When I was a border correspondent, I learned to move between both sides, quickly and frequently, physically and mentally, while striving for balance. I learned to maneuver in gray areas. And I learned there was no substitute for being out in the field, on the street, at the line — talking with migrants and cops and desperados, the gatekeepers of the secret worlds. – Sebastian Rotella, "Journalists Patrol Ever-Changing Borders" Read more
Courage, as these journalists remind us, exposes itself in different guises. It can be found in the wisdom of understanding when danger finally has outweighed the risk. Or it can surface when threats to personal safety lurk but the lessons of training combine with inner strength to push fear aside and persevere. Courage can reside, too, in a journalist's isolation when editorial stands taken shake the foundation of friendship and sever long-held ties to one's community. In this issue, glimpses of such journalistic courage are offered. – Melissa Ludtke, Editor Read more
"Reinvent or die. It's that simple," is advice offered to newspapers by Tim Porter, an editor and writer with newspapers and now a news media consultant. "And the death will be slow and painful, a continuing slide into mediocrity and irrelevance, as tighter budgets reduce staff and the public opts for newer, more compelling sources of information." Porter argues that "local journalism," done in new ways that he describes, will be the difference in whether daily newspapers survive. Read more
In recounting her reporting experiences for the Palm Beach Post after Hurricane Wilma hit Florida, Jane Daugherty speaks to the “retrospective dynamic of our coverage,” in which journalists seem to rediscover in natural disasters the vulnerabilities of those who … Read more
In our new outreach to journalism professors and students, Nieman Reports initiated an effort to help teachers use the content of our magazine in their classrooms. To do this, we invited friends of Nieman Reports — those who contribute to … Read more
“The first accurate description we heard of the storm’s wrath was told to a Sun Herald reporter in four words: ‘Your city is gone,'” writes Stan Tiner, executive editor of the Sun Herald in Biloxi, Mississippi. The storm was … Read more
The frontline editor’s job is one that, in the words of Jacqui Banaszynski, who holds the Knight Chair in Editing at the University of Missouri School of Journalism, “has expanded to one that just keeps on expanding.” As she … Read more
“Night Draws Near: Iraq’s People in the Shadow of America’s War,” a book written by Washington Post correspondent Anthony Shadid, who won the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for his reporting from Iraq, “is filled with the kind of insights—and personal anecdotes—that … Read more
In his opening essay, Dan Fagin, associate director of New York University’s Science and Environmental Reporting Program, plows the common ground beneath the coverage of intelligent design and global warming. Science, he observes, is not “adept at feeding the … Read more
“Let me begin with a confession. After watching television coverage of Katrina for nearly every wakeful moment over the first few dramatic days, I quit. Cold turkey,” writes Curtis Wilkie, who holds the Cook Chair in Journalism at the … Read more
