Walk the Talk Show with Waylon Lewis:

These days, our world seems full of invective. Hate. Opinions so strong that facts serve as a mere roadbump.

But day-to-day, we’re the opposite—and not in a good way. Rarely are we fully honest, constructively critical. We talk loud online, but in person, we’re fake.

The Path of Journalism, therefore, might seem a tonic to these two extremes. If you’re a good journalist, you don’t obey your pre-judgements. You search for truth—for facts. A good story will piss off just about everyone with any kind of power—except for the public good which journalism must serve. Without journalism, we can not hold our government or corporations to account.

So support your favorite journalists. Subscribe to the Globe (see my interview with Michael Rezendes of Spotlight, Oscar, Pulitzer fame, below), NY Times, Economist, Wall Street Journal, Wash Post…any paper that goes after facts. If you think those papers are biased, they probably are—but only, transparently, on their editorial pages. Don’t subscribe to untransparent bias—you’ll only make it stronger.

Yours in the Vision of Enlightened Society,

Waylon H. Lewis
Editor-in-Chief

“Democracy simply cannot function without solid, fact-based journalism… I view my job, fundamentally, as an effort to make the world a better place and contribute to society. That’s where I get my groundedness. It’s a sense of mission that I have about journalism.” ~ Michael Rezendes

Michael Rezendes was a member of the Boston Globe Spotlight Team and shared a 2003 Pulitzer Prize for revealing the cover-up of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. In more than two decades with the Globe, Mike investigated a wide array of additional subjects, including the September 11 attacks, health care costs, and prison suicides. While working with the Spotlight Team, Mike was also a Pulitzer Prize finalist twice, once in 2007 for an investigation of the debt collection industry, and again in 2017 for an exposé of the mental health care system in Massachusetts. Mike is a co-author of two books: “Betrayal: The Crisis in the Catholic Church,” and, “Sin Against the Innocents: Sexual Abuse by Priests and the Role of the Catholic Church.”

Michael will be a guest at the ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival in Boulder, Colorado.

The third installation of the ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival (ZEE JLF) at Boulder will bring more than 70 authors from around the world to explore today’s hot topics while engaging the community in essential dialogue. Thought leaders from throughout the world will discuss and debate key issues of interest in 40 sessions throughout three days. Programs will appeal to a wide audience of ages and interests. Register online at jaipurliteraturefestival.org/boulder

A festival of literature from all over the world, ZEE JLF at Boulder promises to be an event unlike any other. Rich with words and ideas, the Festival invites you to examine the human experience through inspiring discussion and debate with distinguished contemporary authors from across the globe. With internationally acclaimed authors and innovative minds, get a taste of what has been declared the “the greatest literary show on Earth!”

Featured authors include Vikas Swarup, author of the book “Q&A,” the basis for the film Slumdog Millionaire; Michael Rezendes, famed journalist and Pulitzer Prize-winning member of The Boston Globe’s Spotlight investigative team, portrayed in the film Spotlight; and South Korea-born Suki Kim, author of The New York Times bestselling nonfiction book “Without You There Is No Us: Undercover amongst the Sons of North Korea’s elite” about her six months undercover investigation embedded within North Korea.

In conversation with Mukund Padmanabhan, Editor in Chief of the iconic Indian newspaper, The Hindu, Michael speaks of the values, veracity, and commitment required for investigative journalism and the changing definitions of news in the current media landscape.

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Image: Spotlight movie