Similar to the main player late in a traditional bullfight, the American newspaper industry staggers a bit, shows some blood and perhaps even draws a few jeers. Some perceive its wounded, winded condition as an indication of eventual collapse. But the matador who adopts such an attitude should beware. This bull still has muscles that [...]

After viewing Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s interview on “60 Minutes” and then, soon thereafter, “Watchmen” — a new movie about flawed heroes with special powers in an alternate world — I wondered which was more fantastic: fact or fiction.

When the intense violence of illegal drug-trafficking was causing a commotion several hours away by air in places like Colombia, Americans were not terribly concerned. But now that it is killing about 100 people a week in Mexico, spilling over the U.S. border with that country, being branded a top national-security threat and disrupting vacation [...]