Ouachita Citizen Articles

  Steadying Voices and Hands    Published in the Ouachita Citizen July 2023 We develop our human reasoning processes based upon our direct experiences, lessons learned from observing others, and exposure to history, literature, philosophy, religion, and other sources of knowledge. Social scientists tell us though that human beings have only bounded rationality and we often display cognitive biases in our thinking and reasoning.   Much of our selective human perception is due to our deep immersion in a particular historical era and in cultures having distinct norms and values. We tend to take a whole lot for granted, partially due to our heavy reliance on messages from dominant media sources, whether these influencers have conservative or liberal viewpoints. More sensational or emotionally charged media messages usually attract greater reader and viewer attention than deeper, more reasoned analysis of issues and events.      Ancient and later civilizati...

  Staying Up with the News  Published in Ouachita Citizen June 2023   TV news broadcasts captured broad national attention in the 1960s with the popularity of Walter Cronkite (CBS), Chet Huntley and David Brinkley (NBC), and a succession of different anchors on the ABC network. Evening national news broadcasts went from 15 to 30-minutes of coverage in 1963. This was another world from the 24/7 news availability on many media outlets now. My parents primarily viewed programs on local station KNOE (CBS affiliate – Channel 8) instead of KTVE (NBC affiliate – Channel 10), so I watched a lot of Walter Cronkite. I particularly enjoyed the short news commentary given at the tail end of each evening news program by Eric Sevareid. The Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon administrations, the Kennedy and King assassinations, and the Vietnam War and Civil Rights protests were among the major issues that Sevareid examined.   He was articulate and sometimes eloquent in his analysis of...