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The article offers an in-depth discussion of the relationship between federal officials and journalists in Washington, D.C. Members of both groups trade information and try to manipulate the other. The author explores issues involving reporters in the trial of I. Lewis Libby, former chief of staff and national security advisor to U.S. Vice President Richard Cheney.

Discusses the effects of the Cuban missile crisis on the United States. Announcement from President John F. Kennedy proclaiming a crisis; Reports by U.S. and Cuban officials; Role of Nikita Khrushchev; Threat of nuclear weapons; Warnings of John McCone of the Central Intelligence Agency about missile bases in Cuba; Government secrecy; Disarmament of Cuba; Historical implications of the crisis.

Presents information on the television coverage of political conventions and rallies in the United States. Impact of television exposure on political candidates; Amount of the earnings of television networks from political advertising; Views on the coverage of conventions on cable channels.

Focuses on the issue of too much coverage on violence and mayhem in local news on American television. Lack of in-depth coverage of local developments; Predominance of murders and crimes in local news; Relationship between the contents of local news with viewers' reception to commercials; Need for television station owners to defend their newscasts and prove their respect for their communities.

Reflects on a particular version of secular Judaism. Personal narrative on spending holidays in Saltaire; Discussions on the worship of God; Essence of humanity; Wisdom of the Jewish culture; Response on Judaic religious rituals.

Opinion. Illustrates the author's view of the future of computers through a fictitious bulletin from the future. How a computer virus could incapacitate key links and destroy financial records across the Earth; Severity of the possible crisis; Strategies for coping with the possible crisis.

Several letters to the editor are presented in response to previous articles including "Bobby Kennedy: The Making of a Liberal Icon" in the July 10, 2016 issue, "Spiral: Trapped in the Forever War" in the June 26, 2016 issue and "The War on Cops" in the July 3, 2016. issue.

Reports on the future of newspapers on the Internet. Benefits of digital journals over paper newspapers including rapid searching and easy filing; Ease of discussion of newspaper articles on chat rooms and e-mail; Problem of financing Internet newspapers; Television's example of what can happen to news gathering after a technological shift.

Reports on the intrusion of privacy by Internet technology into the public's online activities. Personal information of commercial interest to advertisers and merchants; Refusal of the United States Supreme Court to uphold ruling to limit company use of information about its customers; Self-regulation attempted by web merchants through their privacy statements.

Argues against monopolies in the media business. May Day blackout in New York City; Three things learned about the evolving media monopoly; Media corporations to choose between managing the lines of communications and designing the messages and services to be transmitted.

Discusses how the war on drugs has failed to reduce the quantity of illegal drugs in the United States. Efforts to pursue coca growers in Colombia; Media coverage of global drug war; Information about Colombia's role in the war on drugs; Proposed aid package to combat Colombia's cocaine production.

Reports on the lure of the television program 'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?.' Author's search for the source of the show's power; Steps one must take to compete; Concern of the show that most of its contestants have been white males, rather than minorities or women; Description of a particular episode; The relationship of difficulty of questions to money awarded for their correct answers.

Reports on the Rose Center for Earth and Space, a multimedia attraction at the Hayden Planetarium in New York City. Description of the production; Narration by Tom Hanks and Jodie Foster; Observations on cosmic ideas, globalization and global politics.

Offers observation on independent professionals who work for themselves. Why these so-called free agents actually do exist in a corporate hierarchy despite their independence; Different identities that the corporate hierarchy has assumed in the history of the United States; How rank is determined; Why computer passwords establish rank within corporate America.

Discusses the effect of unlimited spending in United States political campaigns. How the Supreme Court views campaign spending in relation to the First Amendment; Attempt of Congressional majorities to outlaw so-called soft money donations; How the candidates' need to buy costly television advertisements can effect their political stance on certain issues; Suggestions to eliminate the problem, such as a fairness doctrine governing television campaigning.

