N IEMA N R SUMMER 2012 E P

Nieman Reports O VOL. 66 NO. 2 RT

One Francis Avenue S

Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138 Nieman Reports THE NIEMAN FOUNDATION FOR JOURNALISM AT HARVARD UNIVERSITY To promote and elevate the standards of journalism

VOL . 66 N O . 2 SUMME R 2012

TR U

T TRUTH H

I N T

HE IN THE AGE OF

A G E

O F SO C IAL

MEDIA SOCIAL IN THIS ISSUE Cover Stories By Megan O’Grady

Photo Essay: This Land Is Their Land By Gustavo Jononovich T HE MEDIA Chaos Theory N IEMA By Richard Gingras N F

OU @NiemanReports How journalists today PLUS N Linda Greenhouse on ‘He Said, She Said’ Journalism DA H[SRVHPDQLSXODWLRQVDQGÀQGUHOLDEOHYRLFHV T Ryszard Kapuscinski’s Secret Life IO N LQWKHFURZG#NRtruth A

Ed Kennedy’s Firing Offense T HA R VA R D

U N IVE R SI T Y

In This Issue

NPR erroneously tweeted and reported on-air in January 2011 Cover Story: Truth in the Age that Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords had been killed. Of Social Media

4 A New Age for Truth Faster distribution, more platforms, and a greater role for accuracy. By Craig Silverman

7 Detecting the Truth in Photos How a news service verifies images and videos. By Santiago Lyon “ The key to reporting is to zig 10 Inside the BBC’s Verification Hub Technology and human intuition are key. By David Turner while everyone else zags.” 14 Finding the Wisdom in the Crowd Storyful helps news organizations verify social media. By Mark Little —BUZZ BISSINGER 17 Vetting Citizen Journalism CNN’s iReport draws on newsgatherers worldwide. By Lila King

19 Doubting Amina The lessons in a case of invented identity. By Jillian York

21 Challenging ‘He Said, She Said’ Journalism Does every story really have two sides? By Linda Greenhouse

25 Be Careful Who You Quote An interview with Washington ethics watchdog Melanie Sloan. By Stefanie Friedhoff

28 Taking on the Rumor Mill Sorting fact from fiction in real time after a tornado. By Katherine K. Lee

30 The Story That Rocked the Clock A newspaper adapts to a 24-hour news cycle. By Phil Brinkman Read the transcript of Buzz’s visit at www.niemanstoryboard.org, along with an excerpt from “Father’s Day.” FROM THE CURATOR “ Why is it just so difficult to make the search for truth the highest

journalistic value?”—LINDA GREENHOUSE, PAGE 21

Facts and Friction

A recent blog post on Mashable explored designer interesting story.” The advice outlived the century. As a young Oliver Reichenstein’s suggestions for correcting errors on reporter, I was disappointed to learn that a legendary Twitter. It was illustrated with a quaint piece of art: a photo- journalist, while editing a newspaper story written by a friend NIEMAN REPORTS graph of lined writing paper and a red pencil, eraser end down, of mine, had rearranged a source’s quote, explaining, “Wouldn’t THE NIEMAN FOUNDATION FOR JOURNALISM AT HARVARD UNIVERSITY retracting the word “Error.” it be better if he said it like this?” www.niemanreports.org “Twitter is celebrated for rapidly distributing breaking news, But human obstacles to truth are now aided by increasingly VOL. 66 NO. 2 SUMMER 2012 sometimes reaching vast audiences before that information is sophisticated co-conspirators. One of the great challenges for reported by the press,” wrote Lauren Indvik. “But sometimes reporters and editors is to harness technological tools and put PUBLISHER that information is inaccurate … and it can be difficult to them to work responsibly on behalf of news verification and Ann Marie Lipinski SUBSCRIPTIONS/BUSINESS correct once it’s saturated the Twittersphere. So how do you dissemination. Some tools much older than Twitter—photog- 617-496-6299 CONTRIBUTING EDITOR stop a bad tweet from spreading?” raphy, for one—are posing both new possibilities and problems [email protected] Stefanie Friedhoff The pairing of the post that posed a simple question and the for guardians of verisimilitude. Santiago Lyon, director of ASSISTANT EDITOR Subscription $25 a year, $40 for two years; add $10 illustration that offered a simple solution created its own quiet photography at The Associated Press, writes about the latest Jan Gardner per year for foreign airmail. Single copies $7.50. commentary. The journalism of verification and the immediacy versions of Photoshop having the “ability to make some manip- EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Back copies are available from the Nieman office. enabled by social media can sometimes collide. The hidden ulation virtually undetectable.” The software to counteract that Jonathan Seitz hand of an editor methodically confirming or correcting is is still too slow to satisfy a news organization like Lyon’s that Please address all subscription correspondence to DESIGN One Francis Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138-2098 not a value hardwired into the mobile phone outfitted with transmits some 3,000 images each day. 2COMMUNIQUÉ and change of address information to Twitter. At the same time, Twitter is among the tools enabling Linda Greenhouse, a former New York Times reporter who P.O. Box 4951, Manchester, NH 03108. fast and democratic correctives to falsehoods uttered in the now teaches at Yale Law School, recently spoke in Boston EDITORIAL ISSN Number 0028-9817 public square and part of an arsenal deployed in the emerging about fairness and the possibility that the symmetrical “he said, 617-496-6308 field of information forensics. The healthy questions arising she said” journalism can actually undermine the truth. We [email protected] POSTMASTER: from these tensions are the focus of this Summer issue of reprise her remarks not because they directly address the social Send address changes to Copyright 2012 by the President and Nieman Reports. media challenges central to this issue of Nieman Reports but Nieman Reports Fellows of Harvard College. because she asks the question central to our time: “Why is it P.O. Box 4951 The evidence of fact inflation and manipulation is not a Manchester, NH 03108 unique byproduct of social media, as we are reminded in these just so difficult to make the search for truth the highest Periodicals postage paid at Boston, pages by the timeline documenting journalism’s long history journalistic value?” Massachusetts and additional entries. of errors and lies. Craig Silverman, who writes the Regret the Error blog, recalls a 19th-century handbook that advised

Nieman Reports (USPS #430-650) is published in March, June, September and December by the Nieman Foundation aspiring journalists on the legitimacy of manufacturing non- at Harvard University, One Francis Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138-2098. essential facts in support of the central objective: “to make an

2 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 3 VOL. 66 NO. 2 SUMMER 2012

From left: Margaret Sullivan, page 32, photo by Derek Gee/The Buffalo Features News; oil pipeline in Ecuador, page 36, photo by Gustavo Jononovich; Richard Gingras, page 44, photo by 32 After the Shouting, Bridging the Divide Are the past crimes of victims fair game? By Margaret Sullivan Lisa Abitbol.

35 Finding Strength in Numbers Learning to mine data pays off. By John Diedrich

36 Photo Essay: This Land Is Their Land Exploiting Latin America’s natural riches. By Gustavo Jononovich

44 Chaos Theory How an online pioneer views the future. By Richard Gingras

In Every Issue

3 FROM THE CURATOR 50 The Fight of His Life By Ann Marie Lipinski “Ed Kennedy’s War” edited by Julia Kennedy Cochran. Reviewed by SOUNDING Bill Schiller 46 Cover Stories 52 Mr. Difficult A book critic in praise of the “Mike Wallace: A Life” by Peter counter-narrative. Rader. Reviewed by Stuart Watson By Megan O’Grady 53 NIEMAN NOTES BOOKS Plus 2013 Fellows and Bingham, 48 Secrets and Lies Taylor, Lukas, and Pulitzer prizes. “Ryszard Kapuscinski: A Life” by Artur Domoslawski. 67 NIEMAN JOURNALISM LAB Reviewed by Paul Salopek Megan O’Grady. Photo by Thorsten Trimpop. 68 HEARD AT LIPPMANN HOUSE FROM THE CURATOR “ Why is it just so difficult to make the search for truth the highest journalistic value?”—LINDA GREENHOUSE, PAGE 21

Facts and Friction

A recent blog post on Mashable explored designer interesting story.” The advice outlived the century. As a young Oliver Reichenstein’s suggestions for correcting errors on reporter, I was disappointed to learn that a legendary Twitter. It was illustrated with a quaint piece of art: a photo- journalist, while editing a newspaper story written by a friend NIEMAN REPORTS graph of lined writing paper and a red pencil, eraser end down, of mine, had rearranged a source’s quote, explaining, “Wouldn’t THE NIEMAN FOUNDATION FOR JOURNALISM AT HARVARD UNIVERSITY retracting the word “Error.” it be better if he said it like this?” www.niemanreports.org “Twitter is celebrated for rapidly distributing breaking news, But human obstacles to truth are now aided by increasingly VOL. 66 NO. 2 SUMMER 2012 sometimes reaching vast audiences before that information is sophisticated co-conspirators. One of the great challenges for reported by the press,” wrote Lauren Indvik. “But sometimes reporters and editors is to harness technological tools and put PUBLISHER that information is inaccurate … and it can be difficult to them to work responsibly on behalf of news verification and Ann Marie Lipinski SUBSCRIPTIONS/BUSINESS correct once it’s saturated the Twittersphere. So how do you dissemination. Some tools much older than Twitter—photog- 617-496-6299 CONTRIBUTING EDITOR stop a bad tweet from spreading?” raphy, for one—are posing both new possibilities and problems [email protected] Stefanie Friedhoff The pairing of the post that posed a simple question and the for guardians of verisimilitude. Santiago Lyon, director of ASSISTANT EDITOR Subscription $25 a year, $40 for two years; add $10 illustration that offered a simple solution created its own quiet photography at The Associated Press, writes about the latest Jan Gardner per year for foreign airmail. Single copies $7.50. commentary. The journalism of verification and the immediacy versions of Photoshop having the “ability to make some manip- EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Back copies are available from the Nieman office. enabled by social media can sometimes collide. The hidden ulation virtually undetectable.” The software to counteract that Jonathan Seitz hand of an editor methodically confirming or correcting is is still too slow to satisfy a news organization like Lyon’s that Please address all subscription correspondence to DESIGN One Francis Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138-2098 not a value hardwired into the mobile phone outfitted with transmits some 3,000 images each day. 2COMMUNIQUÉ and change of address information to Twitter. At the same time, Twitter is among the tools enabling Linda Greenhouse, a former New York Times reporter who P.O. Box 4951, Manchester, NH 03108. fast and democratic correctives to falsehoods uttered in the now teaches at Yale Law School, recently spoke in Boston EDITORIAL ISSN Number 0028-9817 public square and part of an arsenal deployed in the emerging about fairness and the possibility that the symmetrical “he said, 617-496-6308 field of information forensics. The healthy questions arising she said” journalism can actually undermine the truth. We [email protected] POSTMASTER: from these tensions are the focus of this Summer issue of reprise her remarks not because they directly address the social Send address changes to Copyright 2012 by the President and Nieman Reports. media challenges central to this issue of Nieman Reports but Nieman Reports Fellows of Harvard College. because she asks the question central to our time: “Why is it P.O. Box 4951 The evidence of fact inflation and manipulation is not a Manchester, NH 03108 unique byproduct of social media, as we are reminded in these just so difficult to make the search for truth the highest Periodicals postage paid at Boston, pages by the timeline documenting journalism’s long history journalistic value?” Massachusetts and additional entries. of errors and lies. Craig Silverman, who writes the Regret the Error blog, recalls a 19th-century handbook that advised

Nieman Reports (USPS #430-650) is published in March, June, September and December by the Nieman Foundation aspiring journalists on the legitimacy of manufacturing non- at Harvard University, One Francis Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138-2098. essential facts in support of the central objective: “to make an

2 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 3 COVER STORY: TRUTH IN THE AGE OF SOCIAL MEDIA

A New Age for Truth ‘Never has it been so easy to expose an error, check a fact, crowdsource and bring technology to bear in service of verification.’

BY CRAIG SILVERMAN

In a handbook for aspiring journalists published in 1894, Edwin L. and content, discovered, verified and Shuman shared what he called one of the “most valuable secrets of the delivered in partnership with active profession at its present stage of development.” communities.” He revealed that it was standard practice for reporters to invent a few A reporter following Shuman’s advice today would likely find his fabrications details, provided the made-up facts were nonessential to the overall story. swiftly exposed on social media. Bloggers “Truth in essentials, imagination in nonessentials, is considered a would tally offenses and delve deeper. legitimate rule of action in every office,” he wrote. “The paramount object People with firsthand knowledge of the is to make an interesting story.” story in question might step forward with photos and videos to contradict the This photo taken by a passenger after the London subway bombings in 2005 was one of the first images from the scene. It jump-started efforts at It was easy for a reporter of the time notice or call him on it. invented details. Media watchdogs, press both the BBC and The Associated Press to solicit and verify user-generated content. Photo by Alexander Chadwick/AP. to get away with a few, or even a bushel Shuman’s advice is objectionable, but critics, and others would call out the of, inventions. Information was scarce something about it—and the informa- reporter and his employer. Not surprisingly, the price for inac- But that’s not to say old values and skills The Hub employs a dedicated team and could take days or weeks to make its tion and reporting environment in which In the same vein, a politician or curacy has never been higher. The new aren’t still at the core of the discipline. of journalists to verify (and debunk) way to the public sphere. The telephone it was offered—seems quaint and charm- public figure who publicly asserts a world of information abundance, of “The business of verifying and debunk- content from social media. Al Jazeera’s was not yet widely in use, and the first ing by today’s standards. falsehood is likely to be called out by real-time dissemination, of smartphones ing content from the public relies far more social media team practices verification transatlantic wireless transmission It also highlights how much things fact-checking organizations such as and digital cameras and social networks on journalistic hunches than snazzy tech- as a core part of its work, as does a team was years away. The early mass-market have changed when it comes to accuracy FactCheck.org and PolitiFact. has brought the discipline of verification nology,” writes David Turner in his article of producers at CNN’s iReport platform Kodak Brownie camera was close to a and verification. “Not too long ago, Never before in the history of jour- back into fashion as the primary practice about the BBC’s User Generated Content for citizen content. The Associated Press’s decade from release. The machinery of reporters were the guardians of scarce nalism—or society—have more people and value of journalists. Hub. “While some call this new special- photo desk also dedicates significant time publishing and distribution was in the facts delivered at an appointed time and organizations been engaged in fact It has also necessitated an emerging ization in journalism ‘information foren- and resources to sourcing and verifying hands of a few. to a passive audience,” writes Storyful checking and verification. Never has it area of expertise built around verifying sics,’ one does not need to be an IT expert photos and videos from social networks. If a reporter wanted to fudge a few founder Mark Little in his essay in this been so easy to expose an error, check a photos, videos, tweets, status updates, or have special equipment to ask and At Storyful, Little, a former televi- details to make his story a little more issue. “Today we are the managers of fact, crowdsource and bring technology blog posts, and other digital ephemera. answer the fundamental questions used sion reporter, and a team of journalists colorful, well, chances are no one would an overabundance of information to bear in service of verification. I often call this the New Verification. to judge whether a scene is staged or not.” around the world operate a news

4 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 5 COVER STORY: TRUTH IN THE AGE OF SOCIAL MEDIA

A New Age for Truth ‘Never has it been so easy to expose an error, check a fact, crowdsource and bring technology to bear in service of verification.’

BY CRAIG SILVERMAN

In a handbook for aspiring journalists published in 1894, Edwin L. and content, discovered, verified and Shuman shared what he called one of the “most valuable secrets of the delivered in partnership with active profession at its present stage of development.” communities.” He revealed that it was standard practice for reporters to invent a few A reporter following Shuman’s advice today would likely find his fabrications details, provided the made-up facts were nonessential to the overall story. swiftly exposed on social media. Bloggers “Truth in essentials, imagination in nonessentials, is considered a would tally offenses and delve deeper. legitimate rule of action in every office,” he wrote. “The paramount object People with firsthand knowledge of the is to make an interesting story.” story in question might step forward with photos and videos to contradict the This photo taken by a passenger after the London subway bombings in 2005 was one of the first images from the scene. It jump-started efforts at It was easy for a reporter of the time notice or call him on it. invented details. Media watchdogs, press both the BBC and The Associated Press to solicit and verify user-generated content. Photo by Alexander Chadwick/AP. to get away with a few, or even a bushel Shuman’s advice is objectionable, but critics, and others would call out the of, inventions. Information was scarce something about it—and the informa- reporter and his employer. Not surprisingly, the price for inac- But that’s not to say old values and skills The Hub employs a dedicated team and could take days or weeks to make its tion and reporting environment in which In the same vein, a politician or curacy has never been higher. The new aren’t still at the core of the discipline. of journalists to verify (and debunk) way to the public sphere. The telephone it was offered—seems quaint and charm- public figure who publicly asserts a world of information abundance, of “The business of verifying and debunk- content from social media. Al Jazeera’s was not yet widely in use, and the first ing by today’s standards. falsehood is likely to be called out by real-time dissemination, of smartphones ing content from the public relies far more social media team practices verification transatlantic wireless transmission It also highlights how much things fact-checking organizations such as and digital cameras and social networks on journalistic hunches than snazzy tech- as a core part of its work, as does a team was years away. The early mass-market have changed when it comes to accuracy FactCheck.org and PolitiFact. has brought the discipline of verification nology,” writes David Turner in his article of producers at CNN’s iReport platform Kodak Brownie camera was close to a and verification. “Not too long ago, Never before in the history of jour- back into fashion as the primary practice about the BBC’s User Generated Content for citizen content. The Associated Press’s decade from release. The machinery of reporters were the guardians of scarce nalism—or society—have more people and value of journalists. Hub. “While some call this new special- photo desk also dedicates significant time publishing and distribution was in the facts delivered at an appointed time and organizations been engaged in fact It has also necessitated an emerging ization in journalism ‘information foren- and resources to sourcing and verifying hands of a few. to a passive audience,” writes Storyful checking and verification. Never has it area of expertise built around verifying sics,’ one does not need to be an IT expert photos and videos from social networks. If a reporter wanted to fudge a few founder Mark Little in his essay in this been so easy to expose an error, check a photos, videos, tweets, status updates, or have special equipment to ask and At Storyful, Little, a former televi- details to make his story a little more issue. “Today we are the managers of fact, crowdsource and bring technology blog posts, and other digital ephemera. answer the fundamental questions used sion reporter, and a team of journalists colorful, well, chances are no one would an overabundance of information to bear in service of verification. I often call this the New Verification. to judge whether a scene is staged or not.” around the world operate a news

4 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 5 COVER STORY: TRUTH IN THE AGE OF SOCIAL MEDIA

organization that offers verification as and verification specialists. Reporting responses to compensate for this unwel- the hope that news organizations and one of its core services for customers such and checking the facts isn’t the same as come information. As a result, correc- the public will find them and take as Reuters and The New York Times. convincing people of them. tions are sometimes ineffective and can them for real. Imagine: An outsourced verification This is one of the battles being fought even backfire.” There is no shortage of work for operation, focused on vetting and curat- in the shift from information scarcity Humans resist correction and are fact checkers and the emerging verifi- ing social media content uploaded and and tight distribution to information disinclined to change closely held cation experts within news organ- shared by people the world over. It’s a abundance and media fragmentation. beliefs. We seek out sources of informa- izations. But along with checking news organization and a business model As I’ve previously written, “the forces of tion that confirm our existing views. and vetting, we must also make the that would have been inconceivable 10 untruth have more money, more people, When confronted by contrary informa- product of this work more persuasive years ago. and … much better expertise. They know tion, we find ways to avoid accepting it and shareable. how to birth and spread a lie better than as true. We are governed by emotion, Spreading facts requires the use RUMORS AND LIES we know how to debunk one. They are not by reason. (Read more about these of narrative, powerful images and The complexity of verifying content from more creative about it, and, by the very factors in Nyhan and Reifler’s “Misin- visualization, and appeals to emotion. myriad sources in various mediums and nature of what they’re doing, they aren’t formation and Fact-checking: Research We must engage readers in ways that in real time is one of the great new chal- help them get past their biases. It also lenges for the profession. This content requires that we dedicate ourselves to can provide critical information during Humans … are disinclined to change closely held beliefs. spreading the skills of verification and conflicts and natural disasters and pro- fact checking within journalism—and vide clarity and color to a local event. We seek out sources of information that confirm our to the public as a whole. But it also takes the form of fraudu- existing views. When confronted by contrary information, A public with the ability to spot a lent messages and images engineered by we find ways to avoid accepting it as true. hoax website, verify a tweet, detect Soviet leader Leon Trotsky, circled at right, at a celebration hoaxers, manipulators and propagan- a faked photo, and evaluate sources of the 1917 Russian Revolution. After he fell out of favor, dists. Rumors and falsehoods spread just of information is a more informed he was eliminated from the photo before it was repub- as quickly as, if not faster than, facts. In constrained by ethics or professional Findings From Social Science,” a paper public. A public more resistant to lished in 1967. Photos from David King Collection, London. many cases they prove more compelling, standards. Advantage, liars.” written for New America Foundation’s untruths and so-called rumor bombs. more convincing, more clickable. Researchers Brendan Nyhan of Media Policy Initiative, at (Think “death panels.”) This is a “People seem to find it easier to Dartmouth College and Jason Reifler of http://newamerica.net.) public that can participate in fact believe rumors that they wish were true Georgia State University have in recent These truths about human behavior checking, rather than merely be an or that seem to fulfill a desire to hear the years provided evidence that those work- help explain why political misinforma- audience for it. worst,” writes Tuscaloosa (Ala.) News ing to spread lies large and small have a tion is so pervasive and effective and why Fact checking and verification are Detecting the city editor Katherine K. Lee in her essay distinct advantage: the human brain. myths and falsehoods take hold in soci- having a moment right now. But what about the News’s Pulitzer Prize-winning “Unfortunately, available research in ety. The emergence of moneyed Super matters is whether this is a flash or a tornado coverage. this area paints a pessimistic picture: the PACs promise an election year lousy with turning point—whether all the effort Lee’s experience speaks to a funda- most salient misperceptions are typically misleading ads, nasty e-mail campaigns, being put into fact checking and verifi- Truth in Photos mental, if depressing, truth about humans difficult to correct,” the pair wrote on the and manufactured lies. cation can have a measurable effect on and facts: just because something is true, Columbia Journalism Review’s website Bad actors also make use of Twitter the persistence of misinformation and it doesn’t mean people are more likely to earlier this year. “This is because, in part, and other networks to create fake lies in our new information ecosystem. As technologies to manipulate images grow ever believe it. Facts alone are not enough to people’s evaluations of new informa- accounts that spread untruths or inject I’d hate for a journalist to dig up more sophisticated, media organizations are using persuade, to change minds. tion are shaped by their beliefs. When fraudulent chatter into the conversation. this issue decades or a century in the Liars and manipulators are often we encounter news that challenges our In dictatorships, they create fake videos future and marvel at our foolishness software to help determine authenticity. more persuasive than the press, even views, our brains may and images and upload them to the way we did about Mr. Shuman with our growing cadre of checkers produce a variety of YouTube and other websites in and his great secret of 19th-century BY SANTIAGO LYON journalism.

Craig Silverman writes the Regret GETTING IT 1835 observatory in South Africa who had the Error blog about accuracy, errors Journalists know quite well that pictures can and do lie and that WRONG Life on the Moon used a new telescope to observe and verification for the Poynter photographs have been manipulated for a long time. The Soviets under Stalin were New York Sun plants, animals and flying man-bats Institute, where he is an adjunct masters of this, removing political figures from images as they fell out of favor. Leon A sampling of mistakes, The paper ran a six-part hoax, on the moon. fabrications and manipulations. supposedly reprinted from the faculty member. He is the author of Trotsky and others would disappear from photos, erased from the historical record Edinburgh Journal of Science, about “Regret the Error: How Media Mis- as their political fortunes fell. BY JONATHAN SEITZ a preeminent astronomer at an takes Pollute the Press and Imperil More recently, the Fox public relations department handed out a photo of the >>> Free Speech.” “American Idol” judges and host which it later admitted was a composite.

