Sanford: Take the CDC’s advice: ‘Don’t be nervous to work with the media!’
A Tennessee legislator's tweet that "the national media is promoting fear and sheer panic" earns well-deserved criticism.
Otis Sanford
Columnist
Otis Sanford holds the Hardin Chair of Excellence in Journalism and Strategic Media at the University of Memphis. Contact him at 901-678-3669 or at o.sanford@memphis.edu. Follow him on Twitter @otissanford.
There are 145 articles by Otis Sanford :
-
March 2020
-
Opinion -
Subscribers only
OpinionSanford: No more Mr. Nice Guy
Gov. Bill Lee sticks to his guns, unmoved by pleas from law enforcement officials, mayors, gun merchants and firearms trainers.
-
Opinion Sanford: Black voters bring Uncle Joe back
Voters are yearning to be free – of the nutty, crude and corrupt. They want moderation in our national politics, and a center-left leader at the helm of the executive branch whom everyone knows and a majority of Americans trust.
-
-
February 2020
-
Subscribers only
OpinionSanford: Voting is serious. Just ask 105-year-old Charlotte Robertson
Election commission records show Robertson has participated in every presidential election going back to the 1970s – and no doubt long before that. And she rarely misses a Memphis municipal, county or state election, including primaries.
-
Opinion Sanford: Tennessee has a man problem in politics, public policy
Far too many of this state’s political leaders have a paternalistic and chauvinistic attitude toward women. And what’s worse, these guys just don’t care how it looks.
-
Otis Sanford Sanford: Put the police residency requirement to a vote
The unspoken sentiment behind objections to relaxing residency rules appears to be the prospect that white officers from small towns in North Mississippi, West Tennessee and Eastern Arkansas would be policing unfamiliar territory in North Memphis, South Memphis and Orange Mound.
-
Opinion Sanford: Lamar Alexander needed courage – and an editor
Instead of the word salad that came from Tennessee’s senior Republican senator late on the evening of Jan. 30, all we really needed was a single sentence.
-
-
January 2020
-
Opinion Sanford: Memphis politicos pick their presidential candidates
State legislators and the Memphis and Shelby County mayors are among elected officials who have endorsed a presidential candidate and plan to campaign for their choice.
-
Subscribers only
OpinionSanford: GOP group seeking fair impeachment trial focuses on Tennessee senator
Republicans for the Rule of Law is advertising in Tennessee to drum up support for a fair Senate impeachment trial of Donald Trump. The group hopes to put pressure on Sen. Lamar Alexander to vote to have witnesses during the trial.
-
Subscribers only
OpinionSanford: Gov. Lee stands up to state GOP on refugee issue
This political tempest involves the thorny issue of whether Tennessee should continue to participate in a federal refugee resettlement program.
-
Opinion Sanford: The year of the voter
Partisan anger for and against President Donald Trump will drive voters to the polls in high numbers. But other factors, such as health care, will play a role.
-
-
December 2019
-
Subscribers only
OpinionSanford: Does Trump also support law enforcement?
U.S. Attorney Michael Dunavant voiced support when the attorney general criticized communities that fail to show proper respect for law officers. Were they also concerned when Trump attacked FBI leaders?
-
Subscribers only
OpinionSanford: Sanitation workers are pawns in a political tussle – again
A $7 increase for enhanced trash collection stalled in a City Council vote. If the increase isn’t approved, 199 full-time Solid Waste employees will lose their jobs.
-
Subscribers only
OpinionSanford: Union Avenue is ground zero for change in Memphis
Blighted property on Union at B.B. King Boulevard became AutoZone Park. A new hotel occupies the site of the bus station. Now Union Row has the potential to remake Downtown Memphis.
-
-
November 2019
-
Subscribers only
OpinionSanford: Berlin Boyd couldn’t un-ring the bell
It wasn’t just the insulting language that cost Berlin Boyd his council seat. Many voters were upset that he tended to favor big business over the needs of neighborhoods.
-
Subscribers only
OpinionSanford: A lot of people are angry; too many of them have guns
Rage and guns are a bad combination. In Memphis last weekend, eight people were shot, one of them killed, in altercations at a strip club, a convenience store and outside a Beale Street honky-tonk. On Monday, one discount store customer shot another four times.
-
Subscribers only
Otis SanfordSanford: A 1978 consent decree against police spying is as modern as the Constitution
The landmark lawsuit accusing the City of Memphis and the Memphis Police Department of spying on citizens returns to court 40 years later.
-
-
October 2019
-
Otis Sanford Sanford: Shelby County Democrats embrace the L word
On the night Mississippi voters are deciding between two degrees of conservatism, Shelby County Democrats will gather in Germantown to ask the question, “How Liberal Are You?”
-
Subscribers only
Otis SanfordSanford: Trump loaded his Twitter bomb with racial shrapnel on purpose
Trump’s use of the word “lynching” in his tweet was designed to change the conversation from damaging testimony that is shifting public opinion toward the conclusion that he is unfit for the presidency.
-
Subscribers only
Otis SanfordSanford: Tragedy in Fort Worth should affect our police residency debate
Under ordinary circumstances, the fatal shooting in Fort Worth and the police residency issue in Memphis would have nothing in common. But these are not ordinary times where police and community relations are concerned.
-
Otis Sanford Sanford: A great ex-president shows up for work in Nashville
This former president doesn’t build walls to keep people out. He builds houses to put people in. Jimmy Carter's demeanor, tone and work ethic stand in start contrast to the current occupant of the White House.
-
Subscribers only
Otis SanfordSanford: A compassionate, sobering message to a former mayor
On Oct. 3, 2019, 28 years to the day of his stunning mayoral victory, Dr. Willie W. Herenton gathered again with supporters on election night in Memphis. He was again the underdog, but this time the outcome was humbling.
-
-
September 2019
-
Opinion Sanford: Fords join the battle of the ballots
Joe Ford and his son Justin Ford aren't running for office in the Oct. 3 election, but each man is putting out a list of endorsements.
-
Opinion Sanford: Sawyer’s hurtful words come back to hurt her
Tami Sawyer’s already longshot quest for mayor has imploded. And the wounds were all self-inflicted.
-
Otis Sanford Sanford: Will voters give well-qualified young clerk candidates a chance?
The lesser known candidates for City Court clerk may not say it publicly, but there is resentment that Myron Lowery and Joe Brown hope voters choose familiarity over qualifications.
-