Nieman Reports
Fall 2001
The Documentary and Journalism: Where They Converge

At a time when so much of journalism is quicker, shorter and hyped to grab the public’s presumed short-attention span, the documentary—with its slower pace and meandering moments—is finding receptive audiences in many old places and some new ones as well. In this issue of Nieman Reports, we’ve asked those who document our world to explore how their work converges with ours. How is what they do related to journalism? And what does the documentary form allow its adherents to do in reporting news or exploring issues that other forms of journalism do not?
Download PDFThe Documentary and Journalism
Radio and the Internet
Photography and the Written Word
Moving Pictures: Television and Film
Journalist’s Trade: Newspaper Cutbacks
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Fall 2001: Journalist’s Trade Introduction
By Melissa Ludtke
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A Feeling of Being Set Adrift
By Thrity Umrigar
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The Philadelphia Inquirer: Cuts Jeopardize Quality
By Jim Naughton
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When the Cheering Stops and Anger Sets In
By Chuck Laszewski
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Editors Need to Care About Words and Budgets
By Deborah Howell
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Diversity Can Be Improved During This Economic Downturn
By William W. Sutton Jr.
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Ownership Guides a Newspaper’s Mission
By John Morton
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Newspaper Economics 2001: The McClatchy Way
By Gary Pruitt
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Making Change Work Away From Public Pressures
By Jay Smith
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Newspapers Confront a Barrage of Problems
By Stephen Lacy
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Working Together, Journalists Can Have a Say in Corporate Policy
By Gilbert Cranberg
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Prescient Words Delivered a Decade Ago
By Geneva Overholser
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News is Strategic in the Newspaper Business
By Joseph Bower
Words & Reflections
Words & Reflections: When Journalists Arrive …
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A Neighbor Wonders About Her Role as a Media Source
By Audrey McCollum
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The Chandra Levy Story
By Kim Petersen
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A Bullet, a Boy, a Story, and a Reporter’s Observations
By Robert Salladay
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My Son Became a Voice the Media Relied on
By Barbara Schardt
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With Child-Care Stories, It Still Comes Down to Mothers
By Barbara A. Willer
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Journalists Ask Questions, Then Refuse to Answer Them
By David Folkenflik
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Viewer Dissatisfaction Understates the Anger at Local TV News
By Ike Seamans
Words & Reflections: Books and Commentary
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Silencing Voices for Racial Change During the 1950’s
By Carol Polsgrove
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Journalism and Myth
By William F. Woo
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The Evolutionary Growth of Newspapers’ Look and Feel
By Warren Watson
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Editorials: Pungent, Profound and Path Breaking
By Nancy Day
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Essays by a Mexican Journalist Explore the Americas
By Dianne Solís
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A Journalist Allows This Story to Speak for Itself
By Wilson Wanene
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He Displeased His Bosses, Not to Mention Those He Covered
By John Herbers
Masthead
- Publisher
- Bob Giles
- Editor
- Melissa Ludtke
- Assistant Editor
- Lois Fiore
- Editorial Assistant
- Paul Wirth
- Design Editor
- Deborah Smiley
- Business Manager
- Cheryl Scantlebury
- Cover Story
- Afghanistan, 1998. A young man on the doorstep of a tea house. Chris Steele-Perkins/ Magnum Photos.©