6 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 7 COVER STORY: TRUTH IN THE AGE OF SOCIAL MEDIA

organization that offers verification as and verification specialists. Reporting responses to compensate for this unwel- the hope that news organizations and one of its core services for customers such and checking the facts isn’t the same as come information. As a result, correc- the public will find them and take as Reuters and The New York Times. convincing people of them. tions are sometimes ineffective and can them for real. Imagine: An outsourced verification This is one of the battles being fought even backfire.” There is no shortage of work for operation, focused on vetting and curat- in the shift from information scarcity Humans resist correction and are fact checkers and the emerging verifi- ing social media content uploaded and and tight distribution to information disinclined to change closely held cation experts within news organ- shared by people the world over. It’s a abundance and media fragmentation. beliefs. We seek out sources of informa- izations. But along with checking news organization and a business model As I’ve previously written, “the forces of tion that confirm our existing views. and vetting, we must also make the that would have been inconceivable 10 untruth have more money, more people, When confronted by contrary informa- product of this work more persuasive years ago. and … much better expertise. They know tion, we find ways to avoid accepting it and shareable. how to birth and spread a lie better than as true. We are governed by emotion, Spreading facts requires the use RUMORS AND LIES we know how to debunk one. They are not by reason. (Read more about these of narrative, powerful images and The complexity of verifying content from more creative about it, and, by the very factors in Nyhan and Reifler’s “Misin- visualization, and appeals to emotion. myriad sources in various mediums and nature of what they’re doing, they aren’t formation and Fact-checking: Research We must engage readers in ways that in real time is one of the great new chal- help them get past their biases. It also lenges for the profession. This content requires that we dedicate ourselves to can provide critical information during Humans … are disinclined to change closely held beliefs. spreading the skills of verification and conflicts and natural disasters and pro- fact checking within journalism—and vide clarity and color to a local event. We seek out sources of information that confirm our to the public as a whole. But it also takes the form of fraudu- existing views. When confronted by contrary information, A public with the ability to spot a lent messages and images engineered by we find ways to avoid accepting it as true. hoax website, verify a tweet, detect Soviet leader Leon Trotsky, circled at right, at a celebration hoaxers, manipulators and propagan- a faked photo, and evaluate sources of the 1917 Russian Revolution. After he fell out of favor, dists. Rumors and falsehoods spread just of information is a more informed he was eliminated from the photo before it was repub- as quickly as, if not faster than, facts. In constrained by ethics or professional Findings From Social Science,” a paper public. A public more resistant to lished in 1967. Photos from David King Collection, London. many cases they prove more compelling, standards. Advantage, liars.” written for New America Foundation’s untruths and so-called rumor bombs. more convincing, more clickable. Researchers Brendan Nyhan of Media Policy Initiative, at (Think “death panels.”) This is a “People seem to find it easier to Dartmouth College and Jason Reifler of http://newamerica.net.) public that can participate in fact believe rumors that they wish were true Georgia State University have in recent These truths about human behavior checking, rather than merely be an or that seem to fulfill a desire to hear the years provided evidence that those work- help explain why political misinforma- audience for it. worst,” writes Tuscaloosa (Ala.) News ing to spread lies large and small have a tion is so pervasive and effective and why Fact checking and verification are Detecting the city editor Katherine K. Lee in her essay distinct advantage: the human brain. myths and falsehoods take hold in soci- having a moment right now. But what about the News’s Pulitzer Prize-winning “Unfortunately, available research in ety. The emergence of moneyed Super matters is whether this is a flash or a tornado coverage. this area paints a pessimistic picture: the PACs promise an election year lousy with turning point—whether all the effort Lee’s experience speaks to a funda- most salient misperceptions are typically misleading ads, nasty e-mail campaigns, being put into fact checking and verifi- Truth in Photos mental, if depressing, truth about humans difficult to correct,” the pair wrote on the and manufactured lies. cation can have a measurable effect on and facts: just because something is true, Columbia Journalism Review’s website Bad actors also make use of Twitter the persistence of misinformation and it doesn’t mean people are more likely to earlier this year. “This is because, in part, and other networks to create fake lies in our new information ecosystem. As technologies to manipulate images grow ever believe it. Facts alone are not enough to people’s evaluations of new informa- accounts that spread untruths or inject I’d hate for a journalist to dig up more sophisticated, media organizations are using persuade, to change minds. tion are shaped by their beliefs. When fraudulent chatter into the conversation. this issue decades or a century in the Liars and manipulators are often we encounter news that challenges our In dictatorships, they create fake videos future and marvel at our foolishness software to help determine authenticity. more persuasive than the press, even views, our brains may and images and upload them to the way we did about Mr. Shuman with our growing cadre of checkers produce a variety of YouTube and other websites in and his great secret of 19th-century BY SANTIAGO LYON journalism.

Craig Silverman writes the Regret GETTING IT 1835 observatory in South Africa who had the Error blog about accuracy, errors Journalists know quite well that pictures can and do lie and that WRONG Life on the Moon used a new telescope to observe and verification for the Poynter photographs have been manipulated for a long time. The Soviets under Stalin were New York Sun plants, animals and flying man-bats Institute, where he is an adjunct masters of this, removing political figures from images as they fell out of favor. Leon A sampling of mistakes, The paper ran a six-part hoax, on the moon. fabrications and manipulations. supposedly reprinted from the faculty member. He is the author of Trotsky and others would disappear from photos, erased from the historical record Edinburgh Journal of Science, about “Regret the Error: How Media Mis- as their political fortunes fell. BY JONATHAN SEITZ a preeminent astronomer at an takes Pollute the Press and Imperil More recently, the Fox public relations department handed out a photo of the >>> Free Speech.” “American Idol” judges and host which it later admitted was a composite.

6 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 7 COVER STORY: TRUTH IN THE AGE OF SOCIAL MEDIA

dodging and burning, conversion into portray what they claim to portray. grayscale, and normal toning and color We look for elements that can support adjustments that should be limited to authenticity: Does the weather report those minimally necessary for clear say that it was sunny at the location that and accurate reproduction … day? Do the shadows fall the right way considering the source of light? Is cloth- Even these statements need to be ing consistent with what people wear in supported by training and guidance, that region? as words alone cannot address every If we cannot communicate with possible nuance in tonality, shading and the videographer or photographer, we other variables. will add a disclaimer that says the AP We currently have more than 350 “is unable to independently verify the staff photographers and photo editors at authenticity, content, location or date of the AP, and in the past few years we have this handout photo/video.” invested substantially in a global train- We also frequently work with Hany The Associated Press bars photographers from altering images so a freelancer was dismissed for eliminating his shadow from the photo at right. ing program designed to teach photog- Farid, a forensic computer scientist at raphers and editors the best practices for Dartmouth College who has developed Another image, sent to us by one of (AP), we transmit about 3,000 images had occasion to dismiss other photog- using Photoshop. We have provided clear software that can often detect photo our photographers from a funeral in every 24 hours to subscribers around raphers at the AP for manipulating guidance on how to accurately handle An airplane passenger’s photo of the space manipulation. But it takes time to check Northern Ireland some years ago, had the world. That’s a little over one million imagery—and the same has happened images and what to do when in doubt. shuttle Endeavor after liftoff went viral, then for a variety of possible alterations and a pixilated man in the background who images a year. at other news agencies and media The process changes somewhat was bought by The Associated Press. Photo by the technology, still in its infancy, cannot had been rendered unrecognizable at the In this 24-hour news cycle, timely organizations. when the material submitted comes Stefanie Gordon/AP. yet detect every skillful manipulation, request of the activists controlling the delivery is essential. Yet if even one of the The question remains: what can we from a member of the public or a citizen such as the one that raised the floodwa- funeral. images we distribute is found to be false do about this phenomenon in photojour- journalist. I first became aware of the the London bombings, when we had ters in the picture from China. These are the kinds of manipulations or deliberately misleading, our credibil- nalism, and particularly what can we at potential of user-generated content after access to the person who could verify Another limitation is that full analysis that are fairly easy to spot. Naturally, we ity and reputation are on the line. the AP do about it? the London transit bombings in 2005. ownership of the images, give us original of a picture often requires a large origi- don’t distribute them. One of the important steps to take in Explosions destroyed three subway cars data files, and sign an agreement. nal image file. The small, low-resolution In recent years, however, things have CREATING AN ETHICS CODE this new media ecology is to formulate and, later, a bus, killing 52 people and Recently in the Middle East, for photographs distributed across social gotten more complicated. News produc- One wake-up call came in 2004 when a policy about what can and cannot be wounding over 700. Photographers and example, we’ve repeatedly seen events media can make it nearly impossible to tion is changing rapidly—from fewer one of our regular photographers sold us done to imagery. AP’s ethics code is quite camera crews were limited to above- where access has been difficult or detect manipulation. resources in newsrooms to the use of an image of flooding in China. We didn’t clear: ground exit stations. The only visual impossible for professional journalists. All that said, I think such manipu- user-generated content. Technologies notice anything wrong with the dramatic entry point to the heart of the story deep Local groups have been keen to share lation-detection software will become to manipulate images are becoming picture. AP pictures must always tell the truth. underground came from cell phone ever more sophisticated. There are now Shortly after, we got a message from We do not alter or digitally manipu- photos taken by passengers evacuating cameras that can make the people in the a reader in Finland suggesting that late the content of a photograph in through underground tunnels. Local groups [in the Middle East] have been keen to pictures look skinnier, and in the latest something was amiss with the photo. We any way. … No element should be Seeing such an image on the BBC versions of Adobe Photoshop there is contacted the photographer and, under digitally added or subtracted from any website, we contacted the person who’d share images but tracking down who actually produced the ability to make some manipulation questioning, he admitted that he had photograph. The faces or identities of taken the photo. A price was negoti- a certain photo or video is extremely difficult. virtually undetectable. raised the water level from people’s knees individuals must not be obscured by ated for the rights to that image and In this environment, the challenges to their waists for effect. We immediately Photoshop or any other editing tool. we distributed it. The next day it was for major news organizations are terminated our relationship with him. Minor adjustments in Photoshop are widely used on front pages and across images but tracking down who actu- more sophisticated and useful in the considerable. At The Associated Press Over the years we have unfortunately acceptable. These include cropping, the Internet. At the time, some veteran ally produced a certain photo or video future. This technology, along with editors, citing poor quality, dismissed the is extremely difficult. These images robust training and clear guidelines very notion out of hand. I argued that often are posted on activist websites or about what is acceptable, will enable some image was better than none—and Facebook pages where media organiza- media organizations to hold the line 1861 1888 1912 we started a sustained effort at the AP to tions are invited to use the material at against willful image manipulation, thus Union Wins Battle of Bull Run Obituary for the Wrong Nobel Titanic Towed Safely to Halifax The Associated Press, others French newspapers, The New York The Baltimore Sun, others obtain strong citizen content where and no charge. But how do we know these maintaining their credibility and reputa- The first major Civil War battle Times, others Early reports about the Titanic when it was needed. images have not been manipulated or tion as purveyors of the truth. looked like a Union victory so many When dynamite inventor Alfred disaster had all passengers safe and that those purporting to have permission reporters left to file stories. After the Nobel’s brother Ludvig died, many the ship being towed to Nova Scotia MURKY ORIGINS to distribute them really do? Santiago Lyon, a 2004 Nieman Fellow, Confederates won, Union censors newspapers published obituaries before the extent of the casualties But the authenticity of a user-generated Like other news organizations, we try is a vice president and director of photog- intercepted the AP’s correction. for Alfred. and the sinking were known. >>> image isn’t always as clear as it was in to verify as best we can that the images raphy at The Associated Press.

8 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 9 COVER STORY: TRUTH IN THE AGE OF SOCIAL MEDIA

dodging and burning, conversion into portray what they claim to portray. grayscale, and normal toning and color We look for elements that can support adjustments that should be limited to authenticity: Does the weather report those minimally necessary for clear say that it was sunny at the location that and accurate reproduction … day? Do the shadows fall the right way considering the source of light? Is cloth- Even these statements need to be ing consistent with what people wear in supported by training and guidance, that region? as words alone cannot address every If we cannot communicate with possible nuance in tonality, shading and the videographer or photographer, we other variables. will add a disclaimer that says the AP We currently have more than 350 “is unable to independently verify the staff photographers and photo editors at authenticity, content, location or date of the AP, and in the past few years we have this handout photo/video.” invested substantially in a global train- We also frequently work with Hany The Associated Press bars photographers from altering images so a freelancer was dismissed for eliminating his shadow from the photo at right. ing program designed to teach photog- Farid, a forensic computer scientist at raphers and editors the best practices for Dartmouth College who has developed Another image, sent to us by one of (AP), we transmit about 3,000 images had occasion to dismiss other photog- using Photoshop. We have provided clear software that can often detect photo our photographers from a funeral in every 24 hours to subscribers around raphers at the AP for manipulating guidance on how to accurately handle An airplane passenger’s photo of the space manipulation. But it takes time to check Northern Ireland some years ago, had the world. That’s a little over one million imagery—and the same has happened images and what to do when in doubt. shuttle Endeavor after liftoff went viral, then for a variety of possible alterations and a pixilated man in the background who images a year. at other news agencies and media The process changes somewhat was bought by The Associated Press. Photo by the technology, still in its infancy, cannot had been rendered unrecognizable at the In this 24-hour news cycle, timely organizations. when the material submitted comes Stefanie Gordon/AP. yet detect every skillful manipulation, request of the activists controlling the delivery is essential. Yet if even one of the The question remains: what can we from a member of the public or a citizen such as the one that raised the floodwa- funeral. images we distribute is found to be false do about this phenomenon in photojour- journalist. I first became aware of the the London bombings, when we had ters in the picture from China. These are the kinds of manipulations or deliberately misleading, our credibil- nalism, and particularly what can we at potential of user-generated content after access to the person who could verify Another limitation is that full analysis that are fairly easy to spot. Naturally, we ity and reputation are on the line. the AP do about it? the London transit bombings in 2005. ownership of the images, give us original of a picture often requires a large origi- don’t distribute them. One of the important steps to take in Explosions destroyed three subway cars data files, and sign an agreement. nal image file. The small, low-resolution In recent years, however, things have CREATING AN ETHICS CODE this new media ecology is to formulate and, later, a bus, killing 52 people and Recently in the Middle East, for photographs distributed across social gotten more complicated. News produc- One wake-up call came in 2004 when a policy about what can and cannot be wounding over 700. Photographers and example, we’ve repeatedly seen events media can make it nearly impossible to tion is changing rapidly—from fewer one of our regular photographers sold us done to imagery. AP’s ethics code is quite camera crews were limited to above- where access has been difficult or detect manipulation. resources in newsrooms to the use of an image of flooding in China. We didn’t clear: ground exit stations. The only visual impossible for professional journalists. All that said, I think such manipu- user-generated content. Technologies notice anything wrong with the dramatic entry point to the heart of the story deep Local groups have been keen to share lation-detection software will become to manipulate images are becoming picture. AP pictures must always tell the truth. underground came from cell phone ever more sophisticated. There are now Shortly after, we got a message from We do not alter or digitally manipu- photos taken by passengers evacuating cameras that can make the people in the a reader in Finland suggesting that late the content of a photograph in through underground tunnels. Local groups [in the Middle East] have been keen to pictures look skinnier, and in the latest something was amiss with the photo. We any way. … No element should be Seeing such an image on the BBC versions of Adobe Photoshop there is contacted the photographer and, under digitally added or subtracted from any website, we contacted the person who’d share images but tracking down who actually produced the ability to make some manipulation questioning, he admitted that he had photograph. The faces or identities of taken the photo. A price was negoti- a certain photo or video is extremely difficult. virtually undetectable. raised the water level from people’s knees individuals must not be obscured by ated for the rights to that image and In this environment, the challenges to their waists for effect. We immediately Photoshop or any other editing tool. we distributed it. The next day it was for major news organizations are terminated our relationship with him. Minor adjustments in Photoshop are widely used on front pages and across images but tracking down who actu- more sophisticated and useful in the considerable. At The Associated Press Over the years we have unfortunately acceptable. These include cropping, the Internet. At the time, some veteran ally produced a certain photo or video future. This technology, along with editors, citing poor quality, dismissed the is extremely difficult. These images robust training and clear guidelines very notion out of hand. I argued that often are posted on activist websites or about what is acceptable, will enable some image was better than none—and Facebook pages where media organiza- media organizations to hold the line 1861 1888 1912 we started a sustained effort at the AP to tions are invited to use the material at against willful image manipulation, thus Union Wins Battle of Bull Run Obituary for the Wrong Nobel Titanic Towed Safely to Halifax The Associated Press, others French newspapers, The New York The Baltimore Sun, others obtain strong citizen content where and no charge. But how do we know these maintaining their credibility and reputa- The first major Civil War battle Times, others Early reports about the Titanic when it was needed. images have not been manipulated or tion as purveyors of the truth. looked like a Union victory so many When dynamite inventor Alfred disaster had all passengers safe and that those purporting to have permission reporters left to file stories. After the Nobel’s brother Ludvig died, many the ship being towed to Nova Scotia MURKY ORIGINS to distribute them really do? Santiago Lyon, a 2004 Nieman Fellow, Confederates won, Union censors newspapers published obituaries before the extent of the casualties But the authenticity of a user-generated Like other news organizations, we try is a vice president and director of photog- intercepted the AP’s correction. for Alfred. and the sinking were known. >>> image isn’t always as clear as it was in to verify as best we can that the images raphy at The Associated Press.

8 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 9 COVER STORY: TRUTH IN THE AGE OF SOCIAL MEDIA Inside the BBC’s Verif ication Hub ‘What everyone wanted to know, on Tw itter and in the newsroom, was this: Was the video real or fake? That is the kind of question the [User-Generated Content] Hub is there to investigate.’

BY DAVID TURNER

A group of soldiers speaking Arabic with news of the clip. Jon Williams, the has moved toward semi-conventional shovel sand into a pit while a disem- BBC’s world news editor, had also raised newsgathering with a Web 2.0 twist. bodied voice wails. After a few seconds it at the 9 o’clock news meeting. What Staffers now use search terms, see what’s it becomes apparent that the desperate everyone wanted to know, on Twitter trending on Twitter, and look at the voice is coming from a man buried in the and in the newsroom, was this: Was the images and footage trusted contacts are trench; the head alone is visible. video real or fake? That is the kind of discussing on their Twitter streams. The soldiers—a number dressed, question the Hub is there to investigate. The golden rule, say Hub veterans, is incongruously, in sneakers—appear to to get on the phone whoever has posted reply with gloating taunts. But they are A FATEFUL ERROR the material. Even the process of setting mainly concentrating on the job at hand: Started in 2005 to sift through unsolic- up the conversation can speak volumes covering the victim’s head in earth. They ited contributions previously perused about the source’s credibility: unless do their grisly job well; in less than a by many different teams, the Hub has sources are activists living in a dicta- minute his head is completely buried. grown to a complement of 20 staffers. torship who must remain anonymous The video then ends abruptly—the rest Initially, the team focused heavily on to protect their lives, people who are is silence. images, footage and eyewitness accounts genuine witnesses to events are usually One rain-swept morning in April, e-mailed to the BBC, but in the past few eager to talk. Anyone who has taken Trushar Barot, assistant editor at the years people have become much more photos or video needs to be contacted in BBC’s User-Generated Content (UGC) prone to distribute material themselves any case to request their permission, as Hub in London’s rather bleakly mono- through Twitter, YouTube and Facebook. the copyright holder, to use it. lithic BBC Television Centre, was study- As a result, the number of contributions The risk of posting non-authenticated ing the anonymously posted footage on proffered to the BBC has declined to images is high, as the Hub was reminded YouTube. His Twitter feed was buzzing about 3,000 a day, and the Hub’s task on Sunday, May 27. As a breaking news

1918 1927 1948 End of World War I Edna St. Vincent Millay Profile “Dewey Defeats Truman” United Press International The New Yorker Chicago Tribune UPI president Roy Howard was Details about the poet’s parents Editors relied on polls and the visiting a French naval office on were wrong. (Her father was a school opinion of its Washington correspon- Nov. 7 when a U.S. commander told teacher, not a stevedore, for example.) dent to incorrectly announce in early him that Germany had surrendered. York, and UPI distributed it four days The errors led to the creation of the editions that Thomas Dewey had This fake photo of the dead Osama bin Laden was debunked by the BBC’s User-Generated Content Hub. Using TinEye, the team revealed that bin Howard sent the false report to New before the armistice was signed. fact-checking department. won the presidential election. >>> Laden’s features had been digitally superimposed on the head of a dead Afghan fighter. Photo by Philip Hollis.

10 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 11 COVER STORY: TRUTH IN THE AGE OF SOCIAL MEDIA Inside the BBC’s Verif ication Hub ‘What everyone wanted to know, on Tw itter and in the newsroom, was this: Was the video real or fake? That is the kind of question the [User-Generated Content] Hub is there to investigate.’

BY DAVID TURNER

A group of soldiers speaking Arabic with news of the clip. Jon Williams, the has moved toward semi-conventional shovel sand into a pit while a disem- BBC’s world news editor, had also raised newsgathering with a Web 2.0 twist. bodied voice wails. After a few seconds it at the 9 o’clock news meeting. What Staffers now use search terms, see what’s it becomes apparent that the desperate everyone wanted to know, on Twitter trending on Twitter, and look at the voice is coming from a man buried in the and in the newsroom, was this: Was the images and footage trusted contacts are trench; the head alone is visible. video real or fake? That is the kind of discussing on their Twitter streams. The soldiers—a number dressed, question the Hub is there to investigate. The golden rule, say Hub veterans, is incongruously, in sneakers—appear to to get on the phone whoever has posted reply with gloating taunts. But they are A FATEFUL ERROR the material. Even the process of setting mainly concentrating on the job at hand: Started in 2005 to sift through unsolic- up the conversation can speak volumes covering the victim’s head in earth. They ited contributions previously perused about the source’s credibility: unless do their grisly job well; in less than a by many different teams, the Hub has sources are activists living in a dicta- minute his head is completely buried. grown to a complement of 20 staffers. torship who must remain anonymous The video then ends abruptly—the rest Initially, the team focused heavily on to protect their lives, people who are is silence. images, footage and eyewitness accounts genuine witnesses to events are usually One rain-swept morning in April, e-mailed to the BBC, but in the past few eager to talk. Anyone who has taken Trushar Barot, assistant editor at the years people have become much more photos or video needs to be contacted in BBC’s User-Generated Content (UGC) prone to distribute material themselves any case to request their permission, as Hub in London’s rather bleakly mono- through Twitter, YouTube and Facebook. the copyright holder, to use it. lithic BBC Television Centre, was study- As a result, the number of contributions The risk of posting non-authenticated ing the anonymously posted footage on proffered to the BBC has declined to images is high, as the Hub was reminded YouTube. His Twitter feed was buzzing about 3,000 a day, and the Hub’s task on Sunday, May 27. As a breaking news

1918 1927 1948 End of World War I Edna St. Vincent Millay Profile “Dewey Defeats Truman” United Press International The New Yorker Chicago Tribune UPI president Roy Howard was Details about the poet’s parents Editors relied on polls and the visiting a French naval office on were wrong. (Her father was a school opinion of its Washington correspon- Nov. 7 when a U.S. commander told teacher, not a stevedore, for example.) dent to incorrectly announce in early him that Germany had surrendered. York, and UPI distributed it four days The errors led to the creation of the editions that Thomas Dewey had This fake photo of the dead Osama bin Laden was debunked by the BBC’s User-Generated Content Hub. Using TinEye, the team revealed that bin Howard sent the false report to New before the armistice was signed. fact-checking department. won the presidential election. >>> Laden’s features had been digitally superimposed on the head of a dead Afghan fighter. Photo by Philip Hollis.

