Articles

Powerful People and a Book They Almost Stopped

When a Philippine investigative journalist revealed the inner workings of her nation’s Supreme Court, the country’s largest book publisher and leading distributor walked away.

Visual Intensity of Words

‘Does the Kindle allow the visual even more dominance over the other senses in the act of reading?’

Sooner Sounds Better

Recently I wrote a memoir with the working title "Paper Route: Finding My Way to Precision Journalism" and then I started looking for a publisher. One of my first stops…

Telling Political Stories in Closer to Real-Time Books

‘The digital book project is a way of ensuring that these tips and anecdotes and character insights don’t get pushed aside, and instead are developed and given to readers in…

Will I Ever Write the Book? Why Not?

‘I teach nonfiction books. I study them, praise them, and pick them apart, and as I do so, I often wonder what’s holding me back from writing one.’

Novels Win Out Over Journalism

‘The biggest shift in going from journalism to books is not from scribe to artist, but employee to entrepreneur—suddenly self-employed, with no benefits, no expense account, and no security.’

Newsroom to Classroom: Books as a Thread of Connection

With a forthcoming book about undercover reporting—along with a reporter-friendly database of historic examples—a j-school professor keeps her focus on familiar topics.

Writing a Life, Living a Writer’s Life

‘At one point, my mother, a woman who is anything but acid, told me: “Get a job, and get a life.” She said this out of love and concern because…

Is the Financial Crisis Also a Crime Story?

What happens when reporters pursue the wrong narrative in covering financial news? It is a personal story with deeper implications.

Six Decades of Watching Mississippi—Starting in 1947

‘Late in 1977, we started to tackle the comeback of the [Ku Klux Klan] in Mississippi. In response, a cross wrapped in kerosene-soaked rags was set ablaze just past midnight…