-playing fantasy world shaped for us by Hollywood, where good guys (like us) battle away at our perceived attackers by diving on the ground under a hale of bullets and dirt. Time to wake up. It might be part of an age-old male phallic fascination with the firearm. You know, something long and shiny that spits out…well, something. (hehe)

Better to have a gun when you need don’t need it than have no gun when you need it? Balderdash, if you ask me. Looking back now, I don’t think I have heard anything more stupid than that.

But anyway, I think the best armor and the best deterrent for a journalist from an attack on his or her life is the ethical and professional practice of the profession. Obviously, once a journalist oversteps the thin line of good journalism and a personal and malicious attack on a person, then there is a possibility that there will be threats. Yes, a journalist is always faced with the possibility of doing a story that will tick someone off. But truthfully, its just a matter of getting the other guy’s side on the matter. If that’s the case, what is there to fear? In my view, absolutely nothing. Maybe the question is best answered by journalists who advocate arming themselves. I don’t think I have heard any of them say “we just want to learn to use guns.” Its really all “because there is a threat.” Oh please.

I remembered I was giving a career talk to a private school once and one of the students ask me if I carried a gun. It came to me that this was a common question that people ask me. Its sad that people have this image of the Filipino journalist as a pistol-packing hombre. Its just not right.

Okay, I learned to use a gun. But do I have to hone my so-called “skills” any further with visits to the firing range? No thanks and no more. There are more productive ways to while away your time and money. Like riding my big bike, or reading good books, or learning to cook nilagang baka…or something like that.

to my son

To my beautiful Anton,

When I first learned you were coming into my life, I was so happy. I cried and prayed to God to thank Him for giving you to me. I was afraid a little that I would not be able to provide for you adequately. But please understand that this is normal for men who are expecting the birth of their children.

Please be reassured that Daddy will give you everything you need and will try his best to give you everything you want. Daddy and Mommy had a hard life growing up. I made a promise to myself to give you a better life for you Anton, better than my own.

Sometimes, I fear for you, my dearest child. I fear I am bringing you into a world full of evil, greed, and hate. When you come out, I know you will see a lot of ugly things. But fear not, Daddy will do his best to keep you from these things so you can grow up to be a very good boy.

Daddy wants you to be strong emotionally, yet still sensitive. I hope I can teach you to be independent, but still close to family. I want you to appreciate what you have and not focus on what you don’t or can’t have. I want to teach you that hard work and a good education will take you somewhere. I want to teach you about the consequences of your actions, and let you make you own choices.

Everyday, Daddy and Mommy try to make a world a better place to live in for you, even in our own small little way. It’s been tough, I don’t even know if we make any difference at all. But I don’t mind. I hope that when you grow older, you too will try to make the world a better place, for yourself or your love ones. I assure you, it makes for a life really worth living.

Everyday, I say a quiet prayer for your safety and health. I promised God that if He delivers you to me safely, I will do my best to raise you the way He would have wanted to and to always thank Him for all our blessings.

One day, you will probably fly away from your Mommy and Daddy. If this happens, I want you to know that Daddy and Mommy will always be there for you if you need us.

One day, I know you will be old enough to read this. Do you know that as I write this, you are still inside Mommy’s tummy? This early, I want you to know that Mommy and Daddy love you very very much.

Alcuin

missed education

I haven’t been able to blog because of all the work that came my way. So my entry on the education problem in the country is actually a couple of weeks late. Better late than never.

It is sad that media focuses on the problems of education only when school starts. But such is the nature of news and news organizations, they will only go with what is hot at any particular point in time. I for one would love see a constant coverage of education by media, in the same way that politics which actually has a smaller effect on the everyday life of Juan dela Cruz, has a stranglehold on headlines.

Doing our special report on the problems of education and covering the education beat has opened my eyes to the various issues involved. These are some of the solutions I encountered that to my view makes a lot of sense.

Increase spending – for the past few years, there has been a woeful underinvestment in education. The education budget for this year is a small increase, hardly 10 percent, from last year. If we want the budget to catch up with the shortages in resources, the budget should be at least twice that amount. Unfortunately, education does not seem to be a priority of this administration or those in the past. Increasing the spending for education will solve most of the problems of the system like lack of classrooms, teachers, etc.