10 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 11 COVER STORY: TRUTH IN THE AGE OF SOCIAL MEDIA

story about a massacre in Houla, accents are Alawite, the ethnic group up their verification skills, and you’ve Responding to the tendency for Syria, unfolded, staff members which rules Syria and provides many of got to work out whether it’s something social media to act as a rumor mill for spotted a powerful photo circulated its soldiers. And sneakers are commonly you need specialists for,” Hamilton outlandish theories, the Hub steers clear on Twitter, showing shrouded bod- worn in some Syrian units. However, the says. But, he adds, “in some form you’ll of tweets that ask the public whether ies in rows and apparently sourced colleague wondered how the voice of a always need them,” if only for the sake something is true—in contrast to some from activists in Syria. “The original man whose face is being covered in sand of efficiency. journalists who use Twitter for crowd- distributor of the photo on Twitter could be so consistently audible—unless Hamilton can, however, foresee a time sourcing. Hamilton justifies this by was tracked down, we spoke to them, he has been fitted with a microphone? when the size of the BBC’s Hub team pointing out that the mere fact the BBC and they gave us information about Barot had noticed this too, plus might shrink as verification is “indus- is investigating a rumor “lends credence its sourcing,” says Chris Hamilton, the another cause for suspicion: Why does trialized.” By that, he means that some to the idea that it might be true.” BBC’s social media editor since 2011. the video end only a few seconds after procedures are likely to be carried out However, there is no question at the “So the picture was published on the the victim’s head has submerged com- simultaneously at the click of an icon. Hub about the role journalists should BBC News website, with a disclaimer pletely? Could it be because it has to be He also expects that technological play in verifying online information with saying it could not be independently short enough for him to hold his breath? improvements will make the automated their trusted tools and techniques. “UGC verified.” His hunch corroborated by this checking of photos more effective. and verification are no longer a side Seeing the BBC News website, Getty second source, Barot e-mailed colleagues Useful online tools for this are Google’s operation,” says Hamilton. “They have photographer Marco Di Lauro almost around the BBC within 10 minutes to advanced picture search or TinEye, become part of the journalistic toolbox, fell off his chair, he later told The Daily This photo, taken in Iraq in 2003, was posted on the BBC’s homepage on May 27, 2012 to accompa- tell them the Hub had reservations about which look for images similar to the alongside agency pictures, field report- Telegraph—the image supposedly ny an article about a massacre in Houla, Syria. It had been distributed by Syrian activists on social the clip. It had failed the test. photo copied into the search function. ers, background interviews. It’s critical showing the shocking aftermath of the media. Photo by Marco Di Lauro/Reportage by Getty Images. The dubious video illustrates a point Barot used TinEye to disprove one of for any big newsroom that wants cred- Houla massacre was a photo he’d taken made repeatedly by Barot and his boss several gory fake images of Osama bin ibility in storytelling.” in Iraq in 2003. He posted on Facebook: “Posting this photo was a mistake, something we are all aware of. But it has Chris Hamilton: The business of verify- Laden’s head that circulated online soon “Somebody is using my images as a pro- there is no question,” says Hamilton. to be navigated anew each and every ing and debunking content from the after his death last year. He tracked down David Turner is a freelance journalist paganda against the Syrian government “We should have made more checks, time we look at footage. There are very public relies far more on journalistic the original photo of another corpse’s and author based in London. He was a to prove the massacre.” Meanwhile, as is normal practice, and the decision few things that can give you 100 percent hunches than snazzy technology. While face, onto which bin Laden’s features correspondent at the Financial Times for alerted by users, the BBC took down the to publish should have been delayed, certainty.” some call this new specialization in were grafted using Adobe Photoshop. 10 years. image—90 minutes after it had been something we are very happy to do in an journalism “information forensics,” one posted. But the damage was done: The environment where being right is more RAISING DOUBTS does not need to be an IT expert or have Daily Telegraph and other publications important than being first.” He adds: Authenticating photos and video, in special equipment to ask and answer the reported on the error, and the blogo- “But this was not a systematic error. We other words, can be a tricky business, fundamental questions used to judge sphere went wild over accusations that have a strong track record of stopping even for senior staff at the Hub. During whether a scene is staged or not. VETTING INFORMATION the BBC was pushing the anti-Syria numerous examples of incorrect material my visit in May, assistant editor Barot “People are surprised to find we’re position of the British government. making it to air or online.” recounted how on that rainy April morn- not a very high-tech, CSI-type of team,” Members of the BBC’s User-Generated Content Hub offered tips for determining the veracity of Interestingly, few readers or commenta- While frustrating, the intentional ing he went about vetting the grisly video says Barot. He and Hamilton, like the videos and photographs: tors accepted the disclaimer posted with “redistribution” of the Iraq photo illus- of the man being buried by people who Hub’s other members, have conventional the photo—a key element to how many trates that “governments don’t have a appear to be Syrian soldiers: By 9:20 journalism backgrounds. Hamilton, for Try to talk to the original source of the material. You will quickly form an instinctive feel- news organizations today handle the monopoly on spinning the media,” says a.m. he had e-mailed the video to a col- example, has done stints as reporter and ing about whether the person is telling the truth. One caveat: It may not be possible or even challenge that there are few indepen- Hamilton. “There is a lot of potential for league, an Arabic-speaking Syrian at BBC editor during his 12 years at the BBC. desirable to talk to an activist whose life will be in danger if they are identified. dent reporters in countries activists to be faking Monitoring, which uses language special- If material seems too good to be true, be skeptical—but keep an open mind. The famous such as Syria and that activ- and spinning things in ists to gather information from media STREAMLINED FUTURE shot of a woman jumping out of a burning building during last summer’s London riots, neatly ists’ accounts and footage a way that puts their outlets across the world. At 10:12 a.m. It’s time for the Hub’s 10 a.m. news silhouetted against a raging inferno, initially aroused suspicions. However, the Hub verified it. often cannot be verified. cause forward. It is the colleague e-mailed back: The soldiers’ meeting, which has the feel of any Try to determine where the material first appeared online. It could give clues about the morning confabulation of journalists at a identity and motives of the person who posted it. media outlet, including a palpable sense Consult specialists. The BBC Monitoring Service can advise on accents. Use expert local of impatience to stop conferring and get knowledge of towns to advise whether images and videos depict the purported place. 1954 1972 1980 on with the day’s work. Dr. Albert Schweitzer in the Congo Thomas Eagleton’s Past “Jimmy’s World” Use technology to help you. Examples include Google Earth (to confirm that the features Life magazine, elsewhere The Washington Post The Washington Post After setting priorities for the rest of the alleged location match the photo) and TinEye. But do not do so at the expense of jour- Photographer W. Eugene Smith Without evidence to back up the Reporter Janet Cooke fabricated an of the day, Hamilton finds a cramped nalistic instinct. Not all the faked photos of the Osama bin Laden corpse could be disproved merged two images to create one of claim, Jack Anderson reported that 8-year-old heroin addict for a story. office in which to discuss the future of by technical means, but BBC verifiers decided nonetheless that no possible explanation of his most memorable pictures for Life Democratic vice presidential nomi- She won a Pulitzer Prize, which was verification. how a real photo had leaked was credible. magazine. It also appeared on the nee Thomas Eagleton had a history later returned. Is the Hub here to stay? “We’re seeing cover of “Let Truth Be the Prejudice.” of drunken driving charges. >>> See what other verification experts are saying about an item on Twitter. They may have correspondents and producers building useful information or ideas. —D.T.

12 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 13 COVER STORY: TRUTH IN THE AGE OF SOCIAL MEDIA

story about a massacre in Houla, accents are Alawite, the ethnic group up their verification skills, and you’ve Responding to the tendency for Syria, unfolded, staff members which rules Syria and provides many of got to work out whether it’s something social media to act as a rumor mill for spotted a powerful photo circulated its soldiers. And sneakers are commonly you need specialists for,” Hamilton outlandish theories, the Hub steers clear on Twitter, showing shrouded bod- worn in some Syrian units. However, the says. But, he adds, “in some form you’ll of tweets that ask the public whether ies in rows and apparently sourced colleague wondered how the voice of a always need them,” if only for the sake something is true—in contrast to some from activists in Syria. “The original man whose face is being covered in sand of efficiency. journalists who use Twitter for crowd- distributor of the photo on Twitter could be so consistently audible—unless Hamilton can, however, foresee a time sourcing. Hamilton justifies this by was tracked down, we spoke to them, he has been fitted with a microphone? when the size of the BBC’s Hub team pointing out that the mere fact the BBC and they gave us information about Barot had noticed this too, plus might shrink as verification is “indus- is investigating a rumor “lends credence its sourcing,” says Chris Hamilton, the another cause for suspicion: Why does trialized.” By that, he means that some to the idea that it might be true.” BBC’s social media editor since 2011. the video end only a few seconds after procedures are likely to be carried out However, there is no question at the “So the picture was published on the the victim’s head has submerged com- simultaneously at the click of an icon. Hub about the role journalists should BBC News website, with a disclaimer pletely? Could it be because it has to be He also expects that technological play in verifying online information with saying it could not be independently short enough for him to hold his breath? improvements will make the automated their trusted tools and techniques. “UGC verified.” His hunch corroborated by this checking of photos more effective. and verification are no longer a side Seeing the BBC News website, Getty second source, Barot e-mailed colleagues Useful online tools for this are Google’s operation,” says Hamilton. “They have photographer Marco Di Lauro almost around the BBC within 10 minutes to advanced picture search or TinEye, become part of the journalistic toolbox, fell off his chair, he later told The Daily This photo, taken in Iraq in 2003, was posted on the BBC’s homepage on May 27, 2012 to accompa- tell them the Hub had reservations about which look for images similar to the alongside agency pictures, field report- Telegraph—the image supposedly ny an article about a massacre in Houla, Syria. It had been distributed by Syrian activists on social the clip. It had failed the test. photo copied into the search function. ers, background interviews. It’s critical showing the shocking aftermath of the media. Photo by Marco Di Lauro/Reportage by Getty Images. The dubious video illustrates a point Barot used TinEye to disprove one of for any big newsroom that wants cred- Houla massacre was a photo he’d taken made repeatedly by Barot and his boss several gory fake images of Osama bin ibility in storytelling.” in Iraq in 2003. He posted on Facebook: “Posting this photo was a mistake, something we are all aware of. But it has Chris Hamilton: The business of verify- Laden’s head that circulated online soon “Somebody is using my images as a pro- there is no question,” says Hamilton. to be navigated anew each and every ing and debunking content from the after his death last year. He tracked down David Turner is a freelance journalist paganda against the Syrian government “We should have made more checks, time we look at footage. There are very public relies far more on journalistic the original photo of another corpse’s and author based in London. He was a to prove the massacre.” Meanwhile, as is normal practice, and the decision few things that can give you 100 percent hunches than snazzy technology. While face, onto which bin Laden’s features correspondent at the Financial Times for alerted by users, the BBC took down the to publish should have been delayed, certainty.” some call this new specialization in were grafted using Adobe Photoshop. 10 years. image—90 minutes after it had been something we are very happy to do in an journalism “information forensics,” one posted. But the damage was done: The environment where being right is more RAISING DOUBTS does not need to be an IT expert or have Daily Telegraph and other publications important than being first.” He adds: Authenticating photos and video, in special equipment to ask and answer the reported on the error, and the blogo- “But this was not a systematic error. We other words, can be a tricky business, fundamental questions used to judge sphere went wild over accusations that have a strong track record of stopping even for senior staff at the Hub. During whether a scene is staged or not. VETTING INFORMATION the BBC was pushing the anti-Syria numerous examples of incorrect material my visit in May, assistant editor Barot “People are surprised to find we’re position of the British government. making it to air or online.” recounted how on that rainy April morn- not a very high-tech, CSI-type of team,” Members of the BBC’s User-Generated Content Hub offered tips for determining the veracity of Interestingly, few readers or commenta- While frustrating, the intentional ing he went about vetting the grisly video says Barot. He and Hamilton, like the videos and photographs: tors accepted the disclaimer posted with “redistribution” of the Iraq photo illus- of the man being buried by people who Hub’s other members, have conventional the photo—a key element to how many trates that “governments don’t have a appear to be Syrian soldiers: By 9:20 journalism backgrounds. Hamilton, for Try to talk to the original source of the material. You will quickly form an instinctive feel- news organizations today handle the monopoly on spinning the media,” says a.m. he had e-mailed the video to a col- example, has done stints as reporter and ing about whether the person is telling the truth. One caveat: It may not be possible or even challenge that there are few indepen- Hamilton. “There is a lot of potential for league, an Arabic-speaking Syrian at BBC editor during his 12 years at the BBC. desirable to talk to an activist whose life will be in danger if they are identified. dent reporters in countries activists to be faking Monitoring, which uses language special- If material seems too good to be true, be skeptical—but keep an open mind. The famous such as Syria and that activ- and spinning things in ists to gather information from media STREAMLINED FUTURE shot of a woman jumping out of a burning building during last summer’s London riots, neatly ists’ accounts and footage a way that puts their outlets across the world. At 10:12 a.m. It’s time for the Hub’s 10 a.m. news silhouetted against a raging inferno, initially aroused suspicions. However, the Hub verified it. often cannot be verified. cause forward. It is the colleague e-mailed back: The soldiers’ meeting, which has the feel of any Try to determine where the material first appeared online. It could give clues about the morning confabulation of journalists at a identity and motives of the person who posted it. media outlet, including a palpable sense Consult specialists. The BBC Monitoring Service can advise on accents. Use expert local of impatience to stop conferring and get knowledge of towns to advise whether images and videos depict the purported place. 1954 1972 1980 on with the day’s work. Dr. Albert Schweitzer in the Congo Thomas Eagleton’s Past “Jimmy’s World” Use technology to help you. Examples include Google Earth (to confirm that the features Life magazine, elsewhere The Washington Post The Washington Post After setting priorities for the rest of the alleged location match the photo) and TinEye. But do not do so at the expense of jour- Photographer W. Eugene Smith Without evidence to back up the Reporter Janet Cooke fabricated an of the day, Hamilton finds a cramped nalistic instinct. Not all the faked photos of the Osama bin Laden corpse could be disproved merged two images to create one of claim, Jack Anderson reported that 8-year-old heroin addict for a story. office in which to discuss the future of by technical means, but BBC verifiers decided nonetheless that no possible explanation of his most memorable pictures for Life Democratic vice presidential nomi- She won a Pulitzer Prize, which was verification. how a real photo had leaked was credible. magazine. It also appeared on the nee Thomas Eagleton had a history later returned. Is the Hub here to stay? “We’re seeing cover of “Let Truth Be the Prejudice.” of drunken driving charges. >>> See what other verification experts are saying about an item on Twitter. They may have correspondents and producers building useful information or ideas. —D.T.

12 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 13 COVER STORY: TRUTH IN THE AGE OF SOCIAL MEDIA

Finding the Wisdom THE PROCESS OF VERIFICATION

In March, Storyful’s sources in Syria tweeted that security forces were mov- CONSIDER YOUR SOURCES. In the Crowd ing through Idlib province. In search- The user, Darkoush Revo (“Darkoush News”), uploads exclusively from ing for visual evidence, the Storyful this town and was active on the day in question. Affiliated Facebook ‘Journalists need to get comfortable with risk, team found a 30-second YouTube clip and Twitter accounts are also Darkoush-centric. which claimed to show troops in the transparency and collaboration. We need to abandon Idlib town of Darkoush. News editor the notion that we have a monopoly on truth.’ Malachy Browne explains a number of details that were checked to verify that the town shown was, in fact, Darkoush. BY MARK LITTLE

When I was a young TV journalist, the broadest solution. We are a news  Are streetscapes similar to geo-located the phrase “golden hour” meant the agency but also a technology start-up. photos on Panoramio or Google Street CHECK THE WEATHER. early evening light that bathed faces and Our engineers work side by side with View? WolframAlpha search engine doesn’t have landscapes in a warm forgiving glow. As our journalists.  Do weather conditions correspond details for the town of Darkoush, but it a social journalist, I’ve started to use the The Storyful development team is with reports on that day? does note cloud cover in Idlib province on term in a different way. building products that will help our  Are shadows consistent with the that date, which matches with the weather I now think of the golden hour as the journalists and clients map influence reported time of day? in the video. time it takes social media to create either and connections within social media  Do vehicle registration plates or traffic an empowering truth or an unstoppable conversations and get an early warning signs indicate the country or state? lie, when a celebrity death trends on of changes in their speed or intensity.  Do accents or dialects heard in a video Twitter or an explosive video surfaces on We are also working to scale the tech- tell us the location? YouTube. In other words, when journal- niques our editorial team has perfected in  Does it jibe with other imagery people ism can matter most. validating videos and images. At its core, are uploading from this location? When I founded Storyful in 2010, this process is built around a checklist:  Does the video reflect events as I imagined a news agency built for the reported on Storyful’s curated Twitter social media age. I wanted to create the  Can we geo-locate this footage? Are lists or by local news sources? SURVEY THE LANDSCAPE. LOOK FOR LANDMARKS. products and protocols that would equip there any landmarks that allow us The video shows hills in the distance, The key point is the mosque’s distinctive mina- other journalists to meet the challenges to verify the This form of inquiry is as old which correspond to Google’s terrain map ret, which is visible in the satellite image from of the golden hour. location via as journalism itself, even if the of the town. Google Maps because of the shadow it casts. At Storyful, we think a combination Google Maps technology is not. Our approach to of automation and human skill provides or Wikimapia? authenticating sources is also drawn

1982 1983 1992 Moving the Great Pyramid of Giza Hitler’s Forged Diaries Truck Explosion National Geographic Stern (Germany), Newsweek, “Dateline NBC” A photograph of two pyramids was The Times (London) For a segment about automo- manipulated to better fit on the Stern staff reporter Gerd Heidemann bile safety, “Dateline” producers cover. procured what were purported to tampered with a GM truck to ensure be the personal diaries of Adolf World War II were asked to that it would explode during a test Hitler but no German experts on authenticate them. crash. GM sued. >>>

14 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 15 COVER STORY: TRUTH IN THE AGE OF SOCIAL MEDIA

Finding the Wisdom THE PROCESS OF VERIFICATION

In March, Storyful’s sources in Syria tweeted that security forces were mov- CONSIDER YOUR SOURCES. In the Crowd ing through Idlib province. In search- The user, Darkoush Revo (“Darkoush News”), uploads exclusively from ing for visual evidence, the Storyful this town and was active on the day in question. Affiliated Facebook ‘Journalists need to get comfortable with risk, team found a 30-second YouTube clip and Twitter accounts are also Darkoush-centric. which claimed to show troops in the transparency and collaboration. We need to abandon Idlib town of Darkoush. News editor the notion that we have a monopoly on truth.’ Malachy Browne explains a number of details that were checked to verify that the town shown was, in fact, Darkoush. BY MARK LITTLE

When I was a young TV journalist, the broadest solution. We are a news  Are streetscapes similar to geo-located the phrase “golden hour” meant the agency but also a technology start-up. photos on Panoramio or Google Street CHECK THE WEATHER. early evening light that bathed faces and Our engineers work side by side with View? WolframAlpha search engine doesn’t have landscapes in a warm forgiving glow. As our journalists.  Do weather conditions correspond details for the town of Darkoush, but it a social journalist, I’ve started to use the The Storyful development team is with reports on that day? does note cloud cover in Idlib province on term in a different way. building products that will help our  Are shadows consistent with the that date, which matches with the weather I now think of the golden hour as the journalists and clients map influence reported time of day? in the video. time it takes social media to create either and connections within social media  Do vehicle registration plates or traffic an empowering truth or an unstoppable conversations and get an early warning signs indicate the country or state? lie, when a celebrity death trends on of changes in their speed or intensity.  Do accents or dialects heard in a video Twitter or an explosive video surfaces on We are also working to scale the tech- tell us the location? YouTube. In other words, when journal- niques our editorial team has perfected in  Does it jibe with other imagery people ism can matter most. validating videos and images. At its core, are uploading from this location? When I founded Storyful in 2010, this process is built around a checklist:  Does the video reflect events as I imagined a news agency built for the reported on Storyful’s curated Twitter social media age. I wanted to create the  Can we geo-locate this footage? Are lists or by local news sources? SURVEY THE LANDSCAPE. LOOK FOR LANDMARKS. products and protocols that would equip there any landmarks that allow us The video shows hills in the distance, The key point is the mosque’s distinctive mina- other journalists to meet the challenges to verify the This form of inquiry is as old which correspond to Google’s terrain map ret, which is visible in the satellite image from of the golden hour. location via as journalism itself, even if the of the town. Google Maps because of the shadow it casts. At Storyful, we think a combination Google Maps technology is not. Our approach to of automation and human skill provides or Wikimapia? authenticating sources is also drawn

1982 1983 1992 Moving the Great Pyramid of Giza Hitler’s Forged Diaries Truck Explosion National Geographic Stern (Germany), Newsweek, “Dateline NBC” A photograph of two pyramids was The Times (London) For a segment about automo- manipulated to better fit on the Stern staff reporter Gerd Heidemann bile safety, “Dateline” producers cover. procured what were purported to tampered with a GM truck to ensure be the personal diaries of Adolf World War II were asked to that it would explode during a test Hitler but no German experts on authenticate them. crash. GM sued. >>>

14 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 15 COVER STORY: TRUTH IN THE AGE OF SOCIAL MEDIA

from the eternal values of storytell-  Can we find WHOIS (domain regis- verify it and what context exists, if any. is no value in going it alone in the ing. The Storyful team uses the phrase tration) information for an affiliated You are still a journalist. golden hour. If you do, the chance “human algorithm” to sum up its hybrid website? Storyful has advantages in adjusting you will be consistently first is non- approach. Every news event in the age  Is the person listed in local directories? to the realities of social journalism. We existent. The chance that you will Vetting Citizen of social media creates a community. Does the person’s online social circles don’t depend on ratings or traffic. Our often be wrong is 100 percent. When news breaks, a network gathers to indicate a proximity to the story/ mission is to help other journalists, par- Field reporters like me grew up talk about the story. Some are witnesses, location? ticularly those who create the real value. with the reality of collaboration.  Journalism others are amplifiers, and in every group Does the uploader “scrape” videos Storyful worked with ABC News to In my days as a Washington corre- there are trusted filters. from news organizations and YouTube report the death of Osama bin Laden, spondent, I relied on pool copy ‘It’s an emerging craft, one that combines an eye The problem for journalists born into accounts? discovering content and mapping key from the White House. In any war an age of elites is that these filters look  Are video descriptions dated? Does the locations and images. But we were in no zone, my best friend was often my for a good story with a flair for connecting the nothing like our traditional sources, who title of the video have file extensions doubt that the person who really mat- fiercest rival. dots and, above all, a human touch.’ are generally ranked on the basis of such as .AVI or .MP4? tered on that day was Nick Schifrin, the The very notion of the news power and authority. Authority has been  Are we familiar with this account? correspondent in Pakistan. agency stems from collaboration in replaced by authenticity as the currency Has the content and reportage been When we work with clients like The a time of disruption. The Associated BY LILA KING of social journalism. The key to engaging reliable? New York Times, for example, our job is Press was the product of an historic with a community is to seek out those not to take the place of its reporters but partnership between New York’s closest to the story. They rarely have a Reporters are taught never to expose to help turn user-generated content into five daily newspapers during the title but are people of standing within a their own ignorance but “I don’t know” something they can safely use. This may Mexican-American War of the 1840s. The conversation on the desk The vetting process is rigorous and community. They are guides to the wis- is the starting point in any honest inves- involve adding context to video for The We’re at that moment again. usually goes like this: “Wow. Did you see sometimes time-consuming. It usually dom within their crowd and interpreters tigation of online communities and their Lede blog, building a Twitter list for a Faced with frightening disruption this iReport? Incredible.” starts with a phone call, most often of nuance: if you are verifying video from and stunning potential, journalists “Yeah, no kidding. But how are we from the iReport desk in Atlanta, where Syria you don’t want a foreign policy wonk, need to get comfortable with risk, going to vet it?” eight full-time producers tab through you want someone who can distinguish Every news event in the age of social media creates a transparency and collaboration. We The answer in broad strokes: It’s an hundreds of incoming photos and videos between a Damascus and a Homs accent. need to abandon the notion that we emerging craft, one that combines an eye every day, looking for the ones we think Our approach to rating sources and community. When news breaks, a network gathers to talk have a monopoly on truth. for a good story with a flair for connecting will make an impact. the video they upload revolves around about the story. Some are witnesses, others are amplifiers, Not too long ago, reporters the dots and, above all, a human touch. About 8 percent of contributions are another checklist: and in every group there are trusted filters. were the guardians of scarce facts Vetting is the heart of iReport, CNN’s selected for vetting, a process that also delivered at an appointed time to a platform for citizen journalism. You alerts TV and digital producers there will  Where is this account registered and passive audience. Today we are the won’t see iReports on television or on likely be an element ready to go later in where is the uploader based, judging content. Internally we consciously use beat reporter or helping the picture desk managers of an overabundance of CNN.com (outside the special iReport the day. Vetted iReports often turn into by his or her history? the word “validation” instead of verifica- find a corroborating source. information and content, discovered, section, that is) before they’ve been fact interview segments on air or quotes in  Are there other accounts—Twitter, tion. Our role is to provide the essential Where social journalists like us verified and delivered in partnership checked and cleared. stories you read online. Facebook, a blog, or website—affiliated context that will allow newsrooms can provide a unique benefit is in our with active communities. with this uploader? How can they help to make informed judgments about embrace of collaboration. It does not What does that mean in practice? us identify location, activity, reliability, content that may never be completely come naturally to journalists to risk their Technology will play its part but bias and agenda? free of risk. reputation by engaging with online com- don’t underestimate that human  How long have these accounts been in This does not mean that social jour- munities. But there is no alternative in algorithm. We need new protocols existence? How active are they? nalists should not deliver judgments. It the golden hour. to shape collaboration between  Does the uploader write in slang or is not good enough to broadcast a user- I would go further: all news organiza- journalists and communities. Per- dialect that is identifiable in the video’s generated video and then say it can’t be tions need to radically reconsider their haps just as important is collabora- narration? verified. You must tell us what you did to approach to each other. There really tion among journalists, inside and outside the traditional struc- tures of news. I keep telling people we are enter- 1994 1998 1999 ing a golden age of journalism. I Face of O.J. Simpson Stephen Glass Fabrications Wen Ho Lee Time The New Republic The New York Times, various outlets truly believe that. But first we need The magazine darkened The associate editor was found to The scientist was incorrectly identi- to face up to the challenge of each the mug shot of murder have fabricated at least 27 articles fied as having leaked nuclear secrets golden hour. suspect O.J. Simpson that that he’d written for The New Repub- to the Chinese. He received a settle- it put on the cover. lic. In one case, he created a website ment from the government and five Mark Little is founder and CEO of for a fake company. media organizations. >>> the social news agency Storyful. CNN’s iReport invited viewers to submit questions for first lady Michelle Obama.

