Free Republic

Informing Individuals Stossel takes his message to print. By Ethan Wallison In the summer of 1996 the Libertarian party took its national convention to Washington, D.C., and I went, figuring that the ironic tableau ought to provide good material for a story. Two things stood out over the course of the event: First that the Libertarians had the kind of vigorous and intelligent debates that never occur anymore at the major-party meetings; and second, that maybe a full half of the delegates were nuts. There were folks who insisted there was no such thing as judicial "authority," some who believed...

Anti-war murmur grew with little press coverage By Tim Gallagher March 9, 2003 'The first casualty when war comes is truth," Sen. Hiram Johnson said in 1917. This time, however, the truth was wounded before the first missile was fired. This time, it was the news media that did not tell the truth. Now that we have the perspective of a few months it is obvious that the news media was very slow to recognize and report the burgeoning number of Americans who opposed war with Iraq, at least until a stronger case for war is built. The typical wartime...

Going Post-al, Part Two: Susan Schmidt retaliated against her critics. Why won't the Post come clean? Brendan Nyhan At this point, it's almost a cliché to say that the media loves to dish out scrutiny of powerful institutions -- except for itself. But like many clichés, this one has a grain of truth. Case in point: the continuing controversy over the actions of Susan Schmidt, a reporter at The Washington Post who is notorious in Washington circles for allegedly serving as the primary conduit for leaks from Ken Starr's Office of the Independent Counsel. As I reported early last...