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These boots were made for discovery
Tom Curwen's new boots, size 17AAA, handmade by boot maker Randy Merrell Tom Curwen They say every good narrative is a journey. Los Angeles Times reporter Thomas Curwen starts his by looking down....
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The game-changing union of digital innovation and “emotional storytelling”
The Financial Times is not typically linked with literary or narrative journalism. But Robin Kwong, head of digital delivery for the global news organization, is pushing to expand the approaches to...
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Three core story principles, along with tea, baked goods and endless enthusiasm
You no doubt know Reuters, the global financial news giant that is now part of Thompson Reuters. But you might not know that when it launched more than a century ago, it was with the help of a flock of...
View ArticleLook at clouds from all sides now ~ before they’re gone
When Reuters, the venerable global news agency, hired narrative veteran Kari Howard to be its first Storytelling Editor, she brought three principles to guide reporters in the field: Examine closely....
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A narrative “troika:” direct testimony, news analysis and biographical...
It was probably aimed more at the American public than its media, but one message embedded in former Ambassador William B. Taylor Jr.’s recent prepared remarks to a Congressional impeachment panel...
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The value of villains
We all love a good hero story: Spiderman swooping in to save the day and the girl; Batman brooding towards a better tomorrow; The Avengers joining forces to save the planet. In journalism, we often...
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Is it real? Or is it Instagram?
The Internet of 2019 is rife with social-media influencers and articles about them. Much of the coverage is fawning and superficial: how to become one, how to make $3,000 per Instagram post, how to...
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“As they say, history does not repeat itself, but it rhymes.”
It takes many held-breath pages and held-breath sentences and held-breath thoughts to reach Page 407 of “The Testaments” where, in something of an epilogue to the main story, you come across this line....
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A needle in time to heal pains of the past
It is widely believed that storytellers can turn almost anything into a good story, which gives them a bottomless well of topics. But even the celebrated ones, like Romanian-Moldovan writer Tatiana...
View ArticleSome warbly thoughts on “voice”
Defining a writer’s “voice” has always stumped me. It came up again recently, when a journalism professor put me on speaker phone with her class of college freshmen, who had a straightforward question:...
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The 1619 project: Tracing steps backwards to find a way forward
Four centuries ago this year, a privateer named the White Lion anchored off Point Comfort, an English colony in what is now Hampton, Virginia. In its cramped hold, it carried 20 or so human beings...
View ArticleDishing up some sides of gratitude
Editor’s note: It’s Thanksgiving, that singular and, for many, favorite American holiday. We welcome you to hunt around for stories of the true origins of the day, rather than the many mythical...
View ArticleGratitude notes (#2)
Editor’s note: As promised, we will spend December offering brief daily notes from fellow journalists about something or someone they are grateful for in their career. Here is the starter sampler from...
View ArticleGratitude Notes (#3)
Editor’s note: This month, we bring you brief reminders from pros around the world about what or who helped them forward in their careers. My editor at the City News Bureau of Chicago, my first real,...
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Coming home from stories of war
Last month, journalist, filmmaker and military veteran Zack Baddorf made a plea, in an essay for Nieman Reports, that more veterans consider careers in journalism and more newsrooms hire veterans....
View ArticleGratitude Notes (#4)
Editor’s note: This month, we bring you brief reminders from pros around the world about what or who helped them forward in their careers. (And full disclosure: I’m one of those people who has a thing...
View ArticleGratitude notes (#5)
Editor’s note: This month, we bring you brief reminders from pros around the world about what or who helped them forward in their careers. I am grateful to Knight-Ridder’s Jim Batten who delivered —...
View ArticleGratitude Notes (#6)
Editor’s note: This month, we bring you brief reminders from pros around the world about what or who helped them forward in their careers. I’m thankful for my friend Andreea, a brilliant sports...
View ArticleGratitude Notes (#7)
Editor’s note: This month, we bring you brief reminders from pros around the world about what or who helped them forward in their careers. Thankful for my mother, who read Greek myths to me and my...
View ArticleGratitude Notes (#8)
Editor’s note: This month, we bring you brief reminders from pros around the world about what or who helped them forward in their careers. Steve Ronald, one of the top editors at the Star Tribune...
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