Rationalize the bureaucracy and decentralize – the Deped has the largest chunk of the bureaucracy. So the budget it gets is swallowed up just for salaries of around half a million teachers. But division superintendents and principals must be allowed some leeway to run their areas of jurisdiction without any encumbrance from the central office. There are a lot of creative people on these levels that have great ideas on how to run schools, especially with limited resources. We must allow them to do just that. Officials who cannot cope shouldn’t even be at their positions and must be replaced.

Insulate the system from politics - there is already a roadmap for reforms in education. but there is a need for continuity. we cannot expect anything from a department secretary that stays for less than two years. Deped higher echelon must function as a team, as it did before. the secretary must be allowed to choose his team. i think its also a good way to keep corruption at bay.

Involve local governments – from my point of view, local governments are involved but only up to distribution of freebies, like school supplies, uniforms, etc. After all, its makes for great photo opportunities. But what most officials do not realize is that it is not just a matter of throwing resources at their local school systems. They must also make their teachers accountable for the performance of their students. Continue lending support to their public schools with free school supplies, etc but tell the teachers that they must improved the performance scores of their students, or the freebies stop. Throw in a reduction of the teachers salaries (they get allowances after all) and things might happen.

Involve the community – a teacher in Makati told me that most parents don’t care how well their children do in school. How a parent thinks this way is completely beyond me. Maybe they do not see that education is the path for a better life for their children at least. There should be a campaign to keep the children in school. Once the children stay in school, the system will also have to make sure the child studies in a comfortable environment conducive to learning.

Focus on the teacher – the teacher is the key to it all. They are worth tons of reading materials. They are paid so low yet the output expected of them is so high. Closing the resource gaps will reduce class sizes so that they become more manageable. Teachers must be given more training and more incentive.

Support initiatives from the private sector – this should also include the GASTPE program that buys seats in private schools for public school students.

The recent outbursts at the president directed at Fe Hidalgo will do little to help the education sector directly. On the other hand, it has made the public more aware of the problem, if only for now.

Government must get its priorities right in education. Otherwise, its all matter of making shortages disappear as if by magic. A few slight-of-hand tricks will never make the problem go away.

forever Everest

If all goes well, this would be a good year for Filipino mountaineers. Romy Garduce is at the Mt. Everest Base Camp and is just about to launch his attempt to conquer the highest mountain in the world. Hot on his trail are members of the first-ever Philippine Everest team. and unfortunately, watching over them are GMA-7 and ABS-CBN, who have taken their network war to the Tibetan mountains in support of the two groups.

unfortunately too, i feel myself torn between cheering for the two groups. Garduch was ahead of me by one batch at the UP Mountaineers. He struck me as an amiable guy, very friendly. and that counted a lot when we were up there trekking in the forests and peaks during my mountaineering days.

on the other hand, Choy Aquino and my batchmate Levy are part of the Phil Everest team. Choy was a loud but funny guy who never failed to make the people in the UPM tambayan roll over with his antics. Levi was quiet, soft spoken but ready with his wide smile.

i would have thought i should be happy that a Filipino, or a Filipino team, and members of UPM no less!!!, would scale Everest and bring some glory to our country. but the thought of these guys up there but on different teams is, i find, a little unsettling. why in the world didn’t they just combine their efforts?

but such are mountaineers, i guess. they never back down from a challenge, not even from Everest. if it’s there, they (we?) just have to climb it. they will go at it, whether solo or in a group. they just have to be up there.

admittedly, my cheer will go to Garduce. after all, this guy has conquered most of the peaks considered as test climbs before Everest, including Aconcagua and Cho-oyu. The Philippine team unfortunately has some ground to cover. but whoever is first, i hope a Philippine flag on Everest’s summit will unite us all.

of course, i expect politicians will jump all over this when the summit is conquered by a Filipino. such is life. but whatever happens, the local mountaineering community and mountaineers past (like me) and present will celebrate. to hell with these politicians!!

