Opinions

Fresh Air Radio — on a Saturday

19th November 2016 in Economic growth, Global Development, Journalism, Media Watch, Opinions, Stupid!, Trump Watch, Watching the Donald

It´s the economy, stupid: Bill said it–did Hillary listen?Sometimes you wish Bill was back, but there´s another story I have in mind right here: Not the story of how Hillary Clinton failed to take Bill Clinton´s most important piece of insight with her into her own presidential bid. Not, the story of how her failing to address the fundamentals of economic inequality in a convincing manner, led to the election of a president and subsequently a cabinet with far more of a racist inclination than what is the case with

Donald Trump and the media

27th March 2016 in Current issues, Media Watch, Opinions

Are the media to blame for Trump´s success? Few have any doubt that Donald Trump is good at playing the media. With his extreme points of view, his sense of timing, shooting from the hip and sense of what triggers gut reaction, he hits one home run after the other. If media exposure were the main criterion for explaining Trump, it would be easy: No one else even comes close. But looking more closely, we also find that a lot of the media attention is either negative or extremely negative. So,

Friendliness works

16th October 2015 in Conversations, Essays, Opinions, SF Chronicles

About a week into my current trip to Palo Alto and Berkeley, I find myself sitting in a place I know all too well: Peet’s Coffee House on University Avenue in Palo Alto — the heart of Silicon Valley. The first one for me, way back in 2008 when I first came here. And countless visits since moving home, moving back, and then moving home again, in the summer of 2015. Here today, in Berkeley tomorrow — and most likely I will find my way to the original Peet’s Coffee

Sailing home; Flying Frenchmen on the beach

27th April 2015 in Digital Cities, Education & Technology, Essays, Media Watch, Opinions, SF Chronicles

Coming to California, and then just never leaving…. The story repeats itself all the time: You live here in the Bay Area and you meet nice people, talkative people. As today, when I walked with my family down by the Alameda beaches in the Bay, looking at the occasional swimmer, surfer and bird celebrating the last days of April. This is a wonderful place to do so. But I approach this guy working on his gear to get ready for the mounting winds. He´s from France, it appears. He is

Get lost exploring; A conversation in Tilden Park

4th April 2015 in Conversations, Essays, Opinions, SF Chronicles

Trailblazing the meaning of life with an old-timer Good things happen outdoors. On my bike ride this afternoon, I came to my usual spot in Tilden Park, on top of Berkeley looking East and in towards the mountains separating me from the Gold Country wilderness of the 1850´s. And here was this old guy just sitting there on the bench I usually end up on after my bike ride up some fairly steep hills. He was wearing a cap, toting the slogan “Get lost exploring”. This being America, we got

Nothing but paper; but then again a lot more

2nd April 2015 in Essays, Journalism, Opinions, SF Chronicles

….feels like a paper; OMG it´s a newspaper! Its NYT….: A regular Thursday morning (actually it´s not, since it´s Easter) finds me at the breakfast table with my view of the San Francisco Bay. It is a view that I will never quite get used to and also miss tremendously when we leave to go back to Norway. But something else is different this morning. I finally decided to go get the newspaper in the original format, the way a newspaper is supposed to be read — on paper. The