workaround

User login

workaround

dougmcgill

About me

Douglas McGill has reported for the New York Times and Bloomberg News--and now the Daily Planet. To reach Doug McGill: doug@mcgillreport.org. And visit The McGill Report at www.mcgillreport.org.

workaround

OPINION | Journalism’s dilemma: The watchdog needs a bailout

By Douglas McGill, TC Daily Planet

A fresh crop of desperate bulletins from the nation's newsrooms, which are shuttering and downsizing in unprecedented numbers, is stirring debate over what journalists until now have considered the worst option for keeping America's newsrooms open - government subsidies and supports. MORE »

Ethiopians in Minnesota rally to free an "Icon of Democracy"

By Douglas McGill, TC Daily Planet

In churches, schools and meeting halls around Minnesota, the state's sizeable population of Ethiopian refugees is rallying to free a heroine to them who is wasting away in a prison hellhole in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital.MORE »

At last, the Minnesota Oromo share their secret

By Douglas McGill, TC Daily Planet

Who knows the Minnesota Oromo?

Who knows their dark secret?

Fifteen thousand Oromo live in Minnesota but they blend in almost invisibly, like a stealthy, anonymous population in the state.

MORE »

At a peace forum, seeking solutions to a holocaust in the Horn

By Douglas McGill, TC Daily Planet

It was a peaceful peace conference, which in itself was a kind of miracle.

It was a miracle because the countries represented at the conference - the "Africa Peace Forum" held last Friday at the Hubert Humphrey Institute in Minneapolis - are all in one way or another at war today, either with each other or in a state of civil war.MORE »

A U.S. citizen survives political prison in Ethiopia

By Douglas McGill, TC Daily Planet

Okwa Omot is sleeping safely in a warm bed at his home in Washington, D.C. this week.

That is something of a miracle considering that only a week ago – and for 107 days before that – he was sleeping on freezing cold concrete floors in Ethiopian prisons, accused of treason and threatened with execution.MORE »

Stared down by neo-Nazis, she battled back with love

By Douglas McGill, TC Daily Planet

When Giselle Stern Hernández finished writing her one-woman show, "The Deportee's Wife," not in her wildest dreams did she imagine she'd one day perform it for neo-Nazis. MORE »

The idiot monster and the news

By Douglas McGill, TC Daily Planet

That our news media is busted will come as no surprise to consumers of vanishing newspapers, shoutfest TV "news shows" and the unchecked political soapbox called the Internet.

But the devolution of our news media has now reached a point that is in some ways so extreme, and with the stakes for democracy so high, it seems useful to take stock.

Larger and larger swaths of the news media now embrace sensation and celebrity, harshly partisan rhetoric and gossip, rumors and lies to beat the competition and grab market share.

MORE »

McGill on the Media | The Politico Paradox: Feeding the media we hate

By Douglas McGill, TC Daily Planet

For just a brief moment before Politico.com co-founder John Harris spoke last Friday at his alma mater, Carleton College, he might have allowed himself to think that finally - finally! - he would safely be able to relax in the warm embrace of a completely friendly and appreciative crowd. MORE »

A journey from war to football and first snow

By Douglas McGill, TC Daily Planet

Since Feras Alkaisi, his wife Sulaf, and their two young children moved here four months ago, they’ve experienced a lot of firsts – backyard barbecues, a casino (Treasure Island), carnival rides (at the Mall of America), watching football on TV, and last week, falling snow.

“I saw snow once before but it was on the ground and just a little bit,” Feras recalls. “I never saw snow falling through the air until last week.” He paused for a moment to take in the new memory, then a question occurred. MORE »

Her job is 'welcoming the stranger' to Minnesota

By Douglas McGill, TC Daily Planet

When Mary Alessio gave a speech at the Kiwanis Club in Rochester last summer, she was shaken when she looked out at her audience and saw dozens of men who looked exactly like her father – row upon row of her father, one father per seat. MORE »

• MN VOICES | From Korea to Minnesota and back: Kelly Fern shares her remarkable double-adoption story
• National day puts high black AIDS rates in Minneapolis spotlight
• FRONT ROW SEAT | Can Madonna flip the bird to ageism?
• THURSDAY'S PICK | Uptown Cafeteria: Designed for relaxation