ISSUE

Winter 2002

Reporting on the INS

Journalists who devote considerable time to coverage of immigration and investigation of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) write about why they report on a topic that rarely makes Page One. They also share experiences in how they’ve reported these stories, especially in the wake of the terrorist attacks. Arguably, this is one of the more difficult beats given the secrecy with which the INS guards much of what it does—a secrecy that some news organizations are now challenging on constitutional grounds. – Melissa Ludtke, Editor

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Articles

Journalist’s Trade

Documenting How INS Detainees Are Treated

Facing imminent deportation back to his native Guatemala for a criminal conviction, Ronald Zetino is visited by his young son and family. The Mira Loma jail is rare in that…
Steven Rubin
December 15, 2002
Journalist’s Trade

Covering the INS in South Florida

‘Without dogged media pursuit, little will change the INS culture of impunity.’
Susana Barciela
December 15, 2002
Journalist’s Trade

Why Reporters Should Want to Cover Immigration

It’s a big and important story. Editors don’t interfere much. And the public cares about the issues.
Patrick J. McDonnell
December 15, 2002
Journalist’s Trade

Challenging the Reporting Limits Imposed By the INS

For asking an ‘inappropriate’ question, a reporter’s access is curtailed.
Mark Dow
December 15, 2002
Journalist’s Trade

“Freedom of the Press Becomes a River Without Water”

An attorney describes the fight for access to news in a post-September 11 world.
Herschel P. Fink
December 15, 2002
Journalist’s Trade

Satellite Imagery for Environment Reporting

Journalists can use these images and data to report and illustrate stories.
Claire Parkinson
December 15, 2002
Journalist’s Trade

The People’s Right to Know vs. Government Secrecy

An immigration reporter joins a legal case to gain access to court hearings.
Hilary Burke
December 15, 2002
Journalist’s Trade

Finding Environmental Satellite Images on the Web

RELATED ARTICLE“Satellite Imagery for Environment Reporting”– Claire ParkinsonClaire Parkinson compiled a list of Web sites where reporters can find a wide selection of satellite imagery relevant to environmental topics. They…
December 15, 2002
Journalist’s Trade

“Freedom of the Press Becomes a River Without Water”

Isuspect I am among the few who can look back over a lengthy professional career and point unhesitatingly to one specific, defining event that sparked a passion and sent them…
Herschel P. Fink
December 15, 2002
Journalist’s Trade

Reluctance to Read News About the Environment

‘…trying to convince people about the importance of protecting the environment sometimes falls on deaf ears.’
Nanise Fifita
December 15, 2002
Journalist’s Trade

Environment Reporting in China

There is government control and strained finances, but coverage of the environment is flourishing.
Sun Yu
December 15, 2002
Journalist’s Trade

The Environment Beat in the Nation’s Capital

Reporters sort through promises of politicians and claims of advocates.
Margaret Kriz
December 15, 2002
Journalist’s Trade

Covering the Environment From Rio to Johannesburg and Beyond

A Brazilian journalist describes his frustration with the beat.
Marcelo Leite
December 15, 2002
Journalist’s Trade

Complexity in Environment Reporting Is Critical to Public Decision-Making

‘…the craft is now firmly entrenched as a key beat in American journalism.’
Paul Rogers
December 15, 2002
Journalist’s Trade

Using a Camera to Document Global Warming

‘This is a magnificent and urgent story just beginning to be told.’
Gary Braasch
December 15, 2002
Journalist’s Trade

Missing the ‘Big Story’ in Environment Coverage

‘… if we don’t do a better job of telling the story, devastation of the environment will be partly our fault.’
Charles Alexander
December 15, 2002
Journalist’s Trade

Connecting the Human Condition to Environmental Destruction

‘… I kept my camera’s eye fixed on the haunting faces of children.’
Stan Grossfeld
December 15, 2002
Journalist’s Trade

Fighting to Get Environment Stories on Television

A veteran journalist uses fresh strategies with editors.
Jacques A. Rivard
December 15, 2002
Journalist’s Trade

The Press Paid Little Attention When the Immigration Act Was Passed

By personalizing cases of injustice, a columnist connects readers to its consequences.
Anthony Lewis
December 15, 2002
Journalist’s Trade