16 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 17 COVER STORY: TRUTH IN THE AGE OF SOCIAL MEDIA

from the eternal values of storytell-  Can we find WHOIS (domain regis- verify it and what context exists, if any. is no value in going it alone in the ing. The Storyful team uses the phrase tration) information for an affiliated You are still a journalist. golden hour. If you do, the chance “human algorithm” to sum up its hybrid website? Storyful has advantages in adjusting you will be consistently first is non- approach. Every news event in the age  Is the person listed in local directories? to the realities of social journalism. We existent. The chance that you will Vetting Citizen of social media creates a community. Does the person’s online social circles don’t depend on ratings or traffic. Our often be wrong is 100 percent. When news breaks, a network gathers to indicate a proximity to the story/ mission is to help other journalists, par- Field reporters like me grew up talk about the story. Some are witnesses, location? ticularly those who create the real value. with the reality of collaboration.  Journalism others are amplifiers, and in every group Does the uploader “scrape” videos Storyful worked with ABC News to In my days as a Washington corre- there are trusted filters. from news organizations and YouTube report the death of Osama bin Laden, spondent, I relied on pool copy ‘It’s an emerging craft, one that combines an eye The problem for journalists born into accounts? discovering content and mapping key from the White House. In any war an age of elites is that these filters look  Are video descriptions dated? Does the locations and images. But we were in no zone, my best friend was often my for a good story with a flair for connecting the nothing like our traditional sources, who title of the video have file extensions doubt that the person who really mat- fiercest rival. dots and, above all, a human touch.’ are generally ranked on the basis of such as .AVI or .MP4? tered on that day was Nick Schifrin, the The very notion of the news power and authority. Authority has been  Are we familiar with this account? correspondent in Pakistan. agency stems from collaboration in replaced by authenticity as the currency Has the content and reportage been When we work with clients like The a time of disruption. The Associated BY LILA KING of social journalism. The key to engaging reliable? New York Times, for example, our job is Press was the product of an historic with a community is to seek out those not to take the place of its reporters but partnership between New York’s closest to the story. They rarely have a Reporters are taught never to expose to help turn user-generated content into five daily newspapers during the title but are people of standing within a their own ignorance but “I don’t know” something they can safely use. This may Mexican-American War of the 1840s. The conversation on the desk The vetting process is rigorous and community. They are guides to the wis- is the starting point in any honest inves- involve adding context to video for The We’re at that moment again. usually goes like this: “Wow. Did you see sometimes time-consuming. It usually dom within their crowd and interpreters tigation of online communities and their Lede blog, building a Twitter list for a Faced with frightening disruption this iReport? Incredible.” starts with a phone call, most often of nuance: if you are verifying video from and stunning potential, journalists “Yeah, no kidding. But how are we from the iReport desk in Atlanta, where Syria you don’t want a foreign policy wonk, need to get comfortable with risk, going to vet it?” eight full-time producers tab through you want someone who can distinguish Every news event in the age of social media creates a transparency and collaboration. We The answer in broad strokes: It’s an hundreds of incoming photos and videos between a Damascus and a Homs accent. need to abandon the notion that we emerging craft, one that combines an eye every day, looking for the ones we think Our approach to rating sources and community. When news breaks, a network gathers to talk have a monopoly on truth. for a good story with a flair for connecting will make an impact. the video they upload revolves around about the story. Some are witnesses, others are amplifiers, Not too long ago, reporters the dots and, above all, a human touch. About 8 percent of contributions are another checklist: and in every group there are trusted filters. were the guardians of scarce facts Vetting is the heart of iReport, CNN’s selected for vetting, a process that also delivered at an appointed time to a platform for citizen journalism. You alerts TV and digital producers there will  Where is this account registered and passive audience. Today we are the won’t see iReports on television or on likely be an element ready to go later in where is the uploader based, judging content. Internally we consciously use beat reporter or helping the picture desk managers of an overabundance of CNN.com (outside the special iReport the day. Vetted iReports often turn into by his or her history? the word “validation” instead of verifica- find a corroborating source. information and content, discovered, section, that is) before they’ve been fact interview segments on air or quotes in  Are there other accounts—Twitter, tion. Our role is to provide the essential Where social journalists like us verified and delivered in partnership checked and cleared. stories you read online. Facebook, a blog, or website—affiliated context that will allow newsrooms can provide a unique benefit is in our with active communities. with this uploader? How can they help to make informed judgments about embrace of collaboration. It does not What does that mean in practice? us identify location, activity, reliability, content that may never be completely come naturally to journalists to risk their Technology will play its part but bias and agenda? free of risk. reputation by engaging with online com- don’t underestimate that human  How long have these accounts been in This does not mean that social jour- munities. But there is no alternative in algorithm. We need new protocols existence? How active are they? nalists should not deliver judgments. It the golden hour. to shape collaboration between  Does the uploader write in slang or is not good enough to broadcast a user- I would go further: all news organiza- journalists and communities. Per- dialect that is identifiable in the video’s generated video and then say it can’t be tions need to radically reconsider their haps just as important is collabora- narration? verified. You must tell us what you did to approach to each other. There really tion among journalists, inside and outside the traditional struc- tures of news. I keep telling people we are enter- 1994 1998 1999 ing a golden age of journalism. I Face of O.J. Simpson Stephen Glass Fabrications Wen Ho Lee Time The New Republic The New York Times, various outlets truly believe that. But first we need The magazine darkened The associate editor was found to The scientist was incorrectly identi- to face up to the challenge of each the mug shot of murder have fabricated at least 27 articles fied as having leaked nuclear secrets golden hour. suspect O.J. Simpson that that he’d written for The New Repub- to the Chinese. He received a settle- it put on the cover. lic. In one case, he created a website ment from the government and five Mark Little is founder and CEO of for a fake company. media organizations. >>> the social news agency Storyful. CNN’s iReport invited viewers to submit questions for first lady Michelle Obama.

16 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 17 COVER STORY: TRUTH IN THE AGE OF SOCIAL MEDIA

One morning in January, for example, and similar news events is like the even though CNN didn’t have a reporter BUILDING COMMUNITY iReport producer Christina Zdanowicz hit Ibadan clip: it comes from someone in on the ground to witness them. But there is also the community part: the desk to find scores of new photos and the heart of the story, with a very sub- The challenge was different when a Vetted iReports are a giant Rolodex videos showing protests over increased jective view of events. No surprise, of teenage girl posted a video on iReport of stories and people to follow up on. Doubting Amina fuel prices in Nigeria. Often when similar course, because iReport and most social showing her being bullied. We verified it This March when the world marked stories pile up on iReport, they’re con- media platforms are built for sharing the the old-fashioned way—by talking with the first anniversary of the earth- nected to a news event CNN is already moments of your life. her family and school officials and track- quake and tsunami in Japan, CNN The biggest hoax of 2011 fooled activists and on top of, like a natural disaster or a big At CNN we see it as our responsibility ing down police reports. asked the iReporters who had shared journalists alike. One writer and free speech political rally. The Nigerian iReports took to add context and analysis to what we And when a South Carolina woman footage of that event for updates on us a bit by surprise—CNN was not yet use from iReport and other social media started posting biting—and popular— how they were faring. The result is as advocate explains why so many wanted to reporting this so iReport was asked to platforms. That’s why with the Nigeria webcam commentaries about the 2012 tender a portrait as you’ll read in an believe in the ‘Gay Girl in Damascus.’ sketch out the story. protest, the iReport team continued Republican presidential primary race, anniversary piece. to make calls all morning to iReport the vetting process wasn’t so much about More than offering immediate VERIFYING REPORTS contributors who’d seen similar protests getting inside her head and verifying firsthand glimpses of breaking news, BY JILLIAN YORK One important contribution was a in Lagos and Abuja and Benin City. whether she really thinks the things she the community we are building may video showing a protest in the streets of Then we worked with a reporter said. It was more about figuring out who be the real secret behind iReport’s Ibadan, Nigeria, earlier that morning. at CNN International who connected she is and how she got to the point of success. Our platform provides an It all began with an argument. To investigate the authenticity of the clip, the details we’d researched with com- posting videos of her commentary and open door to participating in the On someone else’s Facebook wall is Zdanowicz reached out to the Ibadan ments from the local police, the office of saying that plainly and clearly to our news to almost anyone who cares where I first encountered Amina. She iReporter, a 24-year-old pharmacist President Goodluck Jonathan, and the audience. to enter, and a growing number of was feisty, unapologetic and, though I named Boma Tai. He described when economic and historic context of fuel At iReport we use a variety of tools: people from all over the world are can’t remember what we argued about, and where and why the protest was hap- price subsidies in Nigeria. Together, the CNN-ers in the field, subject-matter doing just that; as of May 2012, there I remember her apology afterward, pening and who was participating. citizen journalism, our research, and the experts, affiliate networks, and local were more than one million regis- written privately to me in a Facebook media. We cross-check what we learn tered iReporters. message. Soon afterward, we became from citizen journalists with other social Outside of vetting, the iReport Facebook “friends,” though admittedly At iReport we use a variety of tools: CNN-ers in the media reports. team in Atlanta spends the majority we rarely exchanged messages. It We also use technology, which can’t of its time dreaming up ways to invite wasn’t until months later when, after field, subject-matter experts, affiliate networks, and prove if a story is reliable but offers help- that community—both existing and reading a piece in The Guardian about local media. We cross-check what we learn from citizen ful clues. For example, we often check future members—to take part in what a Damascene “gay girl” whose brave journalists with other social media reports. photo metadata to find timestamps CNN is doing. For example, we’ve blogging had earned her accolades, I and sometimes location data about the come up with new models, such as a put two and two together and realized source photo or ask a photographer to recent community-driven interview that Amina was that girl. All good and useful detail, but there reporter’s contributions formed a com- share the previous or next 10 images with first lady Michelle Obama or Soon after, however, things took was a catch: He wasn’t just observing, he prehensive story that provided images from her camera. We also occasionally a mash-up video of footage shot by a turn for the worse: Amina, it was was participating, and he shared foot- and video of the protests as well as news send an image through a service like people in various cities and countries reported on her own blog on June 6, The supposed arrest of the “Gay Girl in age of the event because he wanted “the analysis explaining the context and why TinEye to help determine whether it on a single day in March. 2011, had been kidnapped by Syrian Damascus” blogger provoked a campaign. world to know in raw and unedited terms this was happening. shows signs of alteration. We discovered early on that it secret police forces. In a matter of just what is going on in Nigeria … the poor In a number of ways, the Nigerian That’s the journalism part—figuring wasn’t enough to wait for news to 24 hours, the international media was anonymity when reporting from places are suffering!” So we decided to see what protest story is a simple example. After out what you need to add to a video or break and hope people might think in a frenzy over Amina’s disappearance. like Syria. So much of the debate has other context we could find to fill out talking to dozens of people about the photo that you find on the Internet to to contribute (and set off the vetting But as a few skeptics began to search focused on citizen journalism, the practi- the story. same events, it wasn’t a huge leap to say make sense of it and to help someone process). iReport today is a highly for someone, anyone who knew Amina tioners of which are often deemed prone Most of the video we see of protests that we believed they had happened, else understand why it matters. collaborative effort among profes- personally, her elaborate story began to errors, that we so easily forget that sional journalists, eyewitnesses and to quickly unravel and by June 12, six professional journalists make mistakes, passionate participants to tell the full days after her supposed kidnapping, the too. Though it was indeed The Guardian breadth of news stories as they unfold truth became known: Amina was no gay that published the story that allowed us 2000 2003 He also plagiarized from wire and to reinvent the process together girl in Damascus, but instead a white, to believe that Amina was real, I don’t Presidential Election Results Jayson Blair services and other newspapers. After Various outlets The New York Times Blair’s deceptions were uncovered, as we go. American man in Scotland named Tom place too much blame on the journalist— Many newspapers and media outlets In at least 36 national stories for the two top editors stepped down, cor- MacMaster. the pseudonymous Katherine Marsh— declared a winner before the vote Times, Blair committed numerous rection procedures were tightened, Lila King is participation director Throughout the past year, and even for her error. Though Marsh’s editor count in Florida was finalized. The fabrications, lied about where he and a public editor was appointed to for CNN Digital, where her work is before Amina’s story, there has been should have doubted the veracity of the election was eventually decided in reported from and what he wit- evaluate, criticize and comment on focused on inviting CNN’s global an abundance of discussion on social content upon learning that Marsh had court. nessed, and made up quotes. the paper’s integrity. >>> audiences to participate in the news. media verification, as well as the need for conducted her interview over e-mail

18 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 19 COVER STORY: TRUTH IN THE AGE OF SOCIAL MEDIA

One morning in January, for example, and similar news events is like the even though CNN didn’t have a reporter BUILDING COMMUNITY iReport producer Christina Zdanowicz hit Ibadan clip: it comes from someone in on the ground to witness them. But there is also the community part: the desk to find scores of new photos and the heart of the story, with a very sub- The challenge was different when a Vetted iReports are a giant Rolodex videos showing protests over increased jective view of events. No surprise, of teenage girl posted a video on iReport of stories and people to follow up on. Doubting Amina fuel prices in Nigeria. Often when similar course, because iReport and most social showing her being bullied. We verified it This March when the world marked stories pile up on iReport, they’re con- media platforms are built for sharing the the old-fashioned way—by talking with the first anniversary of the earth- nected to a news event CNN is already moments of your life. her family and school officials and track- quake and tsunami in Japan, CNN The biggest hoax of 2011 fooled activists and on top of, like a natural disaster or a big At CNN we see it as our responsibility ing down police reports. asked the iReporters who had shared journalists alike. One writer and free speech political rally. The Nigerian iReports took to add context and analysis to what we And when a South Carolina woman footage of that event for updates on us a bit by surprise—CNN was not yet use from iReport and other social media started posting biting—and popular— how they were faring. The result is as advocate explains why so many wanted to reporting this so iReport was asked to platforms. That’s why with the Nigeria webcam commentaries about the 2012 tender a portrait as you’ll read in an believe in the ‘Gay Girl in Damascus.’ sketch out the story. protest, the iReport team continued Republican presidential primary race, anniversary piece. to make calls all morning to iReport the vetting process wasn’t so much about More than offering immediate VERIFYING REPORTS contributors who’d seen similar protests getting inside her head and verifying firsthand glimpses of breaking news, BY JILLIAN YORK One important contribution was a in Lagos and Abuja and Benin City. whether she really thinks the things she the community we are building may video showing a protest in the streets of Then we worked with a reporter said. It was more about figuring out who be the real secret behind iReport’s Ibadan, Nigeria, earlier that morning. at CNN International who connected she is and how she got to the point of success. Our platform provides an It all began with an argument. To investigate the authenticity of the clip, the details we’d researched with com- posting videos of her commentary and open door to participating in the On someone else’s Facebook wall is Zdanowicz reached out to the Ibadan ments from the local police, the office of saying that plainly and clearly to our news to almost anyone who cares where I first encountered Amina. She iReporter, a 24-year-old pharmacist President Goodluck Jonathan, and the audience. to enter, and a growing number of was feisty, unapologetic and, though I named Boma Tai. He described when economic and historic context of fuel At iReport we use a variety of tools: people from all over the world are can’t remember what we argued about, and where and why the protest was hap- price subsidies in Nigeria. Together, the CNN-ers in the field, subject-matter doing just that; as of May 2012, there I remember her apology afterward, pening and who was participating. citizen journalism, our research, and the experts, affiliate networks, and local were more than one million regis- written privately to me in a Facebook media. We cross-check what we learn tered iReporters. message. Soon afterward, we became from citizen journalists with other social Outside of vetting, the iReport Facebook “friends,” though admittedly At iReport we use a variety of tools: CNN-ers in the media reports. team in Atlanta spends the majority we rarely exchanged messages. It We also use technology, which can’t of its time dreaming up ways to invite wasn’t until months later when, after field, subject-matter experts, affiliate networks, and prove if a story is reliable but offers help- that community—both existing and reading a piece in The Guardian about local media. We cross-check what we learn from citizen ful clues. For example, we often check future members—to take part in what a Damascene “gay girl” whose brave journalists with other social media reports. photo metadata to find timestamps CNN is doing. For example, we’ve blogging had earned her accolades, I and sometimes location data about the come up with new models, such as a put two and two together and realized source photo or ask a photographer to recent community-driven interview that Amina was that girl. All good and useful detail, but there reporter’s contributions formed a com- share the previous or next 10 images with first lady Michelle Obama or Soon after, however, things took was a catch: He wasn’t just observing, he prehensive story that provided images from her camera. We also occasionally a mash-up video of footage shot by a turn for the worse: Amina, it was was participating, and he shared foot- and video of the protests as well as news send an image through a service like people in various cities and countries reported on her own blog on June 6, The supposed arrest of the “Gay Girl in age of the event because he wanted “the analysis explaining the context and why TinEye to help determine whether it on a single day in March. 2011, had been kidnapped by Syrian Damascus” blogger provoked a campaign. world to know in raw and unedited terms this was happening. shows signs of alteration. We discovered early on that it secret police forces. In a matter of just what is going on in Nigeria … the poor In a number of ways, the Nigerian That’s the journalism part—figuring wasn’t enough to wait for news to 24 hours, the international media was anonymity when reporting from places are suffering!” So we decided to see what protest story is a simple example. After out what you need to add to a video or break and hope people might think in a frenzy over Amina’s disappearance. like Syria. So much of the debate has other context we could find to fill out talking to dozens of people about the photo that you find on the Internet to to contribute (and set off the vetting But as a few skeptics began to search focused on citizen journalism, the practi- the story. same events, it wasn’t a huge leap to say make sense of it and to help someone process). iReport today is a highly for someone, anyone who knew Amina tioners of which are often deemed prone Most of the video we see of protests that we believed they had happened, else understand why it matters. collaborative effort among profes- personally, her elaborate story began to errors, that we so easily forget that sional journalists, eyewitnesses and to quickly unravel and by June 12, six professional journalists make mistakes, passionate participants to tell the full days after her supposed kidnapping, the too. Though it was indeed The Guardian breadth of news stories as they unfold truth became known: Amina was no gay that published the story that allowed us 2000 2003 He also plagiarized from wire and to reinvent the process together girl in Damascus, but instead a white, to believe that Amina was real, I don’t Presidential Election Results Jayson Blair services and other newspapers. After Various outlets The New York Times Blair’s deceptions were uncovered, as we go. American man in Scotland named Tom place too much blame on the journalist— Many newspapers and media outlets In at least 36 national stories for the two top editors stepped down, cor- MacMaster. the pseudonymous Katherine Marsh— declared a winner before the vote Times, Blair committed numerous rection procedures were tightened, Lila King is participation director Throughout the past year, and even for her error. Though Marsh’s editor count in Florida was finalized. The fabrications, lied about where he and a public editor was appointed to for CNN Digital, where her work is before Amina’s story, there has been should have doubted the veracity of the election was eventually decided in reported from and what he wit- evaluate, criticize and comment on focused on inviting CNN’s global an abundance of discussion on social content upon learning that Marsh had court. nessed, and made up quotes. the paper’s integrity. >>> audiences to participate in the news. media verification, as well as the need for conducted her interview over e-mail

18 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 19 COVER STORY: TRUTH IN THE AGE OF SOCIAL MEDIA

friends—mostly Arab women—to ask if imprisoned. We see the videos and the any of them knew her in real life. At first, images and hear the desperate pleas on at least two implied “yes,” a testament to social media. And therefore, when doubt how much we all wanted to believe that seeps in, we find it harder and harder Challenging ‘He Said, no one could be so callous. to believe the next story. One need only And yet, callous is the first word that look to the conversations taking place comes to mind when I think of what every day on Twitter—and even in the Tom MacMaster did. In an interview major media of some foreign coun- She Said’ Journalism with The Guardian in June 2011, Mac- tries—to see how pervasive the doubting Master attempted an apology, stating: of Syrian narratives has become. Instead of striving for balance, a veteran Supreme And yet, the journalistic errors I regret that quite a number of people continue as well. Following the May 25 Court reporter asks, ‘How about truth for a goal?’ are seeing my hoax as distracting from massacre in Houla in which 108 people, real news, real stories about Syria, mostly women and children, were and real concerns of real, actual on killed, the BBC used a photograph of BY LINDA GREENHOUSE the ground bloggers where people shrouded bodies that had actually been will doubt their veracity and the fact taken in Iraq in May 2003. While the that I think it’s only a matter of time photograph had gone viral on social before someone in the Syrian regime media, the BBC erroneously posting it A 2009 story in The New York Times mainstream journalism to the goals of LOADED WORDS A sampling of tweets from an effort by NPR’s says ‘See, all our opposition is fake, led to more accusations of journalistic about a dispute involving Fox News fairness and objectivity. It’s more challenging to question the Andy Carvin to confirm Amina’s existence. it’s not real.’ bias and more doubt. described the cable network as “a This is nothing new. Adolph Ochs, “he said, she said” norm in other con- channel with a reputation for having a the founding publisher of the modern texts. For instance, some people—many and instant messenger, I understand all conservative point of view in much of its New York Times, whose byword was people—consider waterboarding to be too well why Marsh believed “Amina,” During the six days of the search for Amina, I was programming.” “without fear or favor,” believed that a torture, and they refer to it that way. because I did, too. Really? responsible newspaper should “report But others cling to the notion that it is During the six days of the search for directly in touch with those doing the digging and I That phrase “with a reputation” put all sides of a controversial issue, and let not torture. What is a news organization Amina, I was directly in touch with those admit: I at first resisted—and resented—their search. the reporter, and the newspaper, at arm’s the reader decide the truth,” according to do? doing the digging and I admit: I at first length from the fact that the Fox News to a reminiscence written a couple of NPR has chosen to use “harsh resisted—and resented—their search. I Channel does have a conservative point years ago for internal distribution to the interrogation tactics” or “enhanced was at a conference in New York at the Setting aside for a moment how On a normal day, a journalist’s of view, and proudly so. Times staff. interrogation techniques” instead of time, as was NPR’s Andy Carvin—among shallow an apology it was, I am instead mistake might cost him some respect, What was the purpose of that distanc- In this article, I will raise some “torture” when reporting stories about the first to express doubt about Amina— struck by MacMaster’s foresight in maybe even his job. But when reporting ing phrase? questions about the assumption behind waterboarding and other coercive and I recall arguing with him about recognizing the damage his hoax would on conflict—especially a conflict like A 2011 New York Times article, that credo, as well as the utility, in this practices used to interrogate terrorism whether it was the right thing to do cause. One year later, and the regime has Syria, in which journalists are marginal- typical of many others, referred to Jared media-saturated and cynical age, of the suspects. When listeners pushed back, when a life could be at stake. I was upset, maintained power by doing just that: ized from the very beginning—a lack Loughner as “the man accused of open- siren call of “fairness and objectivity.” Alicia C. Shepard, NPR ombudsman angry and wanting to believe. Portraying the opposition as the real of scrutiny may, in fact, inadvertently ing fire outside a Tucson supermarket.” Inside the profession of journalism, at the time, responded that she agreed The details about Damascus put problem, as “terrorists.” further agendas of suppression. Whether the Tucson shooter is guilty there has been a lively debate going on with the network. “The problem is that forth by MacMaster were plausible, at And that is precisely why we want to of murder is a legal question, but there for years over whether the “he said, she the word torture is loaded with political least enough so that my Syrian friends believe each story. We know the horrors Jillian York is the director of inter- is no question at all about his identity said” format, designed to avoid taking and social implications,” she wrote on failed to spot any errors. In fact, as my that the Syrian regime is capable of, national freedom of expression at the as the man who shot Congresswoman sides on contentious issues, impedes her blog, adding: “NPR’s job is to give doubt crept in about Amina, I began and we know that thousands of Syrians Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Gabrielle Giffords and killed six people. rather than enhances the goal of inform- listeners all perspectives, and present the writing to our many mutual Facebook have been killed while others have been cofounder of Talk Morocco. We don’t have to say “accused of”—he ing the reader. news as detailed as possible and put it in did the deed in front of dozens of This debate comes up most often dur- context.” Because using the word torture witnesses. ing political campaigns, and many press would amount to taking sides, reporters I’m not picking on the Times—the critics and commentators have pointed should instead “describe the techniques 2003 suffered only broken bones and 2003 newspaper I read most carefully as well out how superficial and subject to and skip the characterization” entirely, “She Was Fighting to the Death” bruises. Military and government WMD in Iraq The Washington Post officials inflated her story to spur The New York Times, others as the place I worked for 40 years. And manipulation that format can be in the she said. A front-page story about the capture support for the Iraq War. Articles by Judith Miller published although it is attacked, most often from context of a campaign. For that reason, Again, that may be an easy example, by Iraqi forces of Army Pfc. Jessica in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq the right but not infrequently from the many news organizations now publish because it’s binary—use the word Lynch said she fired every bullet she cited reports that the country pos- left, for various kinds of bias, it actu- or post “fact-check” boxes that vet the torture, or avoid it. How about a com- had and suffered numerous wounds. sessed weapons of mass destruction. ally, in both its performance and its accuracy of political ads or of candidates’ plex event or situation that requires the In reality, she never fired a shot and That was proven not to be the case. >>> ideals, epitomizes the commitment of assertions during debates. reporter to make a series of judgments in

