ISSUE

Fall 2020

The Newsrooms We Need Now

As American society grapples with growing demands for racial justice, American newsrooms are struggling with how to appropriately respond. Beyond making newsrooms more diverse, how should journalism meet the challenges of the moment and change newsroom structures and cultures that uphold oppression? In a series of essays, thought leaders reflect and offer prescriptions for what the news industry needs to do.

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Articles

Thought Leaders in Journalism on How to Meet the Challenges of This Moment
From the Curator

Thought Leaders in Journalism on How to Meet the Challenges of This Moment

Dear Journalism. Those two words formed the silent call I heard throughout the summer as anguish over George Floyd’s killing and an amplified Black Lives Matter movement forced a news…
Ann Marie Lipinski
September 23, 2020
Providing Better Narratives About Africa For—and by—Africans
Niemans @ Work

Providing Better Narratives About Africa For—and by—Africans

Hannane Ferdjani, NF ’20, launched her program “Beyond the Noise” to report on the pandemic’s impact on AfricaProviding better narratives about Africa — it’s been my journalism quest since I…
Hannane Ferdjani
September 23, 2020
Photographing Grief during the Covid-19 Pandemic
Visual Journalism

Photographing Grief during the Covid-19 Pandemic

Lisa Krantz, a 2020 Nieman Fellow, on covering the coronavirus pandemic’s impact on her community as a photographer for the San Antonio Express-News:“I met this family at a prayer vigil…
Lisa Krantz
September 23, 2020
Journalists Need to Create a Sense of Belonging
Opinion

Journalists Need to Create a Sense of Belonging

During a recent conversation on the ongoing pursuit of racial equity in our workplaces, a colleague asked a question we all should ask ourselves: “How did we get here?”The answer,…
Rob King
September 22, 2020
Newsrooms Need a Plan to Diversify Investigative Teams, Too
Diversity in Journalism Opinion

Newsrooms Need a Plan to Diversify Investigative Teams, Too

The killing of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis, Minnesota has created a racial reckoning for the country.That reckoning has expanded to America’s newsrooms. Across the country, journalists of color…
Ron Nixon
September 21, 2020
Journalism Must Be an Act of Community-Building
Opinion

Journalism Must Be an Act of Community-Building

Since the recent uprisings, we at Press On have been hearing and witnessing an increasing sense of urgency from journalism organizations and institutions to address their internal cultures and structures…
Cierra Hinton
September 18, 2020
Journalists Can Help People Tell Their Own Stories by Talking Less, Listening More
Opinion

Journalists Can Help People Tell Their Own Stories by Talking Less, Listening More

American journalists are chronicling a nation in turmoil. The strife centers around inequality and is fueled by our inability to understand each other. We are a country of factions that…
Erika Dilday
September 16, 2020
Newsrooms Should Make Space for Emotions
Opinion

Newsrooms Should Make Space for Emotions

I can’t remember his name now, but I remember the abject fear of getting something wrong and having to face his wrath — the classic editorial anger meted out to…
Dilshad D. Ali
September 15, 2020
Before You Can Fix Your Newsroom, You Need to Fix Your Life
Diversity in Journalism Opinion

Before You Can Fix Your Newsroom, You Need to Fix Your Life

If you are looking at this reckoning on race and trying to change your newsroom, I ask you to do something harder: Take a critical look at yourself.There are no…
S. Mitra Kalita
September 9, 2020
A News Startup Focuses on Making a Business out of Reporting on China
Niemans @ Work

A News Startup Focuses on Making a Business out of Reporting on China

David Barboza, NF ’16, is turning information gathered by his journalists into a database for companiesDuring much of my time working as a journalist at The New York Times, I…
David Barboza
September 4, 2020
Want Diverse Newsrooms? Unions Push for Pay Equity As a Path Forward
Diversity Diversity in Journalism

Want Diverse Newsrooms? Unions Push for Pay Equity As a Path Forward

As an uprising against racism and discrimination swept across the nation’s newsrooms in recent months, one of the issues raised at many of the organizations in upheaval was pay equity.At…
Kristen Chick
September 3, 2020
Journalists Need to Remember that Not All News Readers are White
Diversity in Journalism Opinion

Journalists Need to Remember that Not All News Readers are White

Every journalist needs to imagine a reader, someone to tell the story to. Of course, we all want many, many readers but keeping at least one person in mind during…
Marc Lacey
September 1, 2020
Is Movement Journalism What's Needed During this Reckoning over Race and Inequality?
Diversity in Journalism

Is Movement Journalism What’s Needed During this Reckoning over Race and Inequality?

A movement journalist examines what it means to engage with communities and challenge the status quo
Tina Vasquez
August 25, 2020
Following the Money at the University of Michigan Hits Home for Reporter
Sounding

Following the Money at the University of Michigan Hits Home for Reporter

I used to be the king of the N-S-A:No.Strings.Attached.I was single. I had no children. And I was a renter.When the discount plane fare to Japan arrived in my inbox,…
Matthew Dolan
August 19, 2020
“Collaboration is the Future of Journalism”
Features

“Collaboration is the Future of Journalism”

When Jean Ronald Saint Preux started live-streaming on Facebook, the police had already smashed his driver seat window.On a clear day, May 20th, in the parking lot of the town…
Casey Quackenbush
August 11, 2020
A Journalist Brings Her Reporting Acumen to American History
Niemans @ Work

A Journalist Brings Her Reporting Acumen to American History

Nieman curator Howard Simons used to tease our class of ’77 about the number of members who abandoned journalism. Mel Goo became a lawyer; Dolly Katz, an epidemiologist. Al Larkin…
Paul Solman
August 10, 2020
In Photographing Social Justice Protests, Respect Means ‘Looking Again’
Diversity in Journalism Opinion Visual Journalism

In Photographing Social Justice Protests, Respect Means ‘Looking Again’

On July 19, Black Lives Matter Toronto activists held a press conference about the release of three demonstrators from police custody in connection with pink paint that had been thrown…
Melissa Bunni Elian
July 29, 2020
As the November Election Approaches, Are Newsrooms Ready for Guccifer 3.0?
Features Watchdog

As the November Election Approaches, Are Newsrooms Ready for Guccifer 3.0?

When a Twitter user named @Guccifer_2 direct messaged reporter Sheera Frenkel in June 2016, offering hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee, she demonstrated an instinct that will be crucial…
Christa Case Bryant
July 28, 2020
Diversity, Equality, Inclusion, and “The Pipeline Problem”
Diversity in Journalism Opinion

Diversity, Equality, Inclusion, and “The Pipeline Problem”

Some years ago, I was turning in my invoice for payment to NPR at the end of a month. I haven’t been a full-time employee at NPR, where I spent…
Doug Mitchell
July 24, 2020