Discusses the involvement of the United States government in the proliferation of anti-drug content in television commercials and prime-time television shows. Congress' approval of a bill which allowed Barry R. McCaffrey of the Office of National Drug Control Policy to buy television time and newspaper advertisements; How shows cut advertising costs by running episodes with anti-drug scripts; How the situation stands in violation of the First Amendment; Concerns of government censorship.

Suggests that the history of American democracy includes abuses of civil liberties and equal justice. Examination of the political discourse of United States President John Adams' administration; Attempts of the Federalist party to discredit the Republicans; Legislation passed by the administration in 1798; America's role in the war between England and France; American intervention for democracy in foreign nations.

Discusses the division in the media between news and commerce. The example of 'The Los Angeles Times' and Chairman Mark Willes' destruction of that division; The difficulty in maintaining journalistic ethics when the reporter is concerned with how news coverage will effect the paper's profits; How journalism can succeed only when it is profitable, but it is most suspect when it seeks a profit at all costs.

Discusses the role of the media in various political events. Effect of early media coverage on presidential elections; Drama of George W. Bush and Hillary Rodham Clinton's respective campaigns; Role of finance in media coverage; Questions regarding whether the media's effect best serves democracy.

Details the advent of on-line news. Advantages over print media; Rise in the number of on-line subscribers; Use of target advertising; Online offerings of periodicals including the `The New York Times'; The issue of consumer privacy on web site.

Discusses the business of bookselling. The role of publishers; Employment of editors; How public interest affects retail books sales; The use of book discounts to enhance market share.

Looks at the issue of political speech in American and argues that corporations really control the political debate, even in the Internet era. Discussion of a program by Bill Moyers titled, `Free Speech for Sale'; What happened to North Carolina Representative Cindy Watson when she challenged the growth of hog farming in the state; Free speech issues; The role of money in television.

Discusses paradoxes concerning the Pulitzer Prize. Number of prizes awarded; Their monetary value versus prestige; The need for small newspapers to be considered for the prizes; The exclusion of prizes for informational graphics; The need to shift focus from content to journalistic skill.

Discusses the influence television has in American willingness to support United States involvement in Kosovo. Criticism about American inconsistency in international disputes; The influence images have; Influence on military tactics; Suggestion that Americans recognize national interest in bountiful trade and human interest in opposing tyranny; Opinion that there is a need for global congresses, courts, and cops in order to enforce global laws and global human rights.

Discusses the role of television in proposed campaign reforms of the United States. Central role of television advertising in political elections; Cost of the advertisements; Views of Don Hewitt of the television program `60 Minutes'; US laws of campaign advertising on television.

Focuses on public opinion of members of the media in the United States. Belief among many Americans that the media is becoming increasingly unethical; The growing tendency of the media to focus on the trivial and ignore the consequential; Why television is to blame for the media's bad reputation; The superiority of newspapers as a medium.

Discusses ways in which electioneering in the United States hinders the democratic process. Reasons that campaign finance reform is more important than social security reform; Corrupt practices that sustain the hold of incumbents on their elective offices; Tax deduction suggestions for voters which correspond to those enjoyed by politicians; The cost of television commercials in political campaigns.

Discusses the correlation between public tolerance for sexual scandals and sexy writing and pictures on the covers of magazines. Open sale of sex in the United States periodicals; Inability of Americans to be shocked by sex; Examples of sexy slogans on respectable journals.

Discusses the United States government's antitrust trial of Bill Gates. The author's admiration of Gates' wealth; Gates' desire to collect fees on every electronic path a user accesses; Explanation of Microsoft's standards; Questioning of why no one intervened when Gates monopolized desktop systems and applications; Gates' defeat of Netscape and Java; Question of whether one company should be allowed to privatize standards.

Discusses the use of the word `entertainment' to describe what the author prefers to call `trash that masquerades as journalism on television' in the United States. Author's view of critics who see journalism as the inverse of entertainment; Great journalists who have been entertaining; Entertainers whose wit has had redeeming worth.