20 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 21 COVER STORY: TRUTH IN THE AGE OF SOCIAL MEDIA

friends—mostly Arab women—to ask if imprisoned. We see the videos and the any of them knew her in real life. At first, images and hear the desperate pleas on at least two implied “yes,” a testament to social media. And therefore, when doubt how much we all wanted to believe that seeps in, we find it harder and harder Challenging ‘He Said, no one could be so callous. to believe the next story. One need only And yet, callous is the first word that look to the conversations taking place comes to mind when I think of what every day on Twitter—and even in the Tom MacMaster did. In an interview major media of some foreign coun- She Said’ Journalism with The Guardian in June 2011, Mac- tries—to see how pervasive the doubting Master attempted an apology, stating: of Syrian narratives has become. Instead of striving for balance, a veteran Supreme And yet, the journalistic errors I regret that quite a number of people continue as well. Following the May 25 Court reporter asks, ‘How about truth for a goal?’ are seeing my hoax as distracting from massacre in Houla in which 108 people, real news, real stories about Syria, mostly women and children, were and real concerns of real, actual on killed, the BBC used a photograph of BY LINDA GREENHOUSE the ground bloggers where people shrouded bodies that had actually been will doubt their veracity and the fact taken in Iraq in May 2003. While the that I think it’s only a matter of time photograph had gone viral on social before someone in the Syrian regime media, the BBC erroneously posting it A 2009 story in The New York Times mainstream journalism to the goals of LOADED WORDS A sampling of tweets from an effort by NPR’s says ‘See, all our opposition is fake, led to more accusations of journalistic about a dispute involving Fox News fairness and objectivity. It’s more challenging to question the Andy Carvin to confirm Amina’s existence. it’s not real.’ bias and more doubt. described the cable network as “a This is nothing new. Adolph Ochs, “he said, she said” norm in other con- channel with a reputation for having a the founding publisher of the modern texts. For instance, some people—many and instant messenger, I understand all conservative point of view in much of its New York Times, whose byword was people—consider waterboarding to be too well why Marsh believed “Amina,” During the six days of the search for Amina, I was programming.” “without fear or favor,” believed that a torture, and they refer to it that way. because I did, too. Really? responsible newspaper should “report But others cling to the notion that it is During the six days of the search for directly in touch with those doing the digging and I That phrase “with a reputation” put all sides of a controversial issue, and let not torture. What is a news organization Amina, I was directly in touch with those admit: I at first resisted—and resented—their search. the reporter, and the newspaper, at arm’s the reader decide the truth,” according to do? doing the digging and I admit: I at first length from the fact that the Fox News to a reminiscence written a couple of NPR has chosen to use “harsh resisted—and resented—their search. I Channel does have a conservative point years ago for internal distribution to the interrogation tactics” or “enhanced was at a conference in New York at the Setting aside for a moment how On a normal day, a journalist’s of view, and proudly so. Times staff. interrogation techniques” instead of time, as was NPR’s Andy Carvin—among shallow an apology it was, I am instead mistake might cost him some respect, What was the purpose of that distanc- In this article, I will raise some “torture” when reporting stories about the first to express doubt about Amina— struck by MacMaster’s foresight in maybe even his job. But when reporting ing phrase? questions about the assumption behind waterboarding and other coercive and I recall arguing with him about recognizing the damage his hoax would on conflict—especially a conflict like A 2011 New York Times article, that credo, as well as the utility, in this practices used to interrogate terrorism whether it was the right thing to do cause. One year later, and the regime has Syria, in which journalists are marginal- typical of many others, referred to Jared media-saturated and cynical age, of the suspects. When listeners pushed back, when a life could be at stake. I was upset, maintained power by doing just that: ized from the very beginning—a lack Loughner as “the man accused of open- siren call of “fairness and objectivity.” Alicia C. Shepard, NPR ombudsman angry and wanting to believe. Portraying the opposition as the real of scrutiny may, in fact, inadvertently ing fire outside a Tucson supermarket.” Inside the profession of journalism, at the time, responded that she agreed The details about Damascus put problem, as “terrorists.” further agendas of suppression. Whether the Tucson shooter is guilty there has been a lively debate going on with the network. “The problem is that forth by MacMaster were plausible, at And that is precisely why we want to of murder is a legal question, but there for years over whether the “he said, she the word torture is loaded with political least enough so that my Syrian friends believe each story. We know the horrors Jillian York is the director of inter- is no question at all about his identity said” format, designed to avoid taking and social implications,” she wrote on failed to spot any errors. In fact, as my that the Syrian regime is capable of, national freedom of expression at the as the man who shot Congresswoman sides on contentious issues, impedes her blog, adding: “NPR’s job is to give doubt crept in about Amina, I began and we know that thousands of Syrians Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Gabrielle Giffords and killed six people. rather than enhances the goal of inform- listeners all perspectives, and present the writing to our many mutual Facebook have been killed while others have been cofounder of Talk Morocco. We don’t have to say “accused of”—he ing the reader. news as detailed as possible and put it in did the deed in front of dozens of This debate comes up most often dur- context.” Because using the word torture witnesses. ing political campaigns, and many press would amount to taking sides, reporters I’m not picking on the Times—the critics and commentators have pointed should instead “describe the techniques 2003 suffered only broken bones and 2003 newspaper I read most carefully as well out how superficial and subject to and skip the characterization” entirely, “She Was Fighting to the Death” bruises. Military and government WMD in Iraq The Washington Post officials inflated her story to spur The New York Times, others as the place I worked for 40 years. And manipulation that format can be in the she said. A front-page story about the capture support for the Iraq War. Articles by Judith Miller published although it is attacked, most often from context of a campaign. For that reason, Again, that may be an easy example, by Iraqi forces of Army Pfc. Jessica in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq the right but not infrequently from the many news organizations now publish because it’s binary—use the word Lynch said she fired every bullet she cited reports that the country pos- left, for various kinds of bias, it actu- or post “fact-check” boxes that vet the torture, or avoid it. How about a com- had and suffered numerous wounds. sessed weapons of mass destruction. ally, in both its performance and its accuracy of political ads or of candidates’ plex event or situation that requires the In reality, she never fired a shot and That was proven not to be the case. >>> ideals, epitomizes the commitment of assertions during debates. reporter to make a series of judgments in

20 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 21 COVER STORY: TRUTH IN THE AGE OF SOCIAL MEDIA

order to describe adequately and assign operates as “the excuse in practice for self-reflection, “nothing replaced objec- favor, unvetted, unranked and unregu- possessed of “strong bias” on the part of at least 31 times in articles concerning priorities to such factors as motivation, a good deal of autopilot reporting and tivity as journalism’s dominant profes- lated by some superintending power. the judge, Anna Diggs Taylor. the detainees at Guantanamo Bay (12 relationships among actors, or likely lazy thinking.” What it often means, sional norm.” In fact, he notes, “a cottage For another thing, the word “truth” When another judge ruled that some times), detainees at Bagram, executive consequences. she wrote, “is a scrupulous passivity, an industry of bias police has sprung up,” lacks a single definition. To report, prisoners held by the United States at privilege and presidential authority, Paul Taylor, a former political agreement to cover the story not as it is leading to “hypersensitivity among the without elaboration, a politician’s charge the Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan had targeted killing, Iraq, Abu Ghraib, reporter for The Washington Post, had occurring but as it is presented, which is press to charges of bias,” which in turn concerning the “death panels” in the the right to petition for habeas corpus, the performance of Attorney General this to say in his trenchant book, “See to say as it is manufactured.” reinforces the problematic adherence to health care bill is—assuming the politi- Rivkin “warned that the ruling ‘gravely Michael Mukasey, and the Central How They Run: Electing the President In that same year, 1996, the Society of a standard of “objectivity” that “can trip cian is quoted accurately—certainly to undermined’ the country’s ‘ability to Intelligence Agency and its interrogation in an Age of Mediaocracy”: Professional Journalists dropped “objec- us up on the way to ‘truth.’ ” report the truth. Does such a report con- detain enemy combatants for the dura- policies. The descriptions of his role and tivity” from its ethics code, a develop- Truth. How about truth for a goal? vey a more useful or meaningful truth, tion of hostilities worldwide.’ ” This time his implied expertise varied from story Sometimes I worry that my squeamish- ment understood to reflect the fact that “We may not have a journalism of truth the contextual truth of the situation? he was identified as “an associate White to story, but the quote was always to ness about making sharp judgments, there had ceased to be, if there ever was, because we haven’t demanded one,” Obviously not. But just as obviously, it House counsel in the administration the same effect: a strong defense of pro or con, makes me unfit for the a common understanding within the the cultural critic Neal Gabler wrote in would not require a correction. of the first President Bush.” Since that President Bush and his policies. slam-bang world of daily journalism. profession of what objective reporting response to the media’s performance In “The Elements of Journalism,” administration had ended 16 years ear- To the extent that Rivkin has any Other times I conclude that it makes consists of. in covering the health care debate. He Kovach and Rosenstiel make a dis- lier, I wondered what current expertise relevant expertise, the basis for it is me ideally suited for newspapering— tinction between two kinds of truth: Rivkin possessed that led him to make not disclosed on his law firm’s website, certainly for the rigors and conventions correspondence and coherence. “For such a harsh assessment of this new which contains a lengthy biography. of modern ‘objective’ journalism. For I ‘We may not have a journalism of truth because we journalism, these tests roughly trans- decision. A partner in the international law firm can dispose of my dilemmas by writing haven’t demanded one,’ the cultural critic Neal Gabler late into getting the facts straight and A check of the Times database reveals of Baker Hostetler, he is identified as stories straight down the middle. I can making sense of the facts.” They call for that since 2006, Rivkin has been quoted a “member of the firm’s litigation, inter- search for the halfway point between wrote in response to the media’s performance in covering a “journalism of verification” to replace the best and the worst thing that can the health care debate. a “journalism of assertion”: “A more be said about someone (or some policy conscious discipline of verification is the or idea) and write my story in that best antidote to being overrun by a new fair-minded place. By aiming for the A leading commentary on the modern noted that by simply reporting the latest journalism of assertion.” golden mean, I probably land near the practice of journalism, “The Elements guided missile from Sarah Palin or Rush Fairness and objectivity should be best approximation of truth more often of Journalism,” by Bill Kovach and Tom Limbaugh, the media “marshal facts, regarded as tools to that end, they main- than if I were guided by any other set Rosenstiel, omits “fairness” and “objec- but they don’t seek truth. They behave tain, rather than as ends in themselves. of compasses—partisan, ideological, tivity” from its list of the 10 basic ele- as if every argument must be heard and psychological, whatever … Yes, I’m ments of journalism, described as “clear has equal merit, when some are simply THE ‘OTHER SIDE’ seeking truth. But I’m also seeking principles that journalists agree on—and specious.” The following is a case study in what I refuge. I’m taking a pass on the tough- that citizens have a right to expect.” Why Why is it just so difficult to make the regard as the perils of the journalism est calls I face. the omissions? “Familiar and even use- search for truth the highest journalistic of assertion, as practiced by our finest ful” as the idea of fairness and balance value? newspaper. Jay Rosen, a press critic and journal- may be, the authors say, the very concept Well, for one thing, the notion that Over the last few years, the name ism professor at New York University, “has been so mangled” as to have become there exists one Truth exists in some David B. Rivkin started showing up in calls the phenomenon that Taylor part of journalism’s problem, rather than tension with core First Amendment the columns of The New York Times. For describes “regression toward a phony a solution to perceived problems of bias values. After all, “the First Amendment example, in August 2006, when a federal mean.” and partiality. recognizes no such thing as a ‘false’ idea,” district judge in Detroit declared that the Joan Didion, way back in 1996, But Brent Cunningham, deputy editor the Supreme Court tells us. The familiar Bush administration’s warrantless wire- referred to “fairness” as a “familiar of the Columbia Journalism Review, has image of the marketplace of ideas sug- tapping program was unconstitutional, newsroom piety” and “benign ideal” that observed that despite this discontent and gests ideas competing freely for public Rivkin had this to say in the Times: “It is an appallingly bad opinion, bad from both a philosophical and technical perspective, manifesting strong bias.” 2003 2004 2006 Rivkin was identified as “an official in Doctored Photo Dan Rather’s Bush Papers Sago Mine Disaster Los Angeles Times “60 Minutes II” Associated Press, CNN, various the administrations of President Ronald A front-page photo, which also ran A report about President Bush’s newspapers Reagan and the first President Bush.” in the Chicago Tribune and Hartford service in the Texas Air National The rescue of 13 men trapped There was no indication of what Courant, showing a British soldier Guard was based on documents CBS underground in a West Virginia mine might have given him the “philosophical and Iraqi civilians, was a composite of later said it could not prove were explosion was reported. Yet 12 had perspective” to criticize this court deci- two photos. When the doctoring was revealed, the photographer was fired. authentic. died; only one survived. >>> sion so forcefully, or of what evidence he © J.B. Handelsman/The New Yorker Collection/www.cartoonbank.com.

22 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 23 COVER STORY: TRUTH IN THE AGE OF SOCIAL MEDIA

order to describe adequately and assign operates as “the excuse in practice for self-reflection, “nothing replaced objec- favor, unvetted, unranked and unregu- possessed of “strong bias” on the part of at least 31 times in articles concerning priorities to such factors as motivation, a good deal of autopilot reporting and tivity as journalism’s dominant profes- lated by some superintending power. the judge, Anna Diggs Taylor. the detainees at Guantanamo Bay (12 relationships among actors, or likely lazy thinking.” What it often means, sional norm.” In fact, he notes, “a cottage For another thing, the word “truth” When another judge ruled that some times), detainees at Bagram, executive consequences. she wrote, “is a scrupulous passivity, an industry of bias police has sprung up,” lacks a single definition. To report, prisoners held by the United States at privilege and presidential authority, Paul Taylor, a former political agreement to cover the story not as it is leading to “hypersensitivity among the without elaboration, a politician’s charge the Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan had targeted killing, Iraq, Abu Ghraib, reporter for The Washington Post, had occurring but as it is presented, which is press to charges of bias,” which in turn concerning the “death panels” in the the right to petition for habeas corpus, the performance of Attorney General this to say in his trenchant book, “See to say as it is manufactured.” reinforces the problematic adherence to health care bill is—assuming the politi- Rivkin “warned that the ruling ‘gravely Michael Mukasey, and the Central How They Run: Electing the President In that same year, 1996, the Society of a standard of “objectivity” that “can trip cian is quoted accurately—certainly to undermined’ the country’s ‘ability to Intelligence Agency and its interrogation in an Age of Mediaocracy”: Professional Journalists dropped “objec- us up on the way to ‘truth.’ ” report the truth. Does such a report con- detain enemy combatants for the dura- policies. The descriptions of his role and tivity” from its ethics code, a develop- Truth. How about truth for a goal? vey a more useful or meaningful truth, tion of hostilities worldwide.’ ” This time his implied expertise varied from story Sometimes I worry that my squeamish- ment understood to reflect the fact that “We may not have a journalism of truth the contextual truth of the situation? he was identified as “an associate White to story, but the quote was always to ness about making sharp judgments, there had ceased to be, if there ever was, because we haven’t demanded one,” Obviously not. But just as obviously, it House counsel in the administration the same effect: a strong defense of pro or con, makes me unfit for the a common understanding within the the cultural critic Neal Gabler wrote in would not require a correction. of the first President Bush.” Since that President Bush and his policies. slam-bang world of daily journalism. profession of what objective reporting response to the media’s performance In “The Elements of Journalism,” administration had ended 16 years ear- To the extent that Rivkin has any Other times I conclude that it makes consists of. in covering the health care debate. He Kovach and Rosenstiel make a dis- lier, I wondered what current expertise relevant expertise, the basis for it is me ideally suited for newspapering— tinction between two kinds of truth: Rivkin possessed that led him to make not disclosed on his law firm’s website, certainly for the rigors and conventions correspondence and coherence. “For such a harsh assessment of this new which contains a lengthy biography. of modern ‘objective’ journalism. For I ‘We may not have a journalism of truth because we journalism, these tests roughly trans- decision. A partner in the international law firm can dispose of my dilemmas by writing haven’t demanded one,’ the cultural critic Neal Gabler late into getting the facts straight and A check of the Times database reveals of Baker Hostetler, he is identified as stories straight down the middle. I can making sense of the facts.” They call for that since 2006, Rivkin has been quoted a “member of the firm’s litigation, inter- search for the halfway point between wrote in response to the media’s performance in covering a “journalism of verification” to replace the best and the worst thing that can the health care debate. a “journalism of assertion”: “A more be said about someone (or some policy conscious discipline of verification is the or idea) and write my story in that best antidote to being overrun by a new fair-minded place. By aiming for the A leading commentary on the modern noted that by simply reporting the latest journalism of assertion.” golden mean, I probably land near the practice of journalism, “The Elements guided missile from Sarah Palin or Rush Fairness and objectivity should be best approximation of truth more often of Journalism,” by Bill Kovach and Tom Limbaugh, the media “marshal facts, regarded as tools to that end, they main- than if I were guided by any other set Rosenstiel, omits “fairness” and “objec- but they don’t seek truth. They behave tain, rather than as ends in themselves. of compasses—partisan, ideological, tivity” from its list of the 10 basic ele- as if every argument must be heard and psychological, whatever … Yes, I’m ments of journalism, described as “clear has equal merit, when some are simply THE ‘OTHER SIDE’ seeking truth. But I’m also seeking principles that journalists agree on—and specious.” The following is a case study in what I refuge. I’m taking a pass on the tough- that citizens have a right to expect.” Why Why is it just so difficult to make the regard as the perils of the journalism est calls I face. the omissions? “Familiar and even use- search for truth the highest journalistic of assertion, as practiced by our finest ful” as the idea of fairness and balance value? newspaper. Jay Rosen, a press critic and journal- may be, the authors say, the very concept Well, for one thing, the notion that Over the last few years, the name ism professor at New York University, “has been so mangled” as to have become there exists one Truth exists in some David B. Rivkin started showing up in calls the phenomenon that Taylor part of journalism’s problem, rather than tension with core First Amendment the columns of The New York Times. For describes “regression toward a phony a solution to perceived problems of bias values. After all, “the First Amendment example, in August 2006, when a federal mean.” and partiality. recognizes no such thing as a ‘false’ idea,” district judge in Detroit declared that the Joan Didion, way back in 1996, But Brent Cunningham, deputy editor the Supreme Court tells us. The familiar Bush administration’s warrantless wire- referred to “fairness” as a “familiar of the Columbia Journalism Review, has image of the marketplace of ideas sug- tapping program was unconstitutional, newsroom piety” and “benign ideal” that observed that despite this discontent and gests ideas competing freely for public Rivkin had this to say in the Times: “It is an appallingly bad opinion, bad from both a philosophical and technical perspective, manifesting strong bias.” 2003 2004 2006 Rivkin was identified as “an official in Doctored Photo Dan Rather’s Bush Papers Sago Mine Disaster Los Angeles Times “60 Minutes II” Associated Press, CNN, various the administrations of President Ronald A front-page photo, which also ran A report about President Bush’s newspapers Reagan and the first President Bush.” in the Chicago Tribune and Hartford service in the Texas Air National The rescue of 13 men trapped There was no indication of what Courant, showing a British soldier Guard was based on documents CBS underground in a West Virginia mine might have given him the “philosophical and Iraqi civilians, was a composite of later said it could not prove were explosion was reported. Yet 12 had perspective” to criticize this court deci- two photos. When the doctoring was revealed, the photographer was fired. authentic. died; only one survived. >>> sion so forcefully, or of what evidence he © J.B. Handelsman/The New Yorker Collection/www.cartoonbank.com.

22 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 23 COVER STORY: TRUTH IN THE AGE OF SOCIAL MEDIA

national and environmental groups.” able results.’ ” I give the Post writer credit From another reporter: “I called The entry describes him as having for identifying Rivkin as a lawyer in Rivkin, who has been defending the Bush “in-depth experience with various private practice who simply supports one policies for so long (especially interroga- constitutional issues that are frequently side of the issue. tion) that he knows them as well as the implicated by federal regulatory stat- Rivkin even showed up in a New York human rights folks.” Noting that the utes, including commerce clause-, Times cultural feature about the docu- article contained criticism of the policies, appointments clause-, and due process- mentary “Taxi to the Dark Side,” which the reporter added: “I thought it would be related issues, as well as First and Tenth took a highly critical stance toward the unfair not to make the opposite point.” amendment-related matters.” Bush administration’s interrogation I probably don’t have to tell you what His qualifications for practicing law policies. Rivkin, introduced to readers I think of this kind of “reporting.” I find in these areas are not evident: During as “a lawyer in the administrations of it particularly troubling to use Rivkin to his federal government service in the President Ronald Reagan and the first criticize federal court decisions. When a Reagan and first Bush administrations, President Bush,” becomes the voice of federal district judge issues a decision, he worked on domestic regulatory issues, the “other side” in an account of the there is no “other side” to the story—the with a specialty in oil and natural gas. film and interview with the filmmaker. decision is the decision. The “other side” He worked in the Office of Policy “It’s pretty clear that it’s not policy and is contained in the briefs presenting the Development in the Justice Department it’s pretty clear that these things are argument that the judge rejected. But and worked for Vice President Bush as prosecuted,” Rivkin is quoted as saying. digging up the briefs, reading them, and legal adviser to the counsel to the vice The article goes on: “Mr. Rivkin said the summarizing them takes more work than president, later becoming special assis- military’s performance by historical stan- accepting an ad hominem sound bite tant for domestic policy to Vice President dards has been quite good in the recent from someone willing to answer any call. Dan Quayle and associate general coun- conflicts. ‘In all the good wars,’ he said, I actually don’t mean to be critical sel in the Department of Energy. ‘we have had some pretty bad records.’ ” of Rivkin, a man with whom I have a The more I read, the more mystified How was it that Rivkin had emerged, perfectly pleasant personal relation- Melanie Sloan, who heads a government watchdog group, sees lobbyists using the Web to manipulate public opinion. Photo © Brooks Kraft/Corbis. I became. An article on the prospect Zelig-like, into daily journalism? I ship. As a surrogate, a “go-to proxy,” he that President Obama might transfer asked reporters who had quoted him is simply filling a role assigned to him some Guantanamo detainees to the whether they had called him for a quote by reporters and—let’s assume—editors United States included a warning from or whether he had called them. (I omit who accept unquestionably the notion Rivkin that classified information the names of the reporters because they that every story has another side that it might be made public during trials in did not expect to be identified in an is journalism’s duty to present. But there Be Careful Who You Quote civilian courts—“a danger that David B. article.) is another side to that story, too—one Rivkin, an official in the Reagan Justice “He reached out,” one told me, noting that calls on journalists to do their best Some nonprofits that claim to supply expert opinions Department, calls ‘the conviction price.’ ” that “I’ve known him a long time.” to provide not just the facts, but also— I should note that Rivkin’s useful- Another said he had been referred to always—the truth. are set up by spin doctors to further corporate agendas. ness extends beyond the pages of the Rivkin by a conservative think tank. Times. A Washington Post analysis of the “I called him,” another said. “I have Linda Greenhouse, a former New York release of the so-called torture memos quoted him a few times in the weird role Times reporter who won a Pulitzer Prize included this paragraph: “David B. of surrogate for the Bush administration. for her coverage of the United States A lawyer who once was a federal As her organization keeps an eye succeed in getting biased or false infor- Rivkin Jr., a lawyer at Baker Hostetler … It was to the point that Bush adminis- Supreme Court, is the Knight Distin- prosecutor and counsel to powerful on abuses of power on both sides of the mation—often presented as facts and who supported the detainee policies, says tration officials would suggest him when guished Journalist in Residence and Congressional committees, Melanie Sloan aisle, Sloan has also noticed that lobby- expert advice—published in the media. the memos’ ‘careful and nuanced legal they chose not to speak for themselves Joseph Goldstein Lecturer in Law at now chases legal and ethical wrongdoing ists have gotten more sophisticated in How does this work? analysis’ … produced ‘eminently reason- on Gitmo.” Yale Law School. in Congress. As executive director of the pushing their agendas. Nieman Reports’s Melanie Sloan: Yes, it happens all the nonprofit government watchdog group Stefanie Friedhoff spoke with Sloan time. Every special interest imaginable Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics about how journalists are being deceived, seems to be headquartered in D.C., in Washington (CREW), she frequently how experts with no expertise end up in and some speak louder than others, 2008 Los Angeles Times, and nytimes.com, follows up on in-depth reporting in the news articles, and why “he said, she said” sometimes thanks to their greater Iran’s Missile Test it was revealed that the fourth mis- Various newspapers sile had failed to fire but the photo media. Her team’s investigation of reporting isn’t helping. Edited excerpts of financial backing. The proliferation A photograph circulated by the had been doctored to make it look U.S. Representative Charles Rangel, a the interview follow. of cyber advocacy has shown that while Iranian government purported like it had. Democrat, for example, started with a story it may now be easier to educate the to show four missiles firing. After she read in The New York Times about the Stefanie Friedhoff: CREW has docu- public about important issues, the the photo ran on the front pages number of apartments he was renting potential for abuse is greater than of several papers, including the >>> mented how lobbyists, grassroots organi- in New York at below-market rates. zations, and other special interest groups ever.

