Randy Cohen writes the weekly column "The Ethicist" for The New York Times
Magazine, syndicated by the Universal Press Syndicate as "On Ethics". Diane
Sawyer interviewed him on three questions he's frequently asked: Should I tell
if I discover that a friend's spouse is having an affair? How honest does my
resume have to be? If my umbrella is missing, may I take another one from the
pile? Cohen's thoughtful, judicious answers have a way of suddenly turning wry.
In fact, he is an Emmy Award-winning comedy writer who has worked with David
Letterman (950 programs) and Rosie O'Donnell.
Randy was born in Charleston, South Carolina. He attended graduate school at
the California Institute of the Arts as a music major studying composition. He
is unable to account for either of these circumstances.
His first professional work was writing humor pieces, essays, and stories for
newspapers and magazines (The New Yorker, Harpers, the Atlantic, Young Love
Comics). A collection of these pieces, "Diary of a Flying Man," was published
by Knopf. For several years, he wrote "The News Quiz," a regular column of
topical comedy, for Slate, the on-line magazine.
His first television work was writing for "Late Night With David Letterman."
for which he won three Emmy awards. His fourth Emmy was for his work on "TV
Nation." He received a fifth Emmy as a result of a clerical error, and he kept
it. He was the original head writer on the "The Rosie O'Donnell Show" for
which he also co-wrote the theme music.
Randy is also the ethics columnist for the Times of London. "The Good, the
Bad and the Difference," a book based upon the column, was recently published
in paperback by Broadway Books. He is a regular contributor to Weekend All
Things Considered on National Public Radio.
Dear Sir, Drop Dead: When you write the ethics column for the Times, people
are bound to disagree with you. Randy talks about the questions that spark the
most controversy.
Buying, Selling and Cheating: Ethical questions in the marketplace, on the
job, doing the deal. Is there a morality of money? Is there honest
advertising? Is "business ethics" a contradiction?
Mind Your Own Business: When does easy going tolerance become cold-hearted
indifference? How do you decide when you're morally obligated to speak up, and
when simple good manners demand that you keep silent?
Etiquette / Ethics / Politics: From the small scale interaction of social
custom through the vast scale of social policy, an ethical view of politics / a
political view of manners.
Do the Republicans Own Virtue? William Bennett, among others, associates
personal morality with right wing politics. But it ain't necessarily so. Is
there an ethics of the center?