I hope and pray that the networks don’t jump all over this too much. to goad the two groups as if in a race is dangerous and could risk the lives of the climbers. thankfully, these are some of the smartest climbers i know. and i can think of only a couple of things that will prevent their date with the rooftop of the world: bad weather and lack of preparation and training.

PS: maybe its time for me to get into shape for the UPM anniv

GMA Kapuso

I had a chance to view news reports on GMA’s interview with Mike Enriquez over DZBB and i found myself agreeing with her thoughts on responsible journalism. But when the talk ventured into the difference between responsible and “seditious” journalism, my mind put on its “BS” brakes (whatthefeff!)

i wont go anymore into a diatribe on the supposed difference between responsible and “seditious” journalism because there really is no conflict there. its more like comparing apples and orranges. responsible journalism is just that, its neither seditious or “unseditious,” much like the fact that there is no “good” news or “bad” news. its all how we take the news.

and of course, who is the President, or anybody in government for that matter, to judge what is responsible and what is seditious? its the public who will be the judge of that. media is the public’s watchdog of government. for government to start complaining, railing and ranting about how supposedly “unfair” media is and actually start doing something about it like harrassing and muzzling media, is dangerous to press freedom.

sure, media has its own problems like ethics, etc. but that is for media to resolve, and its being resolved. if a media entity is unable to do just this, it will have to be answerable to the market.

if government has problems with how media conducts itself, then it should take a long hard look at the policies it is implementing, rather than shoot the messenger.

if government thinks media is beginning to buck too much like a wild horse, it should realize that media is also searching for answers to the more essential problems plaguing our country today. two words here: Hello Garci! media is bucking because the government is being fudgy.

anyway, the topic of the DZBB-GMA thing came up during a recent meeting with Carlos Conde and Vergel Santos, whose book I am enjoying immensely at present, at a recent forum. We agreed that Enriquez should have been more circumspect about how to respond to GMA’s diatribe against GMA-7’s rival ABS-CBN. I posited that Mikey-baby should have answered “Ma’am, di lang po kami ang responsible. ABS din naman ha, pati na rin Inquirer, ABC-5, PCIJ, etc.” Mr. Santos said Mike E. could have come up smelling like roses then to the whole of media.

i understand if it was difficult to slip anything in, knowing how GMA or any agressive source for that matter, can bulldooze you into a corner with her arguments to the point of submission. but i felt Mike could have slipped one in, like a Pacquiao punch coming out of nowhere. broadcasters can be so good at that.

it was also classic Sun Tzu, divide and conquer. and i agree with Ma’am Chuchay, pitting one network over the other demeans the office of the presidency. of course, i didn’t expect GMA would carry herself in the highest standards that the office demands, as we have all already seen.

my point is, it was an occassion for Mike to defend the whole of Philippine media now that it is under attack from the Palace. And to show her that media is standing united, that its now no longer about rivalries, ratings and circulation. its about press freedom and the media’s role.

right there are then, Mike got muzzled by the President sitting right in front of him. she didn’t even have to touch him.

talagang naloko na!

The Top 100 Journalism Works

in case i lose the list. i forgot who came up with it.

1. John Hersey — “Hiroshima”
Publisher — New Yorker

2. Rachel Carson — “Silent Spring”
Publisher — Book

3. Bob Woodward, Carl Bernstein
Title or subject — Investigation of the Watergate break in
Publisher — Washington Post

4. Edward R. Murrow
Title or subject — Battle of Britain
Publisher — CBS radio

5. Ida Tarbell
Title or subject — “The History of the Standard Oil Company”
Publisher — McClure’s magazine

6. Lincoln Steffens
Title or subject — “The Shame of the Cities”
Publisher — McClure’s

7. John Reed
Title or subject — “Ten Days That Shook the World”
Publisher — Book

8. H. L. Mencken
Title or subject — Scopes “monkey” trial
Publisher — Baltimore Sun

9. Ernie Pyle
Title or subject — Reports from Europe and the Pacific during World War II
Publisher — Scripps-Howard newspapers

