The next Editors’ Roundtable, which will run on Monday, looks at a story on the tornado that hit Rainsville, Ala., earlier this month. Unfortunately, tragedy has struck again, and journalists have had to write additional disaster stories about the devastation of Joplin, Mo. Next week we’ll provide an in-depth look at just the Rainsville piece, [...]
Tag Archives: The New York Times
Dorothy Parvaz released from detention in Iran
May 18, 2011 – 8:57 am
We’re thrilled to hear this morning that Iran has freed detained journalist (and 2009 Nieman fellow) Dorothy Parvaz. Alan Cowell and J. David Goodman reported in The New York Times that, without advance notice, Dorothy called her fiancé, Todd Barker, from customs as she arrived back in Doha, Qatar. A wonderful surprise for him, no [...]
Isabel Wilkerson on the Great Migration, structuring an epic narrative and the challenges of writing nonfiction
April 4, 2011 – 11:10 am
Continuing the spring flurry of awards, Columbia University and the Nieman Foundation announced last week that the 2011 Mark Lynton History Prize will be awarded to Isabel Wilkerson for her book “The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration.” Currently the director of narrative nonfiction at Boston University’s College of Communication, [...]
What we’re watching: a town washed away, satellite images and covering conflict
March 14, 2011 – 1:53 pm
With Muammar Qaddafi’s efforts to suppress armed rebellion in Libya and the events unleashed by the massive earthquake in Japan on Friday, it’s a wonder that those of us not involved in the immediate coverage or relief can do anything but sit and watch these images in horror, hoping for the best possible outcomes in the face [...]
Awards season begins: narrative highlights from ASNE and Polk awards; announcement of CRMA finalists
February 23, 2011 – 11:42 am
Looking for some quality narrative journalism you might not have noticed before? As awards season for newspapers and magazines gets underway, we wanted to share links to stories recognized for their writing and storytelling. Here are some of the more narrative categories and entries from the 2010 Polk Awards in Journalism, the list of finalists [...]
Death, truth and memoir: the debate over Joyce Carol Oates’ “A Widow’s Story”
February 17, 2011 – 10:36 am
What is it that we really want from memoir? The kerfuffle this week over “A Widow’s Story,” a narrative from Joyce Carol Oates about the loss of her husband and their many years together brings this question front and center again. Oates was married to Raymond J. Smith for nearly five decades; in addition to [...]
Richard Just on long-form journalism and online cover stories at The New Republic
January 25, 2011 – 12:07 pm
Last week, The New Republic began posting “online cover stories” on its website. Announcing the move, the magazine’s new editor, Richard Just, wrote about his belief that “beautifully crafted, methodically edited, intellectually rich long-form writing can also thrive online.” He introduced the inaugural story, an extensive review of health care reform and its possible repeal. As fans [...]
What we’re watching: newspapers go documentary
January 12, 2011 – 12:34 pm
It used to be that long-form newspaper narratives were, well, printed on newspaper. These days, long-form is taking on another meaning. Our latest installment of “what we’re watching” includes two video documentary projects from newspapers, as well as a number of photography-centered visual stories from dailies in the U.S and Australia. First up is this trailer [...]
