Intruding is something reporters do. Intrusions can be personal, professional, financial or commercial. Or more than one of the above. And, yes, despite inexplicably loud cell phone conversations, awareness of omnipresent smartphone cameras and overly revealing Facebook posts, many Americans still assert their right to privacy.   

After Benedict XVI quit and before cardinals began voting for his successor, daily news-free news stories left us as ignorant as the day before. Until Francis’ election, nothing really happened. That’s one reason NPR received 200-plus complaints, its ombudsman reported, mostly about 47 stories running during the four weeks between popes.      

Here’s an unfortunate fact for journalism teachers and angry website commenters all around the world: Reality sometimes has a bias.    

Another small New England daily made news at the end of the year. Recently, the Cape Cod Times revealed how it stumbled in a way that had many journalists mumbling, “There but for the grace of God.”  

Shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School once again demonstrate a troubling paradox: A news story can be accurate and wrong. The aftermath of the massacre quickly provided reporters with opportunities to put out stories that accurately reported wildly incorrect but seemingly authoritative information.   

I’m grateful to the GQ magazine reporter who asked Florida Sen. Marco Rubio about the age of the earth. It raises a vital question for a country where significant numbers of Americans reject much of science from creation to evolution.     

The perils of “off the record” were never clearer than when President Obama sought the Des Moines Register endorsement last week.  

If this presidential campaign hasn’t been sufficiently enervating, here’s more dispiriting news. Gallup reports that “Americans’ distrust in the media hit a new high this year, with 60 percent saying they have little or no trust in the mass media to report the news fully, accurately and fairly.”   

 I dread presidential debates. Other than “gotcha!” moments, when was the last time a presidential debate was more than tired talking point responses to a so-called moderator?   

Margaret Buchanan, president and publisher of The Cincinnati Enquirer, resigned from the University of Cincinnati Board of Trustees Sept. 28, citing potential conflicts of interest in her staff’s reporting on the UC Board.