24 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 25 COVER STORY: TRUTH IN THE AGE OF SOCIAL MEDIA

national and environmental groups.” able results.’ ” I give the Post writer credit From another reporter: “I called The entry describes him as having for identifying Rivkin as a lawyer in Rivkin, who has been defending the Bush “in-depth experience with various private practice who simply supports one policies for so long (especially interroga- constitutional issues that are frequently side of the issue. tion) that he knows them as well as the implicated by federal regulatory stat- Rivkin even showed up in a New York human rights folks.” Noting that the utes, including commerce clause-, Times cultural feature about the docu- article contained criticism of the policies, appointments clause-, and due process- mentary “Taxi to the Dark Side,” which the reporter added: “I thought it would be related issues, as well as First and Tenth took a highly critical stance toward the unfair not to make the opposite point.” amendment-related matters.” Bush administration’s interrogation I probably don’t have to tell you what His qualifications for practicing law policies. Rivkin, introduced to readers I think of this kind of “reporting.” I find in these areas are not evident: During as “a lawyer in the administrations of it particularly troubling to use Rivkin to his federal government service in the President Ronald Reagan and the first criticize federal court decisions. When a Reagan and first Bush administrations, President Bush,” becomes the voice of federal district judge issues a decision, he worked on domestic regulatory issues, the “other side” in an account of the there is no “other side” to the story—the with a specialty in oil and natural gas. film and interview with the filmmaker. decision is the decision. The “other side” He worked in the Office of Policy “It’s pretty clear that it’s not policy and is contained in the briefs presenting the Development in the Justice Department it’s pretty clear that these things are argument that the judge rejected. But and worked for Vice President Bush as prosecuted,” Rivkin is quoted as saying. digging up the briefs, reading them, and legal adviser to the counsel to the vice The article goes on: “Mr. Rivkin said the summarizing them takes more work than president, later becoming special assis- military’s performance by historical stan- accepting an ad hominem sound bite tant for domestic policy to Vice President dards has been quite good in the recent from someone willing to answer any call. Dan Quayle and associate general coun- conflicts. ‘In all the good wars,’ he said, I actually don’t mean to be critical sel in the Department of Energy. ‘we have had some pretty bad records.’ ” of Rivkin, a man with whom I have a The more I read, the more mystified How was it that Rivkin had emerged, perfectly pleasant personal relation- Melanie Sloan, who heads a government watchdog group, sees lobbyists using the Web to manipulate public opinion. Photo © Brooks Kraft/Corbis. I became. An article on the prospect Zelig-like, into daily journalism? I ship. As a surrogate, a “go-to proxy,” he that President Obama might transfer asked reporters who had quoted him is simply filling a role assigned to him some Guantanamo detainees to the whether they had called him for a quote by reporters and—let’s assume—editors United States included a warning from or whether he had called them. (I omit who accept unquestionably the notion Rivkin that classified information the names of the reporters because they that every story has another side that it might be made public during trials in did not expect to be identified in an is journalism’s duty to present. But there Be Careful Who You Quote civilian courts—“a danger that David B. article.) is another side to that story, too—one Rivkin, an official in the Reagan Justice “He reached out,” one told me, noting that calls on journalists to do their best Some nonprofits that claim to supply expert opinions Department, calls ‘the conviction price.’ ” that “I’ve known him a long time.” to provide not just the facts, but also— I should note that Rivkin’s useful- Another said he had been referred to always—the truth. are set up by spin doctors to further corporate agendas. ness extends beyond the pages of the Rivkin by a conservative think tank. Times. A Washington Post analysis of the “I called him,” another said. “I have Linda Greenhouse, a former New York release of the so-called torture memos quoted him a few times in the weird role Times reporter who won a Pulitzer Prize included this paragraph: “David B. of surrogate for the Bush administration. for her coverage of the United States A lawyer who once was a federal As her organization keeps an eye succeed in getting biased or false infor- Rivkin Jr., a lawyer at Baker Hostetler … It was to the point that Bush adminis- Supreme Court, is the Knight Distin- prosecutor and counsel to powerful on abuses of power on both sides of the mation—often presented as facts and who supported the detainee policies, says tration officials would suggest him when guished Journalist in Residence and Congressional committees, Melanie Sloan aisle, Sloan has also noticed that lobby- expert advice—published in the media. the memos’ ‘careful and nuanced legal they chose not to speak for themselves Joseph Goldstein Lecturer in Law at now chases legal and ethical wrongdoing ists have gotten more sophisticated in How does this work? analysis’ … produced ‘eminently reason- on Gitmo.” Yale Law School. in Congress. As executive director of the pushing their agendas. Nieman Reports’s Melanie Sloan: Yes, it happens all the nonprofit government watchdog group Stefanie Friedhoff spoke with Sloan time. Every special interest imaginable Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics about how journalists are being deceived, seems to be headquartered in D.C., in Washington (CREW), she frequently how experts with no expertise end up in and some speak louder than others, 2008 Los Angeles Times, and nytimes.com, follows up on in-depth reporting in the news articles, and why “he said, she said” sometimes thanks to their greater Iran’s Missile Test it was revealed that the fourth mis- Various newspapers sile had failed to fire but the photo media. Her team’s investigation of reporting isn’t helping. Edited excerpts of financial backing. The proliferation A photograph circulated by the had been doctored to make it look U.S. Representative Charles Rangel, a the interview follow. of cyber advocacy has shown that while Iranian government purported like it had. Democrat, for example, started with a story it may now be easier to educate the to show four missiles firing. After she read in The New York Times about the Stefanie Friedhoff: CREW has docu- public about important issues, the the photo ran on the front pages number of apartments he was renting potential for abuse is greater than of several papers, including the >>> mented how lobbyists, grassroots organi- in New York at below-market rates. zations, and other special interest groups ever.

24 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 25 COVER STORY: TRUTH IN THE AGE OF SOCIAL MEDIA

Can you give us a few examples? minions push their corporate sponsors’ are both equivalent when usually one all equal even though they don’t check Richard Berman stands out as the views in the media and are regularly cited is lying or misstating as much as pos- sources and they’ll post almost every- unrivaled king of manipulation. You in news articles as “experts” on subjects sible—or maybe they both are—but quite thing. You really saw that at work in a may not have heard of Berman, but ranging from labor law to drunken frequently it sounds as though they are terrible way in the ‘Nikki Haley about to you have undoubtedly—and possibly driving to childhood obesity. Their real, just two equally valid opinions. Some- be indicted’ case. How unfair to that poor unknowingly—seen his work. He runs the well-financed agenda is hidden from times there isn’t another side, like there woman. Pretty soon everybody reported for-profit public relations firm Berman unsuspecting readers. actually is not another side to climate it [a rumor that originated on a little- and Company. His particular gimmick Grover Norquist is another example. change. You can discuss degrees, but the known blog and went viral on Twitter], is to start up so-called nonprofit orga- He is the head of Americans for Tax concept that you can have an article that even though there was no evidence what- nizations—which receive favorable tax Reform, often paid for his opinion—and says “there is climate change, there is not soever. This was not a one-time thing. treatment by the IRS—financed by corpo- happy to give it. PR executives just know climate change” is ridiculous. Also, so much of our Internet culture rations with specific agendas, but which that PR folks aren’t as helpful to their now is that drive for more content. If I don’t want their fingerprints on the mes- issues as having nonprofit organizations. With respect to climate change, though, went through The Daily Caller, The Daily sage. Berman names himself executive this is changing, isn’t it? Over the past Beast, Talking Points Memo, and all the director of each organization and then Why aren’t journalists catching such decade, it has become the most fre- other blogs, my day would be gone. Who contracts with Berman and Company to deceptions? quently cited example of the shortcom- can do that? So people are just picking handle the organization’s activities. On the surface, these people look like ings of “he said, she said” reporting. the sources they really like. It’s giving By CREW’s count, he has created legitimate experts. And I think many Yes, but interestingly, we still have it. We you only the content that you’re likely to are still having Senator Jim Inhofe tell already agree with. you there is no climate change and the I now educate new reporters all the time. The amount Heartland Institute is still funding all Do nonprofit watchdogs have an impact? these people to say the same thing. And I think so, yes. More nonprofit groups they don’t know is stunning—and it’s not their fault. They they are being quoted in the media. There like the Center for Public Integrity, are smart, but there’s no experience. is a new book out [“Private Empire: ProPublica or the Schuster Institute for ExxonMobil and American Power” by Investigative Journalism are picking up Steve Coll] that details how ExxonMobil CREW’s Melanie Sloan in April at the signing of a bill to clamp down on insider stock trading by the role of investigative reporting. And more than 25 such groups and websites, journalists don’t necessarily look at the has funded huge numbers of think tanks federal lawmakers. Photo by Carolyn Kaster/The Associated Press. you’re seeing good reporting in that they all of which are “staffed” by those who motivations of their sources. It’s obvious who will then put out experts’ reports don’t have as much pressure to get out work for his PR firm, with each employee when you’re talking to a political cam- saying there is no climate change. You sidebars, whereas a whole lot of people the time to think through those stories. a story a day. Although another pres- holding any number of different posi- paign, but other than that I don’t think can see the same techniques used with see the ads in the first place. And it is Reporters are often changing every year sure they have is not insignificant either tions. One Berman and Company staffer, reporters look closely enough. You have subjects like childhood obesity, where so- not like every news article includes that. or two now and it is very easy to spin a because they have donors who want to for example, at one point served as the to check the background. What can you called experts funded by the soda indus- Most of the new fact checking is really reporter who doesn’t know what they are see that they’re making a difference. As chief administrative officer of Berman find that legitimates their expertise? try and the junk food industry say there limited to what political campaigns say. talking about. You just can’t dip your toe a donor-supported organization, [we and Company, senior economic analyst I think the culture of reporting two is no problem with childhood obesity in into something like taxes or campaign know] they want to see that you’ve done and senior research analyst with the sides to every issue is also part of the America. Again, you can differ on your Have you had conversations about this finance. I now educate new reporters all something all the time, and so you’re Employment Policies Institute, govern- problem. solutions but the problem is pretty clear. with journalists? the time. The amount they don’t know is constantly proving your worth. ment affairs director at the Center for That’s tricky because then you are stunning—and it’s not their fault. They Consumer Freedom, and director of state You mean the “he said, she said” style of Political fact checking has been on the attacking reporters’ abilities and meth- are smart, but there is no experience. So You’re an expert. How do you decide affairs, spokesperson and lobbyist for the reporting? rise in recent years, online and in print. Is ods. I also think a lot of journalists these there is no long-term memory to under- when to talk to a reporter and when to American Beverage Institute, among oth- Yes. Frequently, an article will report this that making a difference? days have so much pressure on them to stand that there’s a context to what’s decline? ers. Through these alleged public inter- person said X and this person said Y, as I think that’s helpful, but I don’t know produce quickly and to produce for the happening. I get asked questions all the time, and est groups, Berman and his if, therefore, they how many people read those little blog every day on top of the newspaper One place where you actually see a I will frequently say I’m not really the stories, and with fewer colleagues difference is Supreme Court reporting. best person for that. But then I will because papers are downsizing so much, Those journalists do it for a really long sometimes read in the paper somebody they just don’t have the time to check. time, they are careful, and they give you else’s quote on that subject, and I think, 2011 SOURCES: “Getting It Wrong” by W. Joseph CREDITS: p. 6, Wikimedia Commons; p. 8, They don’t have the resources. a perspective of what really happened. ‘‘Wow, that’s really not who I would have Gabrielle Giffords Killed Campbell; “Covering America” by Christopher Baltimoresun.com; p. 10, Library of Congress; thought of as an expert on that either.” NPR, others Daly; “Poisoning the Press” by Mark Feldstein; p. 14, Harvard College Library; p. 16, Los You sound concerned about current Are political bloggers filling some of the When you are in Washington, part of Based on information from the that the Arizona congresswoman “Journalism’s Roving Eye” by John Maxwell Angeles Police Department/AP; p. 18, Charles changes in journalism. void? game is to be in the media a lot because offices of a sheriff and a congress- had died. In fact, she survived the Hamilton; “Deadline Every Minute” by Joe Alex Bennett/AP; p. 20, Jacqueline Larma/AP; p. 24: Yes. There is this concept of “win the I don’t know. I don’t think the blogo- you want to be the expert that people go man, NPR reported on air and online shooting in which six others died. Morris, Jr.; “Regret the Error” by Craig Silverman. Sepahnews.com/AP. day” in Washington; the news cycle is sphere is necessarily doing us great to. But people should say “No” when they so short that it doesn’t give journalists favors in news right now. It’s like they’re really don’t know the subject matter.

26 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 27 COVER STORY: TRUTH IN THE AGE OF SOCIAL MEDIA

Can you give us a few examples? minions push their corporate sponsors’ are both equivalent when usually one all equal even though they don’t check Richard Berman stands out as the views in the media and are regularly cited is lying or misstating as much as pos- sources and they’ll post almost every- unrivaled king of manipulation. You in news articles as “experts” on subjects sible—or maybe they both are—but quite thing. You really saw that at work in a may not have heard of Berman, but ranging from labor law to drunken frequently it sounds as though they are terrible way in the ‘Nikki Haley about to you have undoubtedly—and possibly driving to childhood obesity. Their real, just two equally valid opinions. Some- be indicted’ case. How unfair to that poor unknowingly—seen his work. He runs the well-financed agenda is hidden from times there isn’t another side, like there woman. Pretty soon everybody reported for-profit public relations firm Berman unsuspecting readers. actually is not another side to climate it [a rumor that originated on a little- and Company. His particular gimmick Grover Norquist is another example. change. You can discuss degrees, but the known blog and went viral on Twitter], is to start up so-called nonprofit orga- He is the head of Americans for Tax concept that you can have an article that even though there was no evidence what- nizations—which receive favorable tax Reform, often paid for his opinion—and says “there is climate change, there is not soever. This was not a one-time thing. treatment by the IRS—financed by corpo- happy to give it. PR executives just know climate change” is ridiculous. Also, so much of our Internet culture rations with specific agendas, but which that PR folks aren’t as helpful to their now is that drive for more content. If I don’t want their fingerprints on the mes- issues as having nonprofit organizations. With respect to climate change, though, went through The Daily Caller, The Daily sage. Berman names himself executive this is changing, isn’t it? Over the past Beast, Talking Points Memo, and all the director of each organization and then Why aren’t journalists catching such decade, it has become the most fre- other blogs, my day would be gone. Who contracts with Berman and Company to deceptions? quently cited example of the shortcom- can do that? So people are just picking handle the organization’s activities. On the surface, these people look like ings of “he said, she said” reporting. the sources they really like. It’s giving By CREW’s count, he has created legitimate experts. And I think many Yes, but interestingly, we still have it. We you only the content that you’re likely to are still having Senator Jim Inhofe tell already agree with. you there is no climate change and the I now educate new reporters all the time. The amount Heartland Institute is still funding all Do nonprofit watchdogs have an impact? these people to say the same thing. And I think so, yes. More nonprofit groups they don’t know is stunning—and it’s not their fault. They they are being quoted in the media. There like the Center for Public Integrity, are smart, but there’s no experience. is a new book out [“Private Empire: ProPublica or the Schuster Institute for ExxonMobil and American Power” by Investigative Journalism are picking up Steve Coll] that details how ExxonMobil CREW’s Melanie Sloan in April at the signing of a bill to clamp down on insider stock trading by the role of investigative reporting. And more than 25 such groups and websites, journalists don’t necessarily look at the has funded huge numbers of think tanks federal lawmakers. Photo by Carolyn Kaster/The Associated Press. you’re seeing good reporting in that they all of which are “staffed” by those who motivations of their sources. It’s obvious who will then put out experts’ reports don’t have as much pressure to get out work for his PR firm, with each employee when you’re talking to a political cam- saying there is no climate change. You sidebars, whereas a whole lot of people the time to think through those stories. a story a day. Although another pres- holding any number of different posi- paign, but other than that I don’t think can see the same techniques used with see the ads in the first place. And it is Reporters are often changing every year sure they have is not insignificant either tions. One Berman and Company staffer, reporters look closely enough. You have subjects like childhood obesity, where so- not like every news article includes that. or two now and it is very easy to spin a because they have donors who want to for example, at one point served as the to check the background. What can you called experts funded by the soda indus- Most of the new fact checking is really reporter who doesn’t know what they are see that they’re making a difference. As chief administrative officer of Berman find that legitimates their expertise? try and the junk food industry say there limited to what political campaigns say. talking about. You just can’t dip your toe a donor-supported organization, [we and Company, senior economic analyst I think the culture of reporting two is no problem with childhood obesity in into something like taxes or campaign know] they want to see that you’ve done and senior research analyst with the sides to every issue is also part of the America. Again, you can differ on your Have you had conversations about this finance. I now educate new reporters all something all the time, and so you’re Employment Policies Institute, govern- problem. solutions but the problem is pretty clear. with journalists? the time. The amount they don’t know is constantly proving your worth. ment affairs director at the Center for That’s tricky because then you are stunning—and it’s not their fault. They Consumer Freedom, and director of state You mean the “he said, she said” style of Political fact checking has been on the attacking reporters’ abilities and meth- are smart, but there is no experience. So You’re an expert. How do you decide affairs, spokesperson and lobbyist for the reporting? rise in recent years, online and in print. Is ods. I also think a lot of journalists these there is no long-term memory to under- when to talk to a reporter and when to American Beverage Institute, among oth- Yes. Frequently, an article will report this that making a difference? days have so much pressure on them to stand that there’s a context to what’s decline? ers. Through these alleged public inter- person said X and this person said Y, as I think that’s helpful, but I don’t know produce quickly and to produce for the happening. I get asked questions all the time, and est groups, Berman and his if, therefore, they how many people read those little blog every day on top of the newspaper One place where you actually see a I will frequently say I’m not really the stories, and with fewer colleagues difference is Supreme Court reporting. best person for that. But then I will because papers are downsizing so much, Those journalists do it for a really long sometimes read in the paper somebody they just don’t have the time to check. time, they are careful, and they give you else’s quote on that subject, and I think, 2011 SOURCES: “Getting It Wrong” by W. Joseph CREDITS: p. 6, Wikimedia Commons; p. 8, They don’t have the resources. a perspective of what really happened. ‘‘Wow, that’s really not who I would have Gabrielle Giffords Killed Campbell; “Covering America” by Christopher Baltimoresun.com; p. 10, Library of Congress; thought of as an expert on that either.” NPR, others Daly; “Poisoning the Press” by Mark Feldstein; p. 14, Harvard College Library; p. 16, Los You sound concerned about current Are political bloggers filling some of the When you are in Washington, part of Based on information from the that the Arizona congresswoman “Journalism’s Roving Eye” by John Maxwell Angeles Police Department/AP; p. 18, Charles changes in journalism. void? game is to be in the media a lot because offices of a sheriff and a congress- had died. In fact, she survived the Hamilton; “Deadline Every Minute” by Joe Alex Bennett/AP; p. 20, Jacqueline Larma/AP; p. 24: Yes. There is this concept of “win the I don’t know. I don’t think the blogo- you want to be the expert that people go man, NPR reported on air and online shooting in which six others died. Morris, Jr.; “Regret the Error” by Craig Silverman. Sepahnews.com/AP. day” in Washington; the news cycle is sphere is necessarily doing us great to. But people should say “No” when they so short that it doesn’t give journalists favors in news right now. It’s like they’re really don’t know the subject matter.

26 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 27 COVER STORY: TRUTH IN THE AGE OF SOCIAL MEDIA

and photos were aggregated to the paper’s What can we learn from traditional newsrooms that have transitioned well to covering website and Facebook page so people breaking news on multiple platforms in real time? What happens to accuracy and could see a continuous stream of informa- tion in the minutes immediately after the verification in the process? Nieman Reports asked editors at two papers recognized storm hit. Within the first 24 hours, we also created a Google Docs spreadsheet by the Pulitzer Prize Board to share their experiences. on the website to allow readers to post their own information, whether they were seeking missing loved ones or hoping to reassure their families that they were safe. Such immediate information was also a service the public needed. People knew where the destruction was, what streets to avoid, and where to go for help. National Guard officials told editors afterward that they relied initially on the Twitter feed Taking on the Rumor Mill on The Tuscaloosa News website to show them where to deploy first responders. In the wake of a tornado, The Tuscaloosa (Ala.) THE DEBUNKING BLOG News moved swiftly to sort fact from fiction. But while reporting the basics of a disaster—the number of dead, the streets that were impassable, available emer- BY KATHERINE K. LEE gency services—is an easy task for skilled reporters, one issue cropped up that we could not immediately get a handle on: rumors. People seem to find it easier to Bodies in the lake. Bodies on top of one session, led by our own online unable to connect calls and electricity believe rumors that they wish were true the mall. Bodies hidden by city officials staff, on the basics of using Twitter and down all over the city, including in the or that seem to fulfill a desire to hear the in a locker somewhere outside of town. Facebook to disseminate information. newsroom, the public had few ways of worst. That might explain why people None of those rumors, which emerged While our sports reporters were already getting accurate information except continued to insist, days after the storm, in the wake of the April 27, 2011 tornado proficient with Twitter, using it to update through smartphones. that the city was hiding hundreds of bod- that hit Tuscaloosa, Alabama, killing 53 fans in real time on everything from We discovered that a disaster is ies in a secret cooler even though the list people, turned out to be true. But that game scores to player comments, only a ready-made for social media tools, of missing grew smaller each day, and, as didn’t stop them from spreading and, in handful of news reporters had Facebook which provide the immediacy needed for the police chief repeatedly said, the city some cases, being picked up and per- pages or Twitter accounts. Several flat- reporting breaking news. Our reporters had no reason to hide the dead. petuated by other media outlets. out refused to use the new technologies, and photographers were on the street To that end, News editors created a During times of crisis, news orga- maintaining that the loss of privacy was within minutes of the storm, tweeting blog to probe some of the more persis- nizations often find themselves up not worth the effort. and posting photos of the devastation. tent rumors, tracking where they might against a wall, balancing the demands But while most of us understood The simple eloquence of a photo or a have originated and talking with officials of speed with a commitment to truth. the usefulness of social media in the two-sentence tweet cannot be discounted: to get the facts. The format fit the nature That balancing act has never been more abstract, those methods were not seam- One reporter whose apartment was of the story well. Tracking the rumors, important—or more difficult—than now, lessly integrated into the newsroom’s destroyed tweeted that fact, as well as a with their ever-changing details, in print when the competition of 24-hour news operations and were used only spo- photo of firefighters digging a girl out of would have been slow and awkward, and channels and the instantaneous nature radically, usually during breaking news the rubble of what used to be his home. the blog allowed us to update quickly. of social media tools like Twitter and events or to find sources for stories. That stark detail brought home to read- We also had the freedom to adopt a more Facebook make newsgathering harder ers—and to others in the newsroom—just casual tone to dispel some of the more to do thoroughly and accurately. EMERGENCY DRILL how much the disaster had affected us all. ridiculous rumors, which made for more Before the tornado, The Tuscaloosa Two weeks after we held our first social It was obvious that we were one of the entertaining reading. News had been like many other small- media session, the tornado hit. It was a few available media outlets that was both The blog format also gave readers a to medium-sized newspapers in its use true test of how well we absorbed that on the ground and could accurately fill space to weigh in with their own evidence, After a deadly tornado, The Tuscaloosa (Ala.) News found that Twitter and other social media of social media. We had held at least recent information. With cell phones the information hole. Reporters’ tweets which proved very useful. One of the more provided the immediacy needed for reporting breaking news and dispelling rumors.