The Beat Is a Tougher One Today

Reporting on the environment requires more and better training of those who do it.
James Bruggers
December 15, 2002
Journalist’s Trade

Reporting on Children Held in INS Detention

‘It was this human contact that gave us the ability to get to the heart of his story.’
Chris L. Jenkins
December 15, 2002
Journalist’s Trade

The Environment Beat’s Rocky Terrain

Editors often don’t see these stories as ‘traditional news,’ and reporters tread on sensitive ground inside the newsroom.
Philip Shabecoff
December 15, 2002
Journalist’s Trade

A Beat About Business and the Environment

A broadcast journalist starts to see stories through a more complicated lens.
Christy George
December 15, 2002
Journalist’s Trade

Radio Uses Sound and Script to Transport Listeners to a Place

‘In environmental reporting, nothing is more elemental than the sense of place.’
Peter Thomson
December 15, 2002
Journalist’s Trade

Environment Journalists Don’t Get Much Respect

‘… the environment beat is so far down the journalistic pecking order that if it were alive it would be an amoeba.’
Bud Ward
December 15, 2002
Journalist’s Trade

A New Kind of Environment Reporting Is Needed

Blending objectivity with advocacy to arrive at sustainable journalism.
Jim Detjen
December 15, 2002
Journalist’s Trade

Networks Aren’t Tuned in to the Environment

By using storytelling to illuminate issues, ‘we tricked everyday viewers into paying attention to environmental news.’
Natalie Pawelski
December 15, 2002
Journalist’s Trade

Covering Breaking News on the Environment Beat

At The (Baltimore) Sun, a city disaster leads to new investigations.
Timothy Wheeler
December 15, 2002
Journalist’s Trade

Photojournalism and Environment Stories

A photographer’s work ‘explores the increasingly complex relationship between people and the environment.’
Natalie Fobes
December 15, 2002
Journalist’s Trade

Newsroom Issues Affect Environment Coverage

‘One of our bigger problems can be our own employers.’
Peter Lord
December 15, 2002
Journalist’s Trade

Training for Environment Writers

RELATED ARTICLE“Newsroom Issues Affect Environment Coverage”– Peter LordPaul Rogers, natural resources and environment writer at the San Jose Mercury News, compiled this list of training opportunities for journalists to improve…
Paul Rogers
December 15, 2002
Journalist’s Trade

Winter 2002: Introduction

Four decades ago reporting on the environment was what Paul Rogers, natural resources and environment writer at the San Jose Mercury News, calls “a fringe pursuit.” He writes that “the…
Melissa Ludtke
December 15, 2002
Journalist’s Trade

Connecting Scientific Data to Real Consequences for People

Power, passion and accountability are key ingredients of environment stories.
Tom Henry
December 15, 2002
Journalist’s Trade

Investigating What Happens to Refugees in INS Detention

This is the kind of story that ‘many of us entered journalism to do.’
Rick Tulsky
December 15, 2002
Journalist’s Trade

The Oregonian Investigates Mistreatment of Foreigners

Reporters uncover ‘a world of racism, sexism and questionable conduct.’
Richard Read
December 15, 2002
Journalist’s Trade

Journalists Can Be Seduced By Aspects of Risk

By understanding how and why people perceive risks, reporters and editors can cover risk-related issues with more caution and balance.
David Ropeik
December 15, 2002
Journalist’s Trade

Understanding Factors of Risk Perception

What follows is a basic list of risk perception factors. (They are culled from 20 years of research and are reviewed for this article by Paul Slovic.) Often, several of…
David Ropeik
December 15, 2002
The Arctic
Journalist’s Trade

The Arctic

Native village of Shishmaref, Alaska, undergoing attack by Bering Sea erosion Geophysicist Osterkamp shows permafrost thaw-down near Healy, Alaska Icebergs issue from Jakobshavn Glacier in Disko Bay, West Greenland RELATED…
Gary Braasch
December 15, 2002
Glaciers and Sea Level Change
Journalist’s Trade

Glaciers and Sea Level Change

Sagarin at Monterey tide pools High tide on Delaware Bay near Cape Bay A shrinking Rhone glacier, in 1859 and in 2001 RELATED ARTICLE“Using a Camera to Document Global Warming”–…
Gary Braasch
December 15, 2002
Journalist’s Trade

