In the Public Interest

They are called “Meet the Press”, “Face the Nation” and “This Week with David Brinkley.” A journalistic acquaintance prefers to describe them as “The Yawn Shows.” But on Sunday, March 20, 1983 these interview programs were anything but dull; they were unusually vibrant and interesting. Face the Nation’s guest was Dr. Sam Epstein, a University…

Should airlines operating flights to or from points outside the United States be able to limit their liability to passengers who are killed or seriously injured in a plane crash? Or should crash victims and their families have a right to recover fully what they can prove to be their monetary losses? A few days…

Farmers paying special fees for frost forecasts? The armed services relying on a private corporate monopoly for weather information? The U.S. government selling its four weather satellites and one land surveying satellite for a pittance to a private corporation which then sells the weather information back to the government daily under a 15 year profit…

Often, magazine and newspaper editors describe the letters-to­-the-editors column as among the most widely read sections of their publications. What is therefore astonishing is the relatively small space that many large newspaper editors provide for publishing cogent letters from their readers. Unless there are too few letter-writing readers, why is it not considered advisable to…

A chance encounter with a major Canadian financier aboard an AMTRAK train chugging its way through a heavy snowstorm to Washington can lead to candid conversation. The financier was appalled at the imprudent loan practices of the large American and Canadian banks. “They’re acting as unrestrained as some of their major debtors,” he observed, adding…

Do women’s consumer dollars buy less value in the marketplace than do men’s dollars? In all too many instances, the answer is still “yes.” Our inquiry into this persistent discrimination against women assembled cases which many women unfortunately can relate to from their own experience: A federal judge’s wife says that she never brings in…

It did not start with the Super Bowl and it has not ended with the Super Bowl. What the Redskins are doing to Washington, DC’s residents is becoming a sociological phenomenon. Of course, all the ingredients for regular hoopla were there. At the start of the season almost no one expected the Washington Redskins’ football…

Recent speeches by Ronald Reagan and Democratic politicians have brought Americans a sample of their thoughts about “getting this country moving again.” Big business executives also weighed in with their “Bipartisan Appeal To Resolve the Budget Crisis,” led by five former Secretaries of the Treasury and Peter G. Peterson, former Secretary of Commerce. My attention…

The dentist was distraught and it was not about cavities. This dentist was part owner in several oil wells in western Pennsylvania and the mixed-in natural gas was being flared off–just burned away. Even though his wells were very close to gas pipelines, there were no willing buyers for this gas. The gas was for…

If only the two scenes could be seen side by side. On one side would be pictures of badly injured men, women and children trying to have their day in court against heavily organized manufacturers charged with making or selling hazardous autos, drugs, power presses, chemicals, power lawnmowers and a myriad of other misconstructed products.…