10. Edward R. Murrow, Fred Friendly
Title or subject — Investigation of Sen. Joseph McCarthy
Publisher — CBS (pg. C1)

11. Edward R. Murrow, David Lowe and Fred Friendly. CBS Reports television documentary “Harvest of Shame.” 1960

12. Seymour Hersh. Investigation of massacre committed by American soldiers at My Lai in Vietnam. For Dispatch News Service. 1969

13. The New York Times. Publication of the Pentagon Papers. 1971

14. James Agee and Walker Evans. “Let Us Now Praise Famous Men.” Book. 1941

15. W. E. B. DuBois. “The Souls of Black Folk.” Collected articles. 1903

16. I. F. Stone. I.F. Stone’s Weekly. 1953-67

17. Henry Hampton. “Eyes on the Prize.” Documentary. 1987

18. Tom Wolfe. “The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test.” Book. 1968

19. Norman Mailer. “The Armies of the Night.” Book. 1968

20. Hannah Arendt. “Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil.” Collected articles. 1963

21. William Shirer. “Berlin Diary: The Journal of a Foreign Correspondent, 1939-1941.” Collected articles. 1941

22. Truman Capote. “In Cold Blood: A True Account of a Multiple Murder and Its Consequences.” Book. 1965

23. Joan Didion. “Slouching Towards Bethlehem.” Collected articles. 1968

24. Tom Wolfe. “The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby.” Collected articles. 1965

25. Michael Herr. “Dispatches.” Book. 1977

26. Theodore White. “The Making of the President: 1960.” Book. 1961

27. Robert Capa. Ten photographs from D-Day. 1944

28. J. Anthony Lukas. “Common Ground: A Turbulent Decade in the Lives of Three American Families.” Book. 1985

29. Richard Harding Davis. Coverage of German march into Belgium. For the Wheeler Syndicate and magazines. 1914

30. Dorothy Thompson. Reports on the rise of Hitler in Cosmopolitan and Saturday Evening Post. 1931-34

31. John Steinbeck. Reports on Okie migrant camp life for The San Francisco News. 1936

32. A. J. Liebling. “The Road Back to Paris.” Collected articles. 1944

33. Ernest Hemingway. Reports on the Spanish Civil War in The New Republic. 1937-38

34. Martha Gellhorn. “The Face of War.” Collected articles. 1959

35. James Baldwin. “The Fire Next Time.” Book. 1963

36. Joseph Mitchell. “Up in the Old Hotel and Other Stories.” Collection of much older articles. 1992

37. Betty Friedan. “The Feminine Mystique.” Book. 1963

38. Ralph Nader. “Unsafe at Any Speed: The Designed-In Dangers of the American Automobile.” Book. 1965

39. Herblock (Herbert Block). Cartoons on “McCarthyism.” In The Washington Post. 1950

40. James Baldwin. “Letter from the South: Nobody Knows My Name.” In The Partisan Review. 1959

41. Huynh Cong Ut. Photograph of a burning girl running from a napalm attack. For The Associated Press. 1972

42. Pauline Kael. “Trash, Art, and the Movies.” In Harper’s. 1969

43. Gay Talese. “Fame and Obscurity: Portraits by Gay Talese.” Collected articles. 1970

44. Randy Shilts. Reports on AIDS for The San Francisco Chronicle. 1981-85

45. Janet Flanner (Genet). “Paris Journals” chronicling Paris’s emergence from the Occupation. In The New Yorker. 1944-45

46. Neil Sheehan. “A Bright Shining Lie: John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam.” Book. 1988

47. A. J. Liebling. “The Wayward Pressman.” Collected articles. 1947

48. Tom Wolfe. “The Right Stuff.” Book. 1979

49. Murray Kempton. “America Comes of Middle Age: Columns 1950-1962.” Collected articles. 1963

50. Murray Kempton. “Part of Our Time: Some Ruins and Monuments of the Thirties.” Book. 1955

51. Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele. “America: What Went Wrong?” Series in The Philadelphia Inquirer. 1991

