When The (Bergen) Record in northern New Jersey began tracking Covid-19 deaths and writing profiles about the deceased in March 2020, the task seemed manageable. Jim O’Neill, a longtime editor at The Record, handled the project. He combed through … Read more
Way back in 2017, I saw Edward Maibach, the director of George Mason University’s Center for Climate Change Communication, give a presentation about the climate crisis and the public’s still-limited understanding of it. People really only need to know five … Read more
On the morning of March 4, the last remaining independent news outlet in Russia — the award-winning Novaya Gazeta — announced the end of its reporting on the war in Ukraine in response to Russian government demands. A new … Read more
Mike Kelly has worked at The Record for 46 years, and until Gannett acquired the New Jersey newspaper in 2016, he saw little need for a union. But that changed once Gannett arrived. Kelly, a columnist … Read more
In the fall of 2020, voters across the country waited in long lines to cast their ballots in a pivotal election, with press on hand to cover the action. One Georgia TV reporter talked to an upbeat voter who … Read more
In the early summer of 2020, the Black Lives Matter protests unleashed after a Minneapolis police officer murdered George Floyd reached Europe, too. During the protests, people filled the streets and squares across European cities to denounce systemic racism, chanting … Read more
The world is broken. But then, it’s always been a little damaged, right? Sure, it’s only in recent history that humans, post the Industrial Revolution, had the power to destroy the earth. But even before, our tenure as the … Read more
Functioning democracies are all alike; every dysfunctional democracy is dysfunctional in its own way. India, where the free press has played a crucial role in protecting democratic institutions since independence in 1947, is now one of the world’s most dangerous … Read more
The closures began at random, like kernels bursting out of hot oil onto the kitchen stove. A high school in Snohomish County, Washington, closed for cleaning after a student tested positive. Two districts in Westchester County, New York, would … Read more
I can’t think about the horrific images of people in Afghanistan clinging to the wheels of U.S. military airplanes without thinking of the coverage of the Iraq war on April 9, 2003. It was the day an iconic statue … Read more