Issac Bailey, a 2014 Nieman Fellow, is a journalist, race relations seminar creator and facilitator, and the author of “Why Didn’t We Riot? A Black Man in Trumpland” (Other Press, October 2020). He is also the author of “My Brother Moochie: Regaining Dignity in the Face of Crime, Poverty, and Racism in the American South” (Other Press, 2018). He has contributed to Politico, CNN.com, Time, and The Washington Post. He is a former columnist and senior writer for The Sun News in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and he was a 2011 recipient of a Casey Medal for Meritorious Journalism for stories about a child protection case. The state subsequently revamped the way it handles such cases.
The New York Times had a chance to earnestly grapple with a serious critique of its trans coverage by a serious group of professionals, including journalists The Times believed were credible enough to have a byline in the paper or … Read more
When my wife and I visited New York in December, I wasn’t sure if we’d be safe on the subway, walking up and down the streets, or if it would be wiser to stick to Uber. I’m certain a major … Read more
Whatever happened to values voters? Were they wiped off the face of Earth like dinosaurs? Hitched a ride on unidentified interstellar object Oumuamua, which Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb thinks might be evidence of alien intelligence, and are now on … Read more
Why would the FBI conduct an unprecedented court-authorized search at the home of a former president of the United States? That is the wrong question for journalists to ask. These are better ones: Why was such a search unprecedented? Have … Read more
Before I discuss news coverage of a 10-year-old rape victim whose story became a political football, there are a few things I want you to consider: Women and girls who become pregnant as a result of a rape don’t automatically … Read more
Felicia Sonmez demanded that The Washington Post live up to the highest standard — zero tolerance for sexism. She wouldn’t allow the organization to tiptoe around an issue our industry has tiptoed around for far too long. That’s why she’s … Read more
By the time the FBI had begun publicly discussing a young Black man as a prime suspect in a high-profile missing person case in 2016, I had already taken a buyout and left The Sun News, the only daily newspaper … Read more
I’ve been torn this month about what to focus on: the refusal of our industry to take true diversity goals seriously or the state of our democracy in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 insurrection. But I’ve come to realize … Read more
Let’s take a brief look at the problem with political reporting. First, I read a story by the Associated Press explaining why the Democratic brand is “toxic” in many largely white rural areas in the United States. It included … Read more
It didn’t take the Swiss leaving behind their well-known and well-worn status of neutrality to know the events unfolding in Ukraine are potentially world-changing and deserve the wall-to-wall, front-page coverage they are receiving. There are plenty of reasons for … Read more