52. Taylor Branch. “Parting the Waters: America in the King Years, 1954-63.” Book. 1988

53. Harrison Salisbury. Reporting from the Soviet Union for The New York Times. 1949-

54. John McPhee. “The John McPhee Reader.” Collected articles. 1976

55. ABC. Live television broadcast of Army-McCarthy hearings. 1954

56. Frederick Wiseman. “Titicut Follies.” Documentary. 1967

57. David Remnick. “Lenin’s Tomb: The Last Days of the Soviet Empire.” Book. 1993

58. Richard Ben Cramer. “What It Takes: The Way to the White House.” Book. 1992

59. Jonathan Schell. “The Fate of the Earth.” Book. 1982

60. Russell Baker. “Francs and Beans.” In The New York Times. 1975

61. Homer Bigart. Account of being over Japan in a bomber when World War II came to an end. In The New York Herald-Tribune. 1945

62. Ben Hecht. “1,001 Afternoons in Chicago.” Collected articles. 1922

63. Walter Cronkite. CBS television documentary on Vietnam. 1968

64. Walter Lippmann. Early essays for The New Republic. 1914

65. Margaret Bourke-White. Photographs following the defeat of Germany. For Life magazine. 1945

66. Lillian Ross. “Reporting.” Collected articles. 1964

67. Nicholas Lemann. “The Promised Land: The Great Black Migration and How It Changed America.” Book. 1991

68. Joe Rosenthal. Photograph of Marines raising an American flag on Mount Suribachi on the island of Iwo Jima. For The Associated Press. 1945

69. Hodding Carter Jr. “Go for Broke.” Editorial in Carter’s Delta Democrat-Times (Greenville, Miss.). 1945

70. The New Yorker. “The New Yorker Book of War Pieces.” Collected articles. 1947

71. Meyer Berger. Report on the murderer Howard Unruh. In The New York Times. 1949

72. Norman Mailer. “The Executioner’s Song.” Book. 1979

73. Robert Capa. Spanish Civil War photos for Life. 1936

74. Susan Sontag. Notes on ‘Camp. In The Partisan Review. 1964

75. Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. “All the President’s Men.” Book. 1974

76. John Hersey. “Here To Stay.” Collected articles. 1963

77. A. J. Liebling. “The Earl of Louisiana.” Book. 1961

78. Mike Davis. “City of Quartz: Excavating the Future in Los Angeles.” Book. 1990

79. Melissa Fay Greene. “Praying for Sheetrock.” Book. 1991

80. J. Anthony Lukas. “The Two Worlds of Linda Fitzpatrick.” In The New York Times. 1967

81. Herbert Bayard Swope. “Klan Exposed.” In The New York World. 1921

82. William Allen White. “To an Anxious Friend.” In The Emporia (Kan.) Gazette. 1922

83. Edward R. Murrow. Report of the liberation of Buchenwald for CBS radio. 1945

84. Joseph Mitchell. “McSorley’s Wonderful Saloon.” Collected articles. 1943

85. Lillian Ross. “Picture.” Book. 1952

86. Earl Brown. Series of articles on race for Harper’s and Life magazines. 1942-44

87. Greil Marcus. “Mystery Train: Images of America in Rock ‘n’ Roll Music.” Book. 1975

88. Morley Safer. Report for CBS television on atrocities committed by American soldiers on the hamlet of Cam Ne in Vietnam. 1965

89. Ted Poston. Coverage of the “Little Scottsboro” trial. In The New York Post. 1949

90. Leon Dash. “Rosa Lee’s Story.” Series in The Washington Post. 1994

91. Jane Kramer. “Europeans.” Collected articles. 1988

92. Eddie Adams and Vo Suu. Associated Press photograph and NBC television footage of a Saigon execution. 1968

93. Grantland Rice. “Notre Dame’s ‘Four Horsemen’.” In The New York Herald-Tribune. 1924

94. Jane Kramer. “The Politics of Memory: Looking for Germany in the New Germany.” Collected articles. 1996

95. Frank McCourt. “Angela’s Ashes.” Book. 1996

96. Vincent Sheean. “Personal History.” Book. 1935

97. W. E. B. DuBois. Columns on race during his tenure as editor of The Crisis. 1910-34

98. Damon Runyon. Crime reporting in The New York American. 1926

99. Joe McGinniss. “The Selling of the President 1968.” Book. 1969

100. Hunter S. Thompson. “Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail.” Book. 1973