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Current Events and the Historical
Context NRLC Provides By Dave Andrusko
No doubt some (many?) of you are familiar with this project of TIME magazine. It's a single-topic retrospective in which TIME tells us they are placing the current events of the day in historical context by linking them one by one to stories that appeared in years past in the magazine on that subject. So, for example, if the buzz is about pro-abortion President Barack Obama trying to regain his balance after what he described as his party's "drubbing" in the November elections, they'll link you to TIME stories about Bill Clinton, who regained his footing after a disastrous 1994 off-year elections. Time editor Rick Stengel described what they are doing as "a look back in order to look forward." Last month, Time Magazine released a special Timeframe on the major headlines from 2000 to 2010, and how our "perspective of major news stories has changed with time." It's is indeed hard to imagine a world without the titans of social networking--YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook--or to underestimate their influence . While what I read was a lot of self-promoting puff, it is quite true that being able to place today's events in context is invaluable. To do so by subject matter and be linked instantaneously, as TIME is doing, makes it even better. The obvious caveat is the links are to TIME's take on a given issue, which may be right as rain or 180 degrees off. NRLC provides you similar services--quick links to topics we've covered largely in National Right to Life News over the past thirteen years and to blog entries from Today's News & Views and National Right to Life News today, which go back seven years and six months, respectively. For example, go to http://www.nrlc.org/news/index.html. On the right hand side are links to individual editions of National Right to Life News going back to December 1997. Once you click on a given issue, you will find all the stories that appeared in that edition. At the top of each year you will find (for example) "NRL News 2009 Subject Index." This is an invaluable research tool. Or, alternatively, if you go to www.nrlc.org, on the left hand side about a quarter of the way down, you will find a box into which you can write a word (RU486)or a phrase (partial-birth abortion). We all know that most media-outlets--assuming they give us the time of day--are very unlikely to tell the whole story (the REAL story) about abortion. We do, in depth, breadth, and width. I very much hope you are subscribing to National Right to Life News (http://www.nrlc.org/news/subscribe.html or call us at 202-626-8828) and receiving Today's News & Views and National Right to Life News Today (you can sign up at http://www.nrlc.org/join_our_mailing_list.htm). It's worth five minutes of your time to have access to the finest, most in-depth pro-life coverage. Please send your comments on Today's News & Views and National Right to Life News Today to daveandrusko@gmail.com. If you like, join those who are following me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/daveha. |
It's
easy to understand why people can easily spend a gazillion hours
online. I was on the Internet this morning looking for something
altogether different when I ran across a link to something
called " Timeframes."