Wednesday, January 7, 2015

Ted Koppel: Fox News is bad for America

Yesterday I had the fortunate to bump into former Nightline anchor Ted Koppel -- a very warm, engaging and gracious man (I'm waiting for that new book).

As an fellow journalist, I consider Koppel to be the gold standard of this once honorable profession. Unfortunately -- on a national level -- he is among a dying breed.

With our feed the beast 24/7 news cycle, we have created space for far too many blowhards of all political stripes. These soapbox reporters have muddied the water and stripped away most of the integrity of the industry.

Monday, January 5, 2015

Stuart Scott: Class and Swagger Personified -- RIP

Stuart Scott, the ESPN anchor and reporter whose catchphrases became part of the American popular sports vernacular for the past two decades, died Sunday morning after a lengthy battle with cancer. He was 49

Scott is survived by his two daughters, Taelor, 19,and Sydni, 15, the latter of whom joined him onstage at the end of his ESPYs speech after he asked her to "come up here and give dad a hug because I need one. source

Ask any stand-up comic, comedy is divided into two distinct eras of BR and AR: before Richard Pryor and after Richard Pryor. Pryor is credited with transforming the landscape of comedy.