28 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 29 COVER STORY: TRUTH IN THE AGE OF SOCIAL MEDIA

and photos were aggregated to the paper’s What can we learn from traditional newsrooms that have transitioned well to covering website and Facebook page so people breaking news on multiple platforms in real time? What happens to accuracy and could see a continuous stream of informa- tion in the minutes immediately after the verification in the process? Nieman Reports asked editors at two papers recognized storm hit. Within the first 24 hours, we also created a Google Docs spreadsheet by the Pulitzer Prize Board to share their experiences. on the website to allow readers to post their own information, whether they were seeking missing loved ones or hoping to reassure their families that they were safe. Such immediate information was also a service the public needed. People knew where the destruction was, what streets to avoid, and where to go for help. National Guard officials told editors afterward that they relied initially on the Twitter feed Taking on the Rumor Mill on The Tuscaloosa News website to show them where to deploy first responders. In the wake of a tornado, The Tuscaloosa (Ala.) THE DEBUNKING BLOG News moved swiftly to sort fact from fiction. But while reporting the basics of a disaster—the number of dead, the streets that were impassable, available emer- BY KATHERINE K. LEE gency services—is an easy task for skilled reporters, one issue cropped up that we could not immediately get a handle on: rumors. People seem to find it easier to Bodies in the lake. Bodies on top of one session, led by our own online unable to connect calls and electricity believe rumors that they wish were true the mall. Bodies hidden by city officials staff, on the basics of using Twitter and down all over the city, including in the or that seem to fulfill a desire to hear the in a locker somewhere outside of town. Facebook to disseminate information. newsroom, the public had few ways of worst. That might explain why people None of those rumors, which emerged While our sports reporters were already getting accurate information except continued to insist, days after the storm, in the wake of the April 27, 2011 tornado proficient with Twitter, using it to update through smartphones. that the city was hiding hundreds of bod- that hit Tuscaloosa, Alabama, killing 53 fans in real time on everything from We discovered that a disaster is ies in a secret cooler even though the list people, turned out to be true. But that game scores to player comments, only a ready-made for social media tools, of missing grew smaller each day, and, as didn’t stop them from spreading and, in handful of news reporters had Facebook which provide the immediacy needed for the police chief repeatedly said, the city some cases, being picked up and per- pages or Twitter accounts. Several flat- reporting breaking news. Our reporters had no reason to hide the dead. petuated by other media outlets. out refused to use the new technologies, and photographers were on the street To that end, News editors created a During times of crisis, news orga- maintaining that the loss of privacy was within minutes of the storm, tweeting blog to probe some of the more persis- nizations often find themselves up not worth the effort. and posting photos of the devastation. tent rumors, tracking where they might against a wall, balancing the demands But while most of us understood The simple eloquence of a photo or a have originated and talking with officials of speed with a commitment to truth. the usefulness of social media in the two-sentence tweet cannot be discounted: to get the facts. The format fit the nature That balancing act has never been more abstract, those methods were not seam- One reporter whose apartment was of the story well. Tracking the rumors, important—or more difficult—than now, lessly integrated into the newsroom’s destroyed tweeted that fact, as well as a with their ever-changing details, in print when the competition of 24-hour news operations and were used only spo- photo of firefighters digging a girl out of would have been slow and awkward, and channels and the instantaneous nature radically, usually during breaking news the rubble of what used to be his home. the blog allowed us to update quickly. of social media tools like Twitter and events or to find sources for stories. That stark detail brought home to read- We also had the freedom to adopt a more Facebook make newsgathering harder ers—and to others in the newsroom—just casual tone to dispel some of the more to do thoroughly and accurately. EMERGENCY DRILL how much the disaster had affected us all. ridiculous rumors, which made for more Before the tornado, The Tuscaloosa Two weeks after we held our first social It was obvious that we were one of the entertaining reading. News had been like many other small- media session, the tornado hit. It was a few available media outlets that was both The blog format also gave readers a to medium-sized newspapers in its use true test of how well we absorbed that on the ground and could accurately fill space to weigh in with their own evidence, After a deadly tornado, The Tuscaloosa (Ala.) News found that Twitter and other social media of social media. We had held at least recent information. With cell phones the information hole. Reporters’ tweets which proved very useful. One of the more provided the immediacy needed for reporting breaking news and dispelling rumors.

28 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 29 COVER STORY: TRUTH IN THE AGE OF SOCIAL MEDIA

persistent rumors claimed that several throw more bodies at the story. With I began reacting to the merest develop- down legislators and their attorneys, children died while attending a party so much news breaking, just posting ment like a jumpy day trader, sending they continued tweeting and phoning in at a local Chuck E. Cheese’s that was updates to the paper’s website suddenly Spicuzza and fellow reporter Clay updates to a story developing online. The destroyed. A manager at that restau- felt inadequate. We needed to meet read- Barbour down endless rabbit holes to story went viral. Within an hour, Spicuzza rant was able to debunk the rumor by ers where they were experiencing the check out every rumor: No, police were could see people running toward the posting on the blog that she herself had story: on their cell phones, on Facebook, not massing in riot gear on the edge of Capitol, and the rotunda once again began closed it hours before the storm. and especially on Twitter. Several of the city. No, the administration was not filling with singing, chanting protesters. In the year since the tornado, us already had Twitter and Facebook sealing the windows of the Capitol shut. After a brief and emotionally charged News staffers have learned how to accounts, but these were mostly orna- Over time, we got better at sifting out meeting, the committee chairman more actively incorporate Twitter and ments. The events of February and the chatter. We also knew we couldn’t hammered the bill through. Half an hour Facebook into their jobs. Reporters March 2011 forced us to integrate social risk the newspaper’s credibility by later, the bill passed the Senate; in the now tweet from meetings at City Hall media into everything we do. tweeting unverified information. What morning it would pass the Assembly. The with periodic updates on council We acted in part out of self-preser- emerged was a common-sense policy trick, it turned out, had been to remove members’ votes. They link to stories vation. If the Internet is the equivalent akin to the paper’s ban on writing off fiscal elements from the bill so that the on Facebook to solicit feedback from of giving every citizen a printing press, the police scanner: Don’t forward tweets quorum required was smaller and it could readers. Twitter is like giving every person his or from unknown or unreliable sources. be passed without the Democrats. Several times each day, we post her own talk radio show: loud and highly Don’t retweet claims that haven’t been Another spasm of stories followed, Demonstrators inside the Capitol in Madison, Wisconsin, cheer in February 2011 as the deadline advance versions of stories on the charged interpretations of the news, independently verified. Stick to the facts. and the events of that winter rever- drew near to vacate the premises or face arrest. Photo by Craig Schreiner/Wisconsin State Journal. website, which allows us to take a broadcast to hundreds or thousands Of course, those outside the paper berated over the next year as recall more analytical, second-day approach of followers. As Madison burned, the weren’t bound by any such constraints. campaigns were launched against the with the versions of those stories for cacophony of voices was deafening. The With anger on both sides at a fever pitch, governor and other elected officials. the print edition the next day. Our paper risked being crowded out, the hard the media could not escape becoming Not everything we tried worked. public safety reporter maintains a work of its independent and well-sourced part of the story. There were daily Twitter Sometimes we tweeted important crime blog that she updates several reporters eclipsed by partisans. and Facebook campaigns taking issue developments but neglected to reprise times a day with reports of criminal The Story That We began by capturing an audience with our coverage; knowing, conspirato- those in print, forgetting that the two activity. It has become one of the of our own. Equipped with smartphones, rial treatises that only someone ignorant platforms served largely different audi- most widely read features on our our Capitol reporters tweeted updates of the much more banal inner workings of ences. I wish that some days we had held website. several times a day, often breaking news a newspaper could conjure. Responding back more reporters to develop meatier Incorporating social media and Rocked the Clock on Twitter even before informing their to those charges was tempting but often enterprise stories (we carved out time for new technology continues to be a editors. When the protests started, created more trouble than it was worth. several of these, but not enough). learning process for a news organiza- ‘With so much news breaking, just posting updates reporter Mary Spicuzza had perhaps 500 And we continue to struggle with tion that still relies heavily on print to followers on Twitter. Today, some 3,600 GOING VIRAL the balance between immediacy and convey information. Like most other to the paper’s website suddenly felt inadequate. people hang on her every tweet. By early March, everyone was exhausted, credibility. Like newsrooms across media outlets, we are still having We needed to meet readers where they were …’ Others needed to be brought up to beat up, and badly nourished. The stale- America, the State Journal has had to conversations about how best to use speed in a hurry. We improvised, provid- mate in the Senate at least allowed us to make considerable cutbacks in staff in these tools to enhance our newsgath- ing some reporters with iPod touches catch our breath. “Normalcy is return- recent years. At the same time, we’ve ering and how to handle the unique BY PHIL BRINKMAN and mobile hotspots, and setting them ing,” read one headline on March 8. severely flattened the time reporters challenges that almost-instantaneous up with Twitter accounts before sending At 4 p.m. the next day, the Senate have to formulate questions, evaluate the dispersal of news can pose. them out the door. By the first weekend came back in a surprise session. Spicuzza answers, and present information in a But newsroom resistance to using of protests, we had nine reporters in the learned that a conference committee had comprehensible way. Our challenge is to these tools has largely died down, now After a string of breaking news Wisconsin State Journal strained to cover field, all of them tweeting and contribut- been hastily called for that day to approve keep these new tools from hijacking our that we have been confronted with that stretched over weeks, an uneasy every development that ensued: The Sen- ing to a live blog, which drew 24,000 the collective bargaining bill and send main purpose, which remains the time- stark evidence of how useful they can calm had finally settled over Madison, ate’s minority Democrats fled to Illinois to readers over two days. (By comparison, it back to both houses for a final up-or- consuming work of cultivating sources, be to the newsgathering process and Wisconsin, by early March 2011. deny the Republicans a quorum. Schools the State Journal’s circulation is around down vote. She immediately tweeted that, digging through records, analyzing data, to readers who are increasingly ingest- A month earlier Governor Scott closed when thousands of teachers joined 83,000 daily and 118,000 Sunday.) but none of us knew what it meant. The and holding public officials accountable. ing news in untraditional ways. Walker had dropped “the bomb,” as he the protests. Demonstrators occupied the As a source of tips, Twitter was indis- bill hadn’t passed the Senate due to the would later call his controversial deci- state’s ornate Capitol building 24 hours a pensable, opening up listening posts Democrats’ boycott. How could it sud- Phil Brinkman is the city editor of Katherine K. Lee is city editor of sion to effectively wipe out collective day, turning it into a protest village. across the state and across the political denly show up in a conference commit- the Wisconsin State Journal, which The Tuscaloosa (Ala.) News. The bargaining for public employees. Tens Each day brought a number of spectrum that could quickly influence tee, which typically irons out differences was a 2012 Pulitzer finalist for its paper won a 2012 Pulitzer Prize for of thousands of protesters swamped the developments that taxed the newspaper’s coverage plans for the day. Of course, the between competing versions of legislation breaking news coverage of 27 days of Breaking News Reporting for its cov- state Capitol, and the reporters, photog- two Statehouse reporters and forced us downside of so much feedback is that it passed by both houses? around-the-clock protests at the state erage of the tornado on April 27, 2011. raphers and editors at the Madison-based to abandon beat coverage elsewhere to can quickly become overwhelming. While Spicuzza and Barbour chased Capitol in Madison.

30 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 31 COVER STORY: TRUTH IN THE AGE OF SOCIAL MEDIA

persistent rumors claimed that several throw more bodies at the story. With I began reacting to the merest develop- down legislators and their attorneys, children died while attending a party so much news breaking, just posting ment like a jumpy day trader, sending they continued tweeting and phoning in at a local Chuck E. Cheese’s that was updates to the paper’s website suddenly Spicuzza and fellow reporter Clay updates to a story developing online. The destroyed. A manager at that restau- felt inadequate. We needed to meet read- Barbour down endless rabbit holes to story went viral. Within an hour, Spicuzza rant was able to debunk the rumor by ers where they were experiencing the check out every rumor: No, police were could see people running toward the posting on the blog that she herself had story: on their cell phones, on Facebook, not massing in riot gear on the edge of Capitol, and the rotunda once again began closed it hours before the storm. and especially on Twitter. Several of the city. No, the administration was not filling with singing, chanting protesters. In the year since the tornado, us already had Twitter and Facebook sealing the windows of the Capitol shut. After a brief and emotionally charged News staffers have learned how to accounts, but these were mostly orna- Over time, we got better at sifting out meeting, the committee chairman more actively incorporate Twitter and ments. The events of February and the chatter. We also knew we couldn’t hammered the bill through. Half an hour Facebook into their jobs. Reporters March 2011 forced us to integrate social risk the newspaper’s credibility by later, the bill passed the Senate; in the now tweet from meetings at City Hall media into everything we do. tweeting unverified information. What morning it would pass the Assembly. The with periodic updates on council We acted in part out of self-preser- emerged was a common-sense policy trick, it turned out, had been to remove members’ votes. They link to stories vation. If the Internet is the equivalent akin to the paper’s ban on writing off fiscal elements from the bill so that the on Facebook to solicit feedback from of giving every citizen a printing press, the police scanner: Don’t forward tweets quorum required was smaller and it could readers. Twitter is like giving every person his or from unknown or unreliable sources. be passed without the Democrats. Several times each day, we post her own talk radio show: loud and highly Don’t retweet claims that haven’t been Another spasm of stories followed, Demonstrators inside the Capitol in Madison, Wisconsin, cheer in February 2011 as the deadline advance versions of stories on the charged interpretations of the news, independently verified. Stick to the facts. and the events of that winter rever- drew near to vacate the premises or face arrest. Photo by Craig Schreiner/Wisconsin State Journal. website, which allows us to take a broadcast to hundreds or thousands Of course, those outside the paper berated over the next year as recall more analytical, second-day approach of followers. As Madison burned, the weren’t bound by any such constraints. campaigns were launched against the with the versions of those stories for cacophony of voices was deafening. The With anger on both sides at a fever pitch, governor and other elected officials. the print edition the next day. Our paper risked being crowded out, the hard the media could not escape becoming Not everything we tried worked. public safety reporter maintains a work of its independent and well-sourced part of the story. There were daily Twitter Sometimes we tweeted important crime blog that she updates several reporters eclipsed by partisans. and Facebook campaigns taking issue developments but neglected to reprise times a day with reports of criminal The Story That We began by capturing an audience with our coverage; knowing, conspirato- those in print, forgetting that the two activity. It has become one of the of our own. Equipped with smartphones, rial treatises that only someone ignorant platforms served largely different audi- most widely read features on our our Capitol reporters tweeted updates of the much more banal inner workings of ences. I wish that some days we had held website. several times a day, often breaking news a newspaper could conjure. Responding back more reporters to develop meatier Incorporating social media and Rocked the Clock on Twitter even before informing their to those charges was tempting but often enterprise stories (we carved out time for new technology continues to be a editors. When the protests started, created more trouble than it was worth. several of these, but not enough). learning process for a news organiza- ‘With so much news breaking, just posting updates reporter Mary Spicuzza had perhaps 500 And we continue to struggle with tion that still relies heavily on print to followers on Twitter. Today, some 3,600 GOING VIRAL the balance between immediacy and convey information. Like most other to the paper’s website suddenly felt inadequate. people hang on her every tweet. By early March, everyone was exhausted, credibility. Like newsrooms across media outlets, we are still having We needed to meet readers where they were …’ Others needed to be brought up to beat up, and badly nourished. The stale- America, the State Journal has had to conversations about how best to use speed in a hurry. We improvised, provid- mate in the Senate at least allowed us to make considerable cutbacks in staff in these tools to enhance our newsgath- ing some reporters with iPod touches catch our breath. “Normalcy is return- recent years. At the same time, we’ve ering and how to handle the unique BY PHIL BRINKMAN and mobile hotspots, and setting them ing,” read one headline on March 8. severely flattened the time reporters challenges that almost-instantaneous up with Twitter accounts before sending At 4 p.m. the next day, the Senate have to formulate questions, evaluate the dispersal of news can pose. them out the door. By the first weekend came back in a surprise session. Spicuzza answers, and present information in a But newsroom resistance to using of protests, we had nine reporters in the learned that a conference committee had comprehensible way. Our challenge is to these tools has largely died down, now After a string of breaking news Wisconsin State Journal strained to cover field, all of them tweeting and contribut- been hastily called for that day to approve keep these new tools from hijacking our that we have been confronted with that stretched over weeks, an uneasy every development that ensued: The Sen- ing to a live blog, which drew 24,000 the collective bargaining bill and send main purpose, which remains the time- stark evidence of how useful they can calm had finally settled over Madison, ate’s minority Democrats fled to Illinois to readers over two days. (By comparison, it back to both houses for a final up-or- consuming work of cultivating sources, be to the newsgathering process and Wisconsin, by early March 2011. deny the Republicans a quorum. Schools the State Journal’s circulation is around down vote. She immediately tweeted that, digging through records, analyzing data, to readers who are increasingly ingest- A month earlier Governor Scott closed when thousands of teachers joined 83,000 daily and 118,000 Sunday.) but none of us knew what it meant. The and holding public officials accountable. ing news in untraditional ways. Walker had dropped “the bomb,” as he the protests. Demonstrators occupied the As a source of tips, Twitter was indis- bill hadn’t passed the Senate due to the would later call his controversial deci- state’s ornate Capitol building 24 hours a pensable, opening up listening posts Democrats’ boycott. How could it sud- Phil Brinkman is the city editor of Katherine K. Lee is city editor of sion to effectively wipe out collective day, turning it into a protest village. across the state and across the political denly show up in a conference commit- the Wisconsin State Journal, which The Tuscaloosa (Ala.) News. The bargaining for public employees. Tens Each day brought a number of spectrum that could quickly influence tee, which typically irons out differences was a 2012 Pulitzer finalist for its paper won a 2012 Pulitzer Prize for of thousands of protesters swamped the developments that taxed the newspaper’s coverage plans for the day. Of course, the between competing versions of legislation breaking news coverage of 27 days of Breaking News Reporting for its cov- state Capitol, and the reporters, photog- two Statehouse reporters and forced us downside of so much feedback is that it passed by both houses? around-the-clock protests at the state erage of the tornado on April 27, 2011. raphers and editors at the Madison-based to abandon beat coverage elsewhere to can quickly become overwhelming. While Spicuzza and Barbour chased Capitol in Madison.

30 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 31 FEATURE: A CONTROVERSIAL STORY

AFTER THE SHOUTING, BRIDGING THE DIVIDE ‘… our newsroom has made a serious effort to forge a stronger connection between the paper and Buffalo’s black community. … Not for a moment do I believe the healing is complete. But we’ve made a start.’

BY MARGARET SULLIVAN

As I watched media coverage of the emerge—and they surely will—those By 3 a.m., eight people had been shot. racially charged shooting death of questions deserve to be thought about Four of them ultimately died; the others Trayvon Martin in Florida earlier this and talked about in newsrooms. And were seriously injured. Among the dead year, I found myself thinking about we can do that most effectively if we was the 30-year-old bridegroom, Danyell sensitivity and respect. Those issues were broaden the base of those in our con- Mackin. His wife, Tanisha, was unhurt. big ones for me and The Buffalo News in versations, recognizing that diversity is In the days and weeks that followed New York two summers ago. more than numbers; it’s the power of the shooting on August 14, 2010, the As Geraldo Rivera of Fox News what happens when different voices are community’s reaction included not only declared that black teens should avoid truly heard. This reality was brought grief and shock but also anger—anger wearing hooded sweatshirts and some home to me in the aftermath of the furor over deep-seated issues involving race Buffalo News editor Margaret Sullivan drew national media attention for her handling of a controversial story. Photo by Derek Gee/The Buffalo News. spectators gleefully welcomed revela- that erupted in Buffalo’s black commu- and socioeconomic disparity in Buffalo, tions about Martin’s less-then-angelic nity over a story the News published in one of the poorest and most segregated The story went to great lengths to the controversial article were tossed onto ANGRY CROWD past behavior, all of the questions came August 2010. cities in the nation. make the point that no one intended a trash-can fire. He led a similar protest As the controversy raged, I made a few flooding back. How can we best avoid All of the victims were black, as was to blame the victims. The first quote in an East Side backyard. The local TV phone calls to black leaders in Buffalo to blaming the victim? Doesn’t the public OUT OF CONTROL 23-year-old Riccardo McCray, who was was from a local criminal justice pro- media covered the criticism of their let them know that I was willing to explain have the right to know all the facts, not The bloodiest crime in the city’s recent eventually convicted of murder and sen- fessor who, after noting that a felony competition with a certain amount of my decision and to hear complaints from just the ones that support a particular history began as a wedding party. Actu- tenced to life in prison without parole. prosecution or conviction increases glee: “Outraged community burns Buffalo the black community. One of those leaders point of view? How do placement and ally, it was a year-after-the-wedding One flashpoint for the anger was a the statistical likelihood of becoming a News” read the headline on CBS-affiliate was a prominent minister, the Rev. Darius emphasis (in newspaper terms, a front- party for a Buffalo couple who had story that ran on the front page of the crime victim, said, “It doesn’t mean that WIVB-TV’s website. Pridgen. He took me up on my offer and page headline versus three paragraphs moved to Texas and married there but Sunday Buffalo News, eight days after the people deserved it or in any way had Soon, the national media was cover- invited me to a community meeting at at the end of a story) figure into media had come back to celebrate with home- the shooting and on the same day we it coming.” ing the controversy. I found myself on True Bethel Baptist Church on Buffalo’s decision-making? How does the desire town friends. The setting was City Grill, covered the funeral of one of the victims. But many members of the black com- CNN, among other outlets, defending largely black East Side. to be provocative (consider Rivera’s an upscale restaurant downtown. Its headline: “7 of 8 shooting victims had munity were enraged. A few days after the my decision to run the story. For it was It was not the cozy chat around March 22 tweet: “His hoodie killed The party got rowdy. Then it got out criminal past.” It reported that five of story ran, a former gang member turned my decision. I read it before it ran, and a table that I had envisioned. Seven Trayvon Martin as surely as George of control, so much so that the propri- the victims were convicted felons, with community activist, Darnell Jackson, discussed with other editors how and hundred angry people filled the church, Zimmerman”) weigh against responsible etors decided to close it down. Bouncers charges including weapons possession, led a protest outside the News building, where to display it. I thought the story some holding signs criticizing the paper commentary and reporting? shooed the crowd out onto Main Street. reckless endangerment, drug possession, which is less than half a mile from City was important because it helped make and me. The meeting had been well As race-oriented stories continue to Gunfire blasted out. and armed robbery. Grill. One by one, copies of the paper with sense of what happened that night. publicized and emotions were running

32 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 33 FEATURE: A CONTROVERSIAL STORY

AFTER THE SHOUTING, BRIDGING THE DIVIDE ‘… our newsroom has made a serious effort to forge a stronger connection between the paper and Buffalo’s black community. … Not for a moment do I believe the healing is complete. But we’ve made a start.’

