On a sunny Saturday afternoon in October 2013, I entered a conference hall at the Charles Hotel in Cambridge to attend a roundtable that was part of the Nieman Foundation’s 75th anniversary celebration weekend. The topic: “Innovation … Read more
In life and death alike, Anthony Shadid was repeatedly recognized by his peers as among the finest foreign correspondents of his generation. To examine his legacy and share it with journalism students and the wider world, I … Read more
When I set out to find out what happened to everyone in my third-grade class at Milwaukee’s Samuel Clemens Elementary School in 1978, I had no idea how mentally draining the project would become. “What Happened … Read more
In Powell County, Kentucky, a nurse, a preacher, and a physician assistant challenged deep religious beliefs to save their community. In the process they also taught me both the importance of meeting people where they are and the … Read more
I became executive director at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill’s Daily Tar Heel in August 2016, at a make-or-break moment for our nonprofit newspaper. We’d lost $272,000 in the previous fiscal year, and hadn’t broken … Read more
Being an investigative reporter used to be a lonely job. You rarely talk about your story to colleagues in your newsroom, let alone a journalist from another publication. You guard your story like a bear protecting its cub. But all … Read more
A laptop was cracked across the reception desk. A hole was put through the red painted wall. And a 2015 award for best radio documentary, hanging high, was pulled down and the glass shattered. This was the scene this past … Read more
The seven reporters rode motorbikes and jeeps into Nepal’s mountainous districts to find some of the 15,000-plus men, women, and children struggling through a second winter in emergency tents or corrugated-metal shacks. Back in Kathmandu, our data … Read more
What should newsrooms look like in the future? No one knows the answer. But there is energy in uncertainty. And the best way to find an answer is start an adventure. Even if it means getting up at 3 a.m. Read more
When journalism becomes work—as opposed to adventure—it’s time to move on; that’s what I did after three decades as a reporter and commentator in print and television, at the Oregon Statesman in Salem and KGW-TV in Portland. Later, after 14 … Read more