Presents information on the cultural changes in China in the late 1990s brought on by commerce. The author's experience in the country as a part of a group assembled by the Metropolitan Museum of Art; State of the rural population; The urban class and the men and women made rich by foreign investment; Fear of criticizing the regime in private conversation fading.

Focuses on the importance of verifiable facts in journalism. United States journalists who lost their jobs in 1998 for fabricating stories, including Stephen Glass, Mike Barnicle, Patricia Smith and others; The emotional difference between fact and fiction; Facts as a record of what has been seen and heard, without literature's promise of the truth.

Presents the author's thoughts on unique health identifiers (UHI) proposed by the United States government in 1998. Reaction from the public; Possibility of job discrimination if UHI records are leaked; How UHIs work.

Reports on the mystery behind the `New York Times,' columnist Meyer Berger and his wartime pen pal Lila. How the story was discovered by Ben S. Laitin; Correspondence between Berger and Lila; Berger's experience after the war trying to see Lila.

Discusses the conflict between the privacy of citizens and the freedom of the media. Reference to the objections to media freedom made by Louis Brandeis in a famous Harvard Law Review essay in 1890; The problem of devising a grand formula that would safeguard privacy without damaging press freedom; Involvement of the United States Supreme Court; Examples of media intrusion on privacy.

Comments on the fast changes of the twentieth century and what the author thinks the twenty first century will bring. Population growth; Increased life-span; Advances in technology; Government and social changes; Consistency of the American temperament.

Focuses on parallels between the careers of Microsoft Corp. chairman Bill Gates and Standard Oil magnate John D. Rockefeller Sr. Achievement of both men to utilize a product to attain huge personal wealth; Shared display of monopolistic ambitions; Decisions forced upon Gates by Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson in the United States Dept. of Justice antitrust trial.

Discusses the proliferation of advertisement for Internet Web sites and search engines using conventional ad spaces. Ads on television, newspapers, magazines, billboards, etc.; Speculation that someday Web search engines will be interconnected; Comments on the struggle for name recognition among Internet companies.

Examines public response to the exhibition 'Sensation' at the Brooklyn Museum in light of threats by New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani to suspend funding. Comparison of two distinct approaches to art criticism; Roles of individual artists in culture; Observations on the excess of artists and art and the resulting financial strain on art institutions.

Recalls the author's meetings with Edmund Morris, author of the Ronald Reagan memoir `Dutch.' Effect of author Henry Adams on Morris; Observations on the use of a third person in historical writing; Morris' defense of his writing style.

Reports on the emphasis television executives place on reaching continually smaller and more specific audiences. Observations on what viewers want; Objectives that CBS Inc. and Viacom hope to achieve through their merger; How the media target specific groups; Comparison to the Internet; Implications.

Recalls United States President Richard Nixon's visit in China in 1972. Purpose of the visit; Implication of Nixon's visit to the Russians; Effect of Nixon's visit to Communist China's treatment in the United States.

Presents the writer's view of media complicity in keeping alive failing nonproliferation policies against atomic weapons. How a few nations have benefited from the policy; Motives for other nations to acquire and test nuclear bombs.

Contends that the media is dominated by the young. Neglect by the media of the needs and attributes of the elderly; Scarcity of reporters over 40 years-old, and editors that retire at 65 years-old; Statistics that show the population is aging; Solutions to focusing media attention on the elderly; Sample of 73-year-old Donald M. Murray's writing for `The Boston Globe.'

Describes the Social Security accounting of United States leaders in terms of a fabricated college-fund metaphor. The Social Security `Trust Fund' that has been borrowed from to pay for Federal expenses beyond the old-age pensions to which it is pledged.

Argues that the media's respect for religion has kept ethics out of public debates. Reference to the book `Unsecular Media,' by Mark Silk; The message that journalists mostly see religion as it sees itself; History behind religion and journalism; The belief that there is a certain news value in the commonplace accounts of the number of Americans who regularly attend a church or religious school and the diversity of the institutions.