Christopher Harper

CHRISTOPHER HARPER: Kermit Gosnell among biggest media hits, Bill Cosby among mashup misses

Because this column will be my last one for The Washington Times, I decided to take a look back on the more than 100 columns I have written since January 2013 to review my hits and misses.

May 27, 2015

CHRISTOPHER HARPER: Clinton donation isn’t first ethical misstep for George Stephanopoulos

The contribution scandal isn't the first time ABC anchor George Stephanopoulos apparently breached ethical guidelines.

May 20, 2015

CHRISTOPHER HARPER: Voter polls becoming more click-bait than accurate predictors

As U.S. voters face 18 months of constant bombardment from pollsters, it's time to revisit the serious problem with political prognostication.

May 13, 2015

CHRISTOPHER HARPER: Moments of clarity in Baltimore’s riots

Few people made sense during the Baltimore riots and the indictment of six police officers in the death of Freddie Gray. But David Clarke, the sheriff of Milwaukee County in Wisconsin, and Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan provided two examples of those who did.

May 6, 2015

CHRISTOPHER HARPER: Baltimore riots forgotten as news correspondents wine and dine

The juxtaposition of the riots in Baltimore this weekend as "all-news" television networks delivered extensive coverage of the White House Correspondents' Association's soiree underlined the disconnect between the press and the rest of the country.

April 29, 2015

CHRISTOPHER HARPER: Connecting Engel to Rolling Stone a spin factory bias

The caustic attacks on NBC reporter Richard Engel about the circumstances surrounding his 2012 abduction in Syria puzzled and troubled me — until I listened to some of his comments about the Obama administration's failures, particularly in the Middle East.

April 22, 2015

CHRISTOPHER HARPER: It’s time for journalists to come clean on bias

Journalists must become more transparent about their biases in order to regain credibility with the public, particularly after recent scandals involving Rolling Stone and other news organizations.

April 15, 2015

CHRISTOPHER HARPER: Media won’t let facts stand in the way of a good story

Many analysts have decried Rolling Stone magazine's malfeasance about a University of Virginia rape claim, but much of the media have not recognized that this failure of journalistic ethics is far from rare.

April 8, 2015

CHRISTOPHER HARPER: ‘60 Minutes’ Bashar Assad interview just latest case of malfeasance for program

In the latest abuse of journalism, "60 Minutes" and host Charlie Rose should be ashamed of an interview with Syrian President Bashar Assad, the brutal dictator who has led his country into a murderous civil war that has left more than 200,000 dead and more than 4 million refugees.

April 1, 2015

CHRISTOPHER HARPER: Social media generation gap another digital divide

As mothers and grandfathers post family photos on Facebook and tweet occasionally, teenagers have moved on to Snapchat and Instagram, which is owned by Facebook. Meanwhile, millennials and GenXers are stuck somewhere in between, wondering whether LinkedIn and Google Plus are worth the time.

March 25, 2015

CHRISTOPHER HARPER: Correcting the facts surrounding Caesar’s demise

This just in! William Shakespeare got his facts wrong about the death of Julius Caesar.

March 18, 2015

CHRISTOPHER HARPER: Media turn on Hillary Clinton as recent scandals stick

President-in-waiting Hillary Rodham Clinton appeared arrogant, dismissive and uncomfortable when answering questions about her role in two scandals, including her private email account and the funding of her foundation.

March 11, 2015

CHRISTOPHER HARPER: After ‘net neutrality’ win, FCC’s power needs to be dialed back

In one of the most important decisions in its history, the Federal Communications Commission, a pernicious government agency set up more than 70 years ago to regulate radio interference, may undermine key aspects of the Internet.

March 4, 2015

CHRISTOPHER HARPER: Scott Walker target of ‘got you’ questions of take-down journalism

In the Whack-A-Mole style of many political reporters, the pundits attacked Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker with errant criticism exactly as he started to gain traction as a GOP presidential possibility.

February 25, 2015

CHRISTOPHER HARPER: Citizen journalist scoops war news from home in England

As Syria and Iraq have become increasingly dangerous for reporters, a citizen journalist has provided extraordinary information from his laptop in England about what is happening in the Middle East and in other dangerous locales, such as Ukraine.

February 18, 2015

CHRISTOPHER HARPER: Brian Williams must quit journalism, crossed ethics line too many times

NBC didn't quite get it right by suspending anchorman Brian Williams for six months without pay. The network should have fired him.

February 11, 2015

CHRISTOPHER HARPER: Nicholas Kristof, Jonathan Chait, blasted by liberal media

Two liberal media icons spent much of the past week defending themselves from attacks by their fellow travelers, while conservatives chuckled as the left trashed some of its progeny.

February 4, 2015

CHRISTOPHER HARPER: Media recasting late Saudi king as a reformer

The media have come up with some serious neck-snappers — as a colleague likes to call amazing events — about Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Syria: articles and analyses that rewrite history and obscure recent U.S. foreign policy.

January 28, 2015

CHRISTOPHER HARPER: World press freedom beyond Charlie Hebdo worst in decade

Although the massacre of Jews, journalists and police officers in Paris has sparked a debate over freedom of expression — both speech and the press — few analysts have focused on the significant deterioration in such rights throughout the world.

January 21, 2015

CHRISTOPHER HARPER: France terrorist attack news coverage shows damage of foreign bureau cuts

The numerous errors and missteps in the reporting about the terrorist attacks in France underlined the impact of cutbacks in international bureaus for many news organizations, particularly U.S. television outlets.

January 14, 2015