Blue Earth Alliance

Concerned that magazines and book publishers were no longer funding photographers’ long-term projects, Natalie Fobes cofounded Blue Earth Alliance RELATED ARTICLE“Photojournalism and Environment Stories”– Natalie Fobes(BEA) in 1996 as a…
Natalie Fobes
December 15, 2002
Opinion

The Vital Role of the Press in a Time of National Crisis

‘Watchdog journalism begins with a state of mind: accepting responsibility as a surrogate for the public.’
Bob Giles
December 15, 2002
Antarctica
Journalist’s Trade

Antarctica

Ornithologist Fraser at a diminished Adelie colony on Torgersen Island The disintegrating Müller Ice Shelf, Lallemand Fjord A male Adelie penguin disgorges krill for its chick RELATED ARTICLE“Using a Camera…
Gary Braasch
December 15, 2002
Opinion

A War Correspondent Tries to Make Sense of What He’s Seen

‘Why, he wanted to know, do human beings fight wars?’
Nancy Bernhard
December 15, 2002
Journalist’s Trade

A Government Agency Impedes Access to Information

What right do the public and journalists have to see data about children’s health and the environment?
Joseph A. Davis
December 15, 2002
Opinion

A Rigorous Look at the Work of Newsrooms Today

In this era of bottom-line journalism, the authors document how quality in news reporting can triumph.
Seth Effron
December 15, 2002
Opinion

The Consequences of Corporate Ownership

‘Our democracy is in crisis from the loss of independent voices serving as its watchdog.’
Frank A. Blethen
December 15, 2002
Journalist’s Trade

The Press Portrayed the Story as Fish vs. Farmers

But the Klamath River story is a whole lot more complicated than that.
Michael Milstein
December 15, 2002
Journalist’s Trade

After September 11, Headlines About Air Quality Were Everywhere

A reporter explains his misgivings about this complicated story.
Dan Fagin
December 15, 2002
From the Curator

Creating a New Web of Connections

The Nieman Web site will be home to valuable information about journalism.
Bob Giles
December 15, 2002
Journalist’s Trade

Winter 2002: Journalist’s Trade Introduction

“To teach the craft of journalism is a worthy goal but clearly insufficient in this new world and within the setting of a great university,” Lee C. Bollinger, the new…
Melissa Ludtke
December 15, 2002
Opinion

Winter 2002: Words & Reflections Introduction

In “Breach of Faith,” the second of two volumes edited by journalists Gene Roberts and Thomas Kunkel, the authors continue their in-depth examination of the consequences of concentrated ownership on…
Melissa Ludtke
December 15, 2002
Nieman Notes

The Maynard Institute: 25 Years and 2,000 Journalists Later

Its innovative training programs shape the careers of many minority journalists.
Bryan Monroe
December 15, 2002
Journalist’s Trade

Passing Along the Magic of Journalism

Journalism stands apart from other academic pursuits.
Dale Maharidge
December 15, 2002
Journalist’s Trade

What Journalism Schools Do Best

Important lessons are taught in the much-maligned ‘skills courses.’
Nancy Day
December 15, 2002
Journalist’s Trade

Journalism’s Road to Becoming a Profession

There are key roles for educators to play in this transformation.
Philip Meyer
December 15, 2002
Journalist’s Trade

The Bridge Between the Classroom and Journalism

The purpose of journalism education can’t be addressed without determining why journalists do what they do.
William F. Woo
December 15, 2002
Journalist’s Trade

Melding the Competing Demands of Basic Skills and Emerging Issues in Journalism

At Berkeley, a professor is using Weblogs as a new approach to teaching both.
Paul Grabowicz
December 15, 2002
Journalist’s Trade

What Should Be Taught in Journalism Schools?

An aspiring reporter ‘doesn’t need to learn how—he needs to learn what.’
Melvin Mencher
December 15, 2002
Journalist’s Trade

The Worthiness of Bollinger’s Challenge

‘For craft training to be accorded due respect does not mean all else must be shunned.’
Geneva Overholser
December 15, 2002
Features

Winter 2002: Introduction

Journalists who devote considerable time to coverage of immigration and investigation of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) write about why they report on a topic that rarely makes Page…
Melissa Ludtke
September 15, 2002