A revealing profile of a family that defied their faith’s edict on home...
By Trevor Pyle A reader’s comment, a trove of first-hand documentation and a patient, collaborative approach. Those were three elements among many that helped Washington Post reporter Peter Jamison...
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Four girls, 60 years, 11 students, 2,800 miles and a new awareness of history
By Herbert Lowe In my favorite moment of the 25-minute documentary, “Reporting From the U.S. Civil Rights Trail,” one of my students is descending church steps in Alabama to do a TV standup: All eyes...
View ArticleHow to write boring wonk
By Jacqui Banaszynski A message popped up on my Facebook message box that captured, in short form, a not-infrequent lament I hear from reporters who long to stretch into deeper, more engaging stories...
View ArticleFor the love of the (story) game
By Jacqui Banaszynski The fall equinox takes the Earth’s Northern Hemisphere into official autumn tonight. There’s already been a dusting of snow in the high Cascades that rise just west of my cabin;...
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Embedded war reporting with courage and common sense
By AniaHull Unless he’s at the keyboard, writing or editing his work, this is what Luke Mogelson takes with him to work: an old desert-camouflage bullet-proof vest, a Kevlar helmet, a GoPro clipped to...
View ArticlePick some winners while you sip that latte
By Jacqui Banaszynski It’s that season again — and I don’t mean the season of the pumpkin spice latte, which I consider a bad idea on several levels. I mean the season to watch for journalism contest...
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Chasing the emotional escape of Dungeons & Dragons on death row
By Trevor Pyle She may not have faced dragons, but to tell the story of how Dungeons & Dragons has come to serve as an emotional release for death-row prisoners, Keri Blakinger embarked on another...
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“Now is the winter …“
By Jacqui Banaszynski That phrase has stayed with me for years, since I read John Steinbeck’s last novel, which was cited when the iconic 20th century author was awarded the 1962 Nobel Prize in...
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Lessons on what not always to do in interviews
By Jacqui Banaszynski Last week brought the sad news of the deaths of more fine journalists I’ve been graced to know. One was Jim Caple, who was one of those sports reporters who saw sports through a...
View ArticleWhen journalism is emptied of journalism
By Christian Wihtol Eight years ago, the Oregon newspaper where I then worked hired a new publisher. One of his first acts was to start calling our journalism “content.” At news meetings he made...
View ArticleGoldilocks interviews: Too little, too much and just right
By Jacqui Banaszynski My fandom of American TV police/crime procedurals goes back to sharing Agatha Christie mysteries with my mother, then watching “Perry Mason” on a not-very-sharp black-and-white...
View ArticleKeep your focus on what’s in front of you
By Jacqui Banaszynski I have been weary with heartache, confusion and a deep sense of “should” since Hamas waged a vicious, surprise attack on Israel Oct. 7. The heartache and confusion need no...
View ArticleWhat happens between the sheets ~ and pages
By Jacqui Banaszynski I have a tendency to notice odd juxtapositions in the news. Many baffle me to the point of annoyance, as when a major news site tells me, on the same day, that public school...
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A “wise and lovely” essay enchants the reader in a fellow writer
By Dale Keiger I have known the writer Ann Finkbeiner for around 30 years now. She writes mostly about science, especially astronomy and cosmology, and possesses a deep and warm intelligence as well as...
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Notes from a nonfiction writing workshop
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is how Cristian Lupsa captured the key reporting/writing lessons from a workshop I led in the mountains of Romania the week of October 15, 2023. Lupsa (Nieman Fellow 2014) founded...
View ArticleStory craft and presence is what the journalist brings to chaos
By Jacqui Banaszynski Jet lag clawed at me for days after getting home from writing workshops in Romania. My return flights involved cancellations, delays, the demand to check a bag I have always...
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“History is a merciless judge.”
By Jacqui Banaszynski The question has confronted me more frequently, its challenge heated by the contraction of newsrooms, rise of mis- and disinformation, indifference to facts, intransigence of...
View ArticleThe core role of editors in trustworthy journalism
By Jacqui Banaszynski Whenever someone asks if they could tap me as an editor to help them with a project, I start with a direct question: What do you mean by “editor?” Many seem baffled by that...
View Article“…last straws and camels’ backs…”
By Jacqui Banaszynski Clichés are to good writing as fill in your preferred cliché here. A student of mine once challenged that notion. She insisted that clichés are a good thing: They are a universal...
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The Post-it puzzle of a big writing project
By Mallary Tenore Tarpley Up until I started writing my first book, I wasn’t a big outliner. I spent the earlier part of my career writing news and feature stories about the media industry, then...
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