During the most turbulent years in China’s recent history, photojournalist Li Zhensheng documented the “human tragedies and personal foibles” of the Cultural Revolution and its aftermath for the Heilongjiang Daily in Harbin, China. Now many of these images and … Read more
In his essay “Only a Lunatic Would Do This Kind of Work,” David M. Shribman, executive editor of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, captures the essence of what motivates political journalists. “They have an ethos,” Shribman writes. “They believe in inquiry. They believe in the value of the pointed question. They believe in catching their prey in an unscripted moment or in a lie. They believe in asking impertinent questions of their social betters. They believe small deviations from a candidate’s basic stump speech have grave implications.” – Melissa Ludtke, Editor Read more
War and Terror In Nieman Reports’s continuing effort to chronicle the various ways in which journalists are approaching coverage of war and terror, John Koopman, a features writer at the San Francisco Chronicle, describes how, when he returned … Read more
As the Unites States’s military engagement continues in Iraq, dissent at home increases and news organizations wrestle with how to report on it, writes former CBS and NBC News correspondent, Marvin Kalb, now a senior fellow at the Shorenstein … Read more
Sun Yu, who for 12 years was a reporter and editor of the Chinese and English language editions of China Environment News, explores ways in which news coverage in China of the SARS epidemic affected how the government and … Read more
Newspaper reading isn’t a daily habit for most young people. Instead they catch headlines on Web sites, share opinions on Weblogs, and see breaking news alerts along TV scroll bars. Nor do they think they should pay for news reporting. “Deliver the newspaper to me free, and I’ll take a look,” typical young readers tell focus groups as news organizations look for ways to unlock the mysteries of how to connect with these reluctant consumers. – Melissa Ludtke, Editor Read more
With its unusual purpose and Hollywood celebrity, California’s autumn recall election became an archetypal mix of entertainment and news reporting. Lessons from its reporters shed light on some of the changing realities of political coverage. After a 13-year break from … Read more
At a time when access to the high-speed Internet is getting easier and do-it-yourself publishing software abounds, Weblogs are cyberspace’s quick-moving, multilinked, interactive venues of choice for millions of people wanting to share information and opinions, commentary and news. In … Read more
Accidents happen in newsrooms, and some even can be expected to happen, according to William F. Woo, a former editor of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch who teaches journalism at Stanford University. Woo connects ideas emerging from Charles Perrow and … Read more
Black and white journalists, at times working as colleagues, at other times separately, have produced the first draft of our nation’s difficult history of race relations. In this issue of Nieman Reports, journalists examine reporting at the intersection of black and white America and look at the racial conditions, climate and conversations in newsrooms. – Melissa Ludtke, Editor Read more
