ISSUE

Summer 2020

Racial Reckoning

As the coronavirus pandemic wears on and the racial justice movement in the U.S. continues to amplify in the wake of George Floyd’s killing, American society — and American newsrooms — are faced with urgent challenges as well as opportunities for change.

How are news organizations covering this unprecedented time, and how are journalists managing the trauma and stress associated with that work? Nieman Reports examines how the reinvigorated movement for racial justice and the pandemic are prompting newsrooms to fundamentally rethink how stories are covered — and by whom.

Articles

Learning from Little Rock: A Look at Black Lives Matter Protests and the Role of Local News

Learning from Little Rock: A Look at Black Lives Matter Protests and the Role of Local News

Coverage of protests in Arkansas’ capital highlights the fraught relationship between local newsrooms and the communities they cover
Reporting and Resilience: How Journalists Are Managing Their Mental Health

Reporting and Resilience: How Journalists Are Managing Their Mental Health

Amidst a global pandemic, racial tumult, and decimated newsrooms, journalists are learning how to cope so they can keep reporting
Meet the New Black Press

Meet the New Black Press

How nimble, mission-driven outlets and a citizen-focused initiative are telling stories about — and for — Black communities
Timeline: Milestones of the Black Press in the U.S.

Timeline: Milestones of the Black Press in the U.S.

The Black press has powered political action and lifted spirits as it chronicled achievements, aspirations, and challenges. Such was its power that some Southern towns banned the sale of Black…
Protest Photography Can Be a Powerful Tool For and Against Black Lives Matter

Protest Photography Can Be a Powerful Tool For and Against Black Lives Matter

If photojournalism wants to draw attention to social injustice, it must also look at the unintended harm photography can cause
Reimagining Latinx Representation in American Journalism 

Reimagining Latinx Representation in American Journalism 

I belong to a privileged group of journalists whose identities as Latinxs have always been an asset. Where the relationship between the newsroom and audience is unique.Before joining our digital news…
Refugee Journalists Bring Access to Stories that Would Otherwise Be Missed

Refugee Journalists Bring Access to Stories that Would Otherwise Be Missed

“Diversity is not about political correctness, it’s about the quality of media”
George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and One Journalist’s Painfully Honest Self-Examination on Racism

George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and One Journalist’s Painfully Honest Self-Examination on Racism

“No one in the United States is immune to the influence of white supremacy, not even a black Southerner like me”
Lessons Learned from Investigating Corruption in Peru — and Facing Blowback

Lessons Learned from Investigating Corruption in Peru — and Facing Blowback

A longtime journalist who wrote his first investigation on a sturdy Olivetti typewriter, I, a streetwise dinosaur, 10 years ago teamed up with millenials to launch the very small online,…
In Appalachia, radio reporter Benny Becker focuses on letting people narrate their own stories

In Appalachia, radio reporter Benny Becker focuses on letting people narrate their own stories

In my proposal for the new Abrams Nieman Fellowship for Local Investigative Journalism, I made one core commitment — to spend a lot of time on the road listening to…
Fiction That Writes Its Way into Now: Eerily prescient stories mark launch of The Chronicles of Now founded by Tyler Cabot, NF ’14

Fiction That Writes Its Way into Now: Eerily prescient stories mark launch of The Chronicles of Now founded by Tyler Cabot, NF ’14

On March 5th, I woke up to a new short story by Roxane Gay in my inbox that felt post-apocalyptic: life in the U.S. 15 months into a coronavirus quarantine.…
Rappler's Maria Ressa Recommends How to Tame the Corrosive Effects of Social Media

Rappler’s Maria Ressa Recommends How to Tame the Corrosive Effects of Social Media

The facts of Maria Ressa’s career are impressive enough: Princeton cum laude, Fulbright Fellow, CNN bureau chief in Manila and Jakarta, CNN’s chief investigative reporter in Asia, author of two…

Masthead

Publisher
Ann Marie Lipinski
Editor
James Geary
Senior Editor
Jan Gardner
Editorial Specialist
Eryn M. Carlson
Staff Assistant
Shelby Grebbin
Print Design
Dan Zedek