ISSUE

Winter 2016

Beyond the “Coming Out” Story

Transgender people—models, actors, musicians, authors, athletes, soldiers—have increasingly entered the public consciousness. With this increased visibility has come increased media coverage. But despite this progress, the general population still knows relatively little about the transgender community. Our cover story explores how journalists can cover a community, which has been for so long maligned and voiceless, in ways that are considerate of that community’s needs as well as those of readers, some of whom need basic concepts explained.

Articles

The State-by-State Approach to Getting National Data With FOIA

The State-by-State Approach to Getting National Data With FOIA

In 2014, in collaboration with The Marshall Project, MuckRock published the first nationwide, agency-by-agency breakdown of military equipment distributed for free to police via the 1033 program, which transfers excess…
What Nicki Minaj Can Teach Newsrooms About Credibility

What Nicki Minaj Can Teach Newsrooms About Credibility

On a recent visit to my daughter’s college campus, I heard student musicians talking about a New York Times Magazine profile, “The Passion of Nicki Minaj,” but it wasn’t what…
Johanna van Eeden, NF ’15, directs a South African news platform built to keep up with the speed of news

Johanna van Eeden, NF ’15, directs a South African news platform built to keep up with the speed of news

December 3, 2015. We all knew it was going to be a busy day in the newsroom. The Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein, South Africa, was to rule on…
Why Journalists Shouldn't Be Blinded by Bad Science

Why Journalists Shouldn’t Be Blinded by Bad Science

Astronomer and longtime professor David J. Helfand has taught scientific habits of mind to generations of undergraduates at Columbia University. His first book, “A Survival Guide to the Misinformation Age:…
Culture critic Chris Vognar, NF ’09, discovers new talents in a multimedia cross-disciplinary approach to his beat

Culture critic Chris Vognar, NF ’09, discovers new talents in a multimedia cross-disciplinary approach to his beat

since my return to the Dallas Morning News in 2009 following my fellowship year, I have been a culture critic. Trading in my old title of movie critic formalized my…

Raquel Rutledge, NF ’12, and her colleagues at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel investigated unfair property tax assessments—and worked to engage readers

Coefficients of dispersion. Chasing the sale. Maintenance years.Three things I knew almost nothing about when I got a tip from a software engineer that something was gravely wrong with the…
An AP Correspondent Examines Why Foreign News Matters

An AP Correspondent Examines Why Foreign News Matters

When Typhoon Haiyan, one of the strongest typhoons ever recorded, slammed into the Philippines in 2013, I rushed there from Bangkok to report on it with my colleagues from The…
Covering the Transgender Community

Covering the Transgender Community

How newsrooms are moving beyond the “coming out” story to report crucial transgender issues
Fifty Years of FOIA

Fifty Years of FOIA

Dave Philipps was well acquainted with the plight of troubled veterans when he heard about a soldier in the El Paso County jail two years ago. As a reporter at…
Revitalizing Journalism in Brazil

Revitalizing Journalism in Brazil

It is almost impossible to overestimate the importance of the Amazon basin to Brazil. At approximately five million square kilometers, the region represents 59 percent of the country’s territory, an…
Melissa Bell of Vox Media: "Give People the Start of Understanding"

Melissa Bell of Vox Media: “Give People the Start of Understanding”

Melissa Bell is a journalist, technologist, and co-founder in 2014 of Vox.com, a site focused on explainer journalism. In 2015, she assumed a corporate role at parent company Vox Media.…
How Newsrooms Handle Graphic Images of Violence

How Newsrooms Handle Graphic Images of Violence

Are images of violence and death too distressing to publish—or too important to ignore?