BY MARGARET SULLIVAN

As I watched media coverage of the emerge—and they surely will—those By 3 a.m., eight people had been shot. racially charged shooting death of questions deserve to be thought about Four of them ultimately died; the others Trayvon Martin in Florida earlier this and talked about in newsrooms. And were seriously injured. Among the dead year, I found myself thinking about we can do that most effectively if we was the 30-year-old bridegroom, Danyell sensitivity and respect. Those issues were broaden the base of those in our con- Mackin. His wife, Tanisha, was unhurt. big ones for me and The Buffalo News in versations, recognizing that diversity is In the days and weeks that followed New York two summers ago. more than numbers; it’s the power of the shooting on August 14, 2010, the As Geraldo Rivera of Fox News what happens when different voices are community’s reaction included not only declared that black teens should avoid truly heard. This reality was brought grief and shock but also anger—anger wearing hooded sweatshirts and some home to me in the aftermath of the furor over deep-seated issues involving race Buffalo News editor Margaret Sullivan drew national media attention for her handling of a controversial story. Photo by Derek Gee/The Buffalo News. spectators gleefully welcomed revela- that erupted in Buffalo’s black commu- and socioeconomic disparity in Buffalo, tions about Martin’s less-then-angelic nity over a story the News published in one of the poorest and most segregated The story went to great lengths to the controversial article were tossed onto ANGRY CROWD past behavior, all of the questions came August 2010. cities in the nation. make the point that no one intended a trash-can fire. He led a similar protest As the controversy raged, I made a few flooding back. How can we best avoid All of the victims were black, as was to blame the victims. The first quote in an East Side backyard. The local TV phone calls to black leaders in Buffalo to blaming the victim? Doesn’t the public OUT OF CONTROL 23-year-old Riccardo McCray, who was was from a local criminal justice pro- media covered the criticism of their let them know that I was willing to explain have the right to know all the facts, not The bloodiest crime in the city’s recent eventually convicted of murder and sen- fessor who, after noting that a felony competition with a certain amount of my decision and to hear complaints from just the ones that support a particular history began as a wedding party. Actu- tenced to life in prison without parole. prosecution or conviction increases glee: “Outraged community burns Buffalo the black community. One of those leaders point of view? How do placement and ally, it was a year-after-the-wedding One flashpoint for the anger was a the statistical likelihood of becoming a News” read the headline on CBS-affiliate was a prominent minister, the Rev. Darius emphasis (in newspaper terms, a front- party for a Buffalo couple who had story that ran on the front page of the crime victim, said, “It doesn’t mean that WIVB-TV’s website. Pridgen. He took me up on my offer and page headline versus three paragraphs moved to Texas and married there but Sunday Buffalo News, eight days after the people deserved it or in any way had Soon, the national media was cover- invited me to a community meeting at at the end of a story) figure into media had come back to celebrate with home- the shooting and on the same day we it coming.” ing the controversy. I found myself on True Bethel Baptist Church on Buffalo’s decision-making? How does the desire town friends. The setting was City Grill, covered the funeral of one of the victims. But many members of the black com- CNN, among other outlets, defending largely black East Side. to be provocative (consider Rivera’s an upscale restaurant downtown. Its headline: “7 of 8 shooting victims had munity were enraged. A few days after the my decision to run the story. For it was It was not the cozy chat around March 22 tweet: “His hoodie killed The party got rowdy. Then it got out criminal past.” It reported that five of story ran, a former gang member turned my decision. I read it before it ran, and a table that I had envisioned. Seven Trayvon Martin as surely as George of control, so much so that the propri- the victims were convicted felons, with community activist, Darnell Jackson, discussed with other editors how and hundred angry people filled the church, Zimmerman”) weigh against responsible etors decided to close it down. Bouncers charges including weapons possession, led a protest outside the News building, where to display it. I thought the story some holding signs criticizing the paper commentary and reporting? shooed the crowd out onto Main Street. reckless endangerment, drug possession, which is less than half a mile from City was important because it helped make and me. The meeting had been well As race-oriented stories continue to Gunfire blasted out. and armed robbery. Grill. One by one, copies of the paper with sense of what happened that night. publicized and emotions were running

32 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 33 FEATURE: A CONTROVERSIAL STORY FEATURE: CONTINUING EDUCATION

high. A lectern with a sound system burn-the-News protest. Their perspec- Marie Bracely as the first black woman ensured that everyone in the packed tives have helped us better understand on the paper’s editorial board and to have church could hear. Perhaps a dozen the community—and they’ve given us other black journalists in key roles. In FINDING STRENGTH IN NUMBERS speakers preceded me: family members some good story ideas. this era of shrinking newsrooms and little of the victims, ministers, public offi-  Made a concerted effort to reach out to hiring, the push for diversity has been Learning to use databases and mapping software cials. They all had essentially the same the black community. We distributed sidetracked throughout the country, but message, and it was directed at me pamphlets explaining how to get sto- for many reasons it remains crucial to has its rewards. BY JOHN DIEDRICH and the newspaper: You’ve treated us ries into the paper and how to contact our success. disrespectfully. editors and reporters. We attended Is everything all better now in Buf- “I feel that we were victimized twice,” community events to speak or just falo? Certainly not. Decades of resent- I remember when I finally got in criminal investigations. The dealer had said Cheryl Stevens, whose son-in-law meet people. ment don’t dissipate in a matter of serious about working with data. It was surrendered his license rather than have was the bridegroom who died in the  Hired an outside firm to provide months. But it’s fair to say that we’ve the third (or was it the fourth?) time I it be revoked. The shop’s name changed shooting. “What you did to us was you diversity awareness training for a large made progress. And the efforts have had taken a crash course in computer- and it was now being operated by a poured salt on the wounds that had not group of editors and reporters. been noticed. A black reporter on the assisted reporting. Reporters who have relative of the dealer. The switch wiped even healed.”  Started a regular series of stories high- News’s staff, Deidre Williams, attends gone through this training know the away all of the store’s federal violations. I When Pridgen spoke to the group, he lighting positive aspects of Buffalo’s Darius Pridgen’s True Bethel Baptist drill: You learn how to use Excel in a day, wanted to find out if other stores around attempted to provide perspective: “This East Side. Church, the scene of my meeting with ending with something called a “pivot the country had done the same thing. meeting is not designed to be a combat the black community. table.” My moment of resolve came when Database skills were just what I session, but a night of progression. … Coincidentally, I named Lisa Wilson She stopped in to see me a few weeks I was learning yet again how to make one needed. I obtained two databases, one It is our hope that tonight will not be a as executive sports editor; she is, we ago to report that, from the pulpit one of those tables. I was even using the same of gun dealers whose licenses had been one-stop meeting … that this dialogue believe, the only woman of color head- Sunday morning, Pridgen explained his data as before: baseball players’ salaries. revoked and one of current gun dealers— John Diedrich uses Excel every day. Courtesy of takes us to another level of understand- ing a metropolitan newspaper’s sports decision to sell The Buffalo News in the I thought, “That’s it. I’m sick of learning one from the Web, the other through Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. ing and unity in our community.” department. I was deeply grateful church vestibule. He held up that day’s and forgetting. It’s time for a change.” a public records request. Through my That evening was one of the most I pitched my bosses at the Milwaukee analysis, I found about 150 stores whose any investigation. I open it every day. difficult times of my life. The sheer dis- Journal Sentinel on attending the week- licenses had been revoked though As I continued to use Microsoft’s connect between a large segment of the long boot camp hosted by Investigative they looked to still be in business. Two database program, Access, I wanted to community and its newspaper stunned Is everything all better now in Buffalo? Certainly not. Reporters and Editors (IRE). I hoped to colleagues and I contacted these deal- take another step and learn computer me, as did the depth and intensity of the Decades of resentment don’t dissipate in a matter of finally push past this pivot table business ers. More than 50 admitted that the mapping. I got that opportunity in 2011 people’s anger. months. But it’s fair to say that we’ve made progress. and learn how to draw useful informa- person whose license had been revoked when my wife, Raquel Rutledge, was As I wrote in a News column a few And the efforts have been noticed. tion out of databases. I didn’t want to remained close to the operation. awarded a Nieman Fellowship. As an weeks later: “I can say, without exaggera- be the database guy at our paper. We I brought my findings to the U.S. affiliate, I took a class at Harvard and tion, that I left that meeting both shaken already had one. I just wanted to get past Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms learned to use mapping software to and changed. I still believe The News being a beginner. and Explosives. The bureau had never analyze data. For instance, I examined was right to publish the story because it throughout the City Grill episode to edition, which included an extensive By some accounts, at age 40, I was done a similar analysis but officials where homicides occurred and layered exposed an important piece of the puzzle have the counsel and support of black feature story on Eva Doyle, whose life’s late to the data game. But I wasn’t were not surprised. They knew about other data, including other crimes, home about that tragic shooting. But its timing journalists at the News, several of whom work has been teaching black history. deterred. I figured that if I can’t learn the practice and even had a name for ownership, and income levels, on top of and placement should have been handled accompanied me to the church meeting. Williams related what Pridgen told new skills, I probably am not long for it—“phoenix rising from the ashes”—but that. To round out my tool kit, I took a more sensitively and more respectfully.” Among them was urban affairs editor his congregation that day: “The Buffalo this fast-changing business anyway. were largely powerless to stop it. statistics class. and award-winning columnist Rod News said they were going to make The IRE training in Missouri sealed the “Wiped Clean,” the series about gun Back in the newsroom, I am putting REACHING OUT Watson, now the point person in our some changes, and they have. They kept basics for me. dealers, was recognized with a George Polk my new tools to work. They comple- Since the City Grill crisis, our newsroom community outreach efforts. their word.” Now I was thinking in database Award. I am convinced that it would not ment the shoe-leather reporting that has made a serious effort to forge a There is no question that more diverse Not for a moment do I believe the speak, but I knew I had to use my skills have been possible without the database is still the best part of my job. While stronger connection between the paper newsrooms make for better community healing is complete. But we’ve made a or risk losing them. I didn’t want to troll work. But the lesson was that data alone the data I come up with might account and Buffalo’s black community. Among coverage. I made a strong diversity-hiring start. I learned a great deal from what the Web for data. That was backward to was not enough. The numbers had to be for only a couple paragraphs in a story, other initiatives, we: push soon after becoming editor in 1999, happened—that stories are one thing me. One of the keys to getting the train- backed up by old-fashioned reporting. that information elevates my reporting increasing minority-group representation and that people’s lives and their feelings ing wheels off was to find a story that After the series was published, I knew beyond the merely anecdotal. That’s why  Began a diversity advisory council, to about 14.5 percent of our newsroom’s are quite another. As journalists, it’s required data skills. For me, it was like I had to keep using the skills or lose I’m determined this time not to let my made up of community members, that full-time employees, a significant jump hard to make peace between those two knowing that to get from here to there I them. One tip I always pass on is to use knowledge fade away. meets with key editors four times a from the 7 percent I inherited, but still competing values, but we have to try. had to learn to ride a bike so I did. Excel for everyday work. I use it for my year. Now in its second round of mem- less than the 20 percent minority popula- My breakthrough story grew out of my source lists and story ideas and to keep John Diedrich, a 2012 Nieman affili- bers, the current incarnation includes tion in our major circulation area. Margaret Sullivan is the editor of reporting on a gun shop that was one of track of my requests for public records. ate, is the federal courts reporter at the Darnell Jackson, the leader of the I’m also happy to have named Dawn The Buffalo News. the nation’s top sellers of guns recovered I also use it to make timelines as I begin Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

34 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 35 FEATURE: A CONTROVERSIAL STORY FEATURE: CONTINUING EDUCATION

high. A lectern with a sound system burn-the-News protest. Their perspec- Marie Bracely as the first black woman ensured that everyone in the packed tives have helped us better understand on the paper’s editorial board and to have church could hear. Perhaps a dozen the community—and they’ve given us other black journalists in key roles. In FINDING STRENGTH IN NUMBERS speakers preceded me: family members some good story ideas. this era of shrinking newsrooms and little of the victims, ministers, public offi-  Made a concerted effort to reach out to hiring, the push for diversity has been Learning to use databases and mapping software cials. They all had essentially the same the black community. We distributed sidetracked throughout the country, but message, and it was directed at me pamphlets explaining how to get sto- for many reasons it remains crucial to has its rewards. BY JOHN DIEDRICH and the newspaper: You’ve treated us ries into the paper and how to contact our success. disrespectfully. editors and reporters. We attended Is everything all better now in Buf- “I feel that we were victimized twice,” community events to speak or just falo? Certainly not. Decades of resent- I remember when I finally got in criminal investigations. The dealer had said Cheryl Stevens, whose son-in-law meet people. ment don’t dissipate in a matter of serious about working with data. It was surrendered his license rather than have was the bridegroom who died in the  Hired an outside firm to provide months. But it’s fair to say that we’ve the third (or was it the fourth?) time I it be revoked. The shop’s name changed shooting. “What you did to us was you diversity awareness training for a large made progress. And the efforts have had taken a crash course in computer- and it was now being operated by a poured salt on the wounds that had not group of editors and reporters. been noticed. A black reporter on the assisted reporting. Reporters who have relative of the dealer. The switch wiped even healed.”  Started a regular series of stories high- News’s staff, Deidre Williams, attends gone through this training know the away all of the store’s federal violations. I When Pridgen spoke to the group, he lighting positive aspects of Buffalo’s Darius Pridgen’s True Bethel Baptist drill: You learn how to use Excel in a day, wanted to find out if other stores around attempted to provide perspective: “This East Side. Church, the scene of my meeting with ending with something called a “pivot the country had done the same thing. meeting is not designed to be a combat the black community. table.” My moment of resolve came when Database skills were just what I session, but a night of progression. … Coincidentally, I named Lisa Wilson She stopped in to see me a few weeks I was learning yet again how to make one needed. I obtained two databases, one It is our hope that tonight will not be a as executive sports editor; she is, we ago to report that, from the pulpit one of those tables. I was even using the same of gun dealers whose licenses had been one-stop meeting … that this dialogue believe, the only woman of color head- Sunday morning, Pridgen explained his data as before: baseball players’ salaries. revoked and one of current gun dealers— John Diedrich uses Excel every day. Courtesy of takes us to another level of understand- ing a metropolitan newspaper’s sports decision to sell The Buffalo News in the I thought, “That’s it. I’m sick of learning one from the Web, the other through Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. ing and unity in our community.” department. I was deeply grateful church vestibule. He held up that day’s and forgetting. It’s time for a change.” a public records request. Through my That evening was one of the most I pitched my bosses at the Milwaukee analysis, I found about 150 stores whose any investigation. I open it every day. difficult times of my life. The sheer dis- Journal Sentinel on attending the week- licenses had been revoked though As I continued to use Microsoft’s connect between a large segment of the long boot camp hosted by Investigative they looked to still be in business. Two database program, Access, I wanted to community and its newspaper stunned Is everything all better now in Buffalo? Certainly not. Reporters and Editors (IRE). I hoped to colleagues and I contacted these deal- take another step and learn computer me, as did the depth and intensity of the Decades of resentment don’t dissipate in a matter of finally push past this pivot table business ers. More than 50 admitted that the mapping. I got that opportunity in 2011 people’s anger. months. But it’s fair to say that we’ve made progress. and learn how to draw useful informa- person whose license had been revoked when my wife, Raquel Rutledge, was As I wrote in a News column a few And the efforts have been noticed. tion out of databases. I didn’t want to remained close to the operation. awarded a Nieman Fellowship. As an weeks later: “I can say, without exaggera- be the database guy at our paper. We I brought my findings to the U.S. affiliate, I took a class at Harvard and tion, that I left that meeting both shaken already had one. I just wanted to get past Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms learned to use mapping software to and changed. I still believe The News being a beginner. and Explosives. The bureau had never analyze data. For instance, I examined was right to publish the story because it throughout the City Grill episode to edition, which included an extensive By some accounts, at age 40, I was done a similar analysis but officials where homicides occurred and layered exposed an important piece of the puzzle have the counsel and support of black feature story on Eva Doyle, whose life’s late to the data game. But I wasn’t were not surprised. They knew about other data, including other crimes, home about that tragic shooting. But its timing journalists at the News, several of whom work has been teaching black history. deterred. I figured that if I can’t learn the practice and even had a name for ownership, and income levels, on top of and placement should have been handled accompanied me to the church meeting. Williams related what Pridgen told new skills, I probably am not long for it—“phoenix rising from the ashes”—but that. To round out my tool kit, I took a more sensitively and more respectfully.” Among them was urban affairs editor his congregation that day: “The Buffalo this fast-changing business anyway. were largely powerless to stop it. statistics class. and award-winning columnist Rod News said they were going to make The IRE training in Missouri sealed the “Wiped Clean,” the series about gun Back in the newsroom, I am putting REACHING OUT Watson, now the point person in our some changes, and they have. They kept basics for me. dealers, was recognized with a George Polk my new tools to work. They comple- Since the City Grill crisis, our newsroom community outreach efforts. their word.” Now I was thinking in database Award. I am convinced that it would not ment the shoe-leather reporting that has made a serious effort to forge a There is no question that more diverse Not for a moment do I believe the speak, but I knew I had to use my skills have been possible without the database is still the best part of my job. While stronger connection between the paper newsrooms make for better community healing is complete. But we’ve made a or risk losing them. I didn’t want to troll work. But the lesson was that data alone the data I come up with might account and Buffalo’s black community. Among coverage. I made a strong diversity-hiring start. I learned a great deal from what the Web for data. That was backward to was not enough. The numbers had to be for only a couple paragraphs in a story, other initiatives, we: push soon after becoming editor in 1999, happened—that stories are one thing me. One of the keys to getting the train- backed up by old-fashioned reporting. that information elevates my reporting increasing minority-group representation and that people’s lives and their feelings ing wheels off was to find a story that After the series was published, I knew beyond the merely anecdotal. That’s why  Began a diversity advisory council, to about 14.5 percent of our newsroom’s are quite another. As journalists, it’s required data skills. For me, it was like I had to keep using the skills or lose I’m determined this time not to let my made up of community members, that full-time employees, a significant jump hard to make peace between those two knowing that to get from here to there I them. One tip I always pass on is to use knowledge fade away. meets with key editors four times a from the 7 percent I inherited, but still competing values, but we have to try. had to learn to ride a bike so I did. Excel for everyday work. I use it for my year. Now in its second round of mem- less than the 20 percent minority popula- My breakthrough story grew out of my source lists and story ideas and to keep John Diedrich, a 2012 Nieman affili- bers, the current incarnation includes tion in our major circulation area. Margaret Sullivan is the editor of reporting on a gun shop that was one of track of my requests for public records. ate, is the federal courts reporter at the Darnell Jackson, the leader of the I’m also happy to have named Dawn The Buffalo News. the nation’s top sellers of guns recovered I also use it to make timelines as I begin Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

34 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 35 HEADER: TITLE

THIS LAND IS THEIR LAND Bearing witness to the fallout from the exploitation of Latin America’s natural resources

BY GUSTAVO JONONOVICH

Latin America’s abundant natural resources are a blessing and a curse. Too often, foreign companies benefit while citizens lose their health and livelihoods. “Richland,” my ongoing documentary project, is an attempt to show how the exploi- tation of the region’s natural riches harms people and the environment. Since the early 1990s Latin America has seen significant growth in foreign invest- ment in mining and agriculture. Land has been opened up to multinational compa- nies with few protections for the people who live on it.

36 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 37 HEADER: TITLE

THIS LAND IS THEIR LAND Bearing witness to the fallout from the exploitation of Latin America’s natural resources

BY GUSTAVO JONONOVICH

Latin America’s abundant natural resources are a blessing and a curse. Too often, foreign companies benefit while citizens lose their health and livelihoods. “Richland,” my ongoing documentary project, is an attempt to show how the exploi- tation of the region’s natural riches harms people and the environment. Since the early 1990s Latin America has seen significant growth in foreign invest- ment in mining and agriculture. Land has been opened up to multinational compa- nies with few protections for the people who live on it.

36 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 37 PHOTO ESSAY: GUSTAVO JONONOVICH

Ecuador: Previous spread: The 300-mile-long Trans-Ecuadorian Oil Pipeline System carries crude oil from the Amazon to the Pacific Ocean.

I began this project four years ago one of the world’s largest lead produc- Chevron) dumped more than 18 billion Left: Natural gas is burned off next to an with a visit to the Brazilian Amazon, ers. Thousands of children have been gallons of toxic wastewater into the rain- oil well. where agribusiness companies bought diagnosed with lead poisoning. It is forest, polluting rivers and streams that wide swaths of land to expand their difficult to prove that people get sick or local people depend on for drinking, cook- Above: Eleven-year-old Anthony, who suffers soybean farming operations. With the die due to industrial pollution, but the ing, bathing and fishing. The population from birth defects, walks on his knees, above. hope of starting a new life, many of the connection between lead poisoning in has suffered a wave of cancers, miscar- The polluted river is a place to play and bathe. sellers migrated to the city of Santarém. children and irreversible brain injury is riages and birth defects. Earlier this year Photos by Gustavo Jononovich. Yet their money didn’t go far. Many well established an appellate court in Ecuador ordered had no marketable job skills and found In 2010, I documented the destruc- Chevron to pay $18 billion in damages for themselves living in slums. tion associated with illegal gold and polluting the Amazon jungle. Whether The next year I traveled to La Oroya diamond mining in Venezuela. Jungles the indigenous communities who are par- in the Peruvian Andes. This town is are cleared, and diamond miners blast ties to the suit will ever receive any of that considered one of the most polluted mountains with water under high pres- money remains to be seen. places in the world. For 90 years the life sure, wearing them down to nothing. and economy of La Oroya has revolved In Ecuador last year, my focus was oil Gustavo Jononovich, a lifelong resident around a mammoth smelter, now owned pollution. During three decades of drill- of Buenos Aires, Argentina, is a freelance by the U.S.-based Doe Run Company, ing in the Amazon, Texaco (now part of photographer.

38 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 39 PHOTO ESSAY: GUSTAVO JONONOVICH

Ecuador: Previous spread: The 300-mile-long Trans-Ecuadorian Oil Pipeline System carries crude oil from the Amazon to the Pacific Ocean.

I began this project four years ago one of the world’s largest lead produc- Chevron) dumped more than 18 billion Left: Natural gas is burned off next to an with a visit to the Brazilian Amazon, ers. Thousands of children have been gallons of toxic wastewater into the rain- oil well. where agribusiness companies bought diagnosed with lead poisoning. It is forest, polluting rivers and streams that wide swaths of land to expand their difficult to prove that people get sick or local people depend on for drinking, cook- Above: Eleven-year-old Anthony, who suffers soybean farming operations. With the die due to industrial pollution, but the ing, bathing and fishing. The population from birth defects, walks on his knees, above. hope of starting a new life, many of the connection between lead poisoning in has suffered a wave of cancers, miscar- The polluted river is a place to play and bathe. sellers migrated to the city of Santarém. children and irreversible brain injury is riages and birth defects. Earlier this year Photos by Gustavo Jononovich. Yet their money didn’t go far. Many well established an appellate court in Ecuador ordered had no marketable job skills and found In 2010, I documented the destruc- Chevron to pay $18 billion in damages for themselves living in slums. tion associated with illegal gold and polluting the Amazon jungle. Whether The next year I traveled to La Oroya diamond mining in Venezuela. Jungles the indigenous communities who are par- in the Peruvian Andes. This town is are cleared, and diamond miners blast ties to the suit will ever receive any of that considered one of the most polluted mountains with water under high pres- money remains to be seen. places in the world. For 90 years the life sure, wearing them down to nothing. and economy of La Oroya has revolved In Ecuador last year, my focus was oil Gustavo Jononovich, a lifelong resident around a mammoth smelter, now owned pollution. During three decades of drill- of Buenos Aires, Argentina, is a freelance by the U.S.-based Doe Run Company, ing in the Amazon, Texaco (now part of photographer.

38 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 39 PHOTO ESSAY: GUSTAVO JONONOVICH

Venezuela: A diamond miner uses a high- Brazil: Large areas of the Amazon have been pressure blast of water. Years of searching like deforested to make way for more soybean this wears away the rock. farms. Photos by Gustavo Jononovich.

40 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 41 PHOTO ESSAY: GUSTAVO JONONOVICH

Venezuela: A diamond miner uses a high- Brazil: Large areas of the Amazon have been pressure blast of water. Years of searching like deforested to make way for more soybean this wears away the rock. farms. Photos by Gustavo Jononovich.

40 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 41 PHOTO ESSAY: GUSTAVO JONONOVICH

Peru: A smokestack rises outside a window in La Oroya, a lead mining town that is one of the most polluted places in the world. Photo by Gustavo Jononovich.

42 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 43 PHOTO ESSAY: GUSTAVO JONONOVICH

Peru: A smokestack rises outside a window in La Oroya, a lead mining town that is one of the most polluted places in the world. Photo by Gustavo Jononovich.

42 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 43 FEATURE: RICHARD GINGRAS chaos theory An online pioneer challenges media companies to think differently.

Over the past 30 years, Richard Gingras’s work has spanned it’s that page that should spawn whatever articles appear in from broadcast teletext services, the earliest version of online your print edition, not the other way around. news, to his current role as head of news products at Google. As he puts it, he’s been online “since the day of steam-powered Transparency regarding the source, right down to the reporter, modems.” is hugely important. More important than ever. I do believe In a talk at the Nieman Foundation in May, Gingras spoke that trust in this environment is not so much about the brand about the transformations media companies must undergo to as it is about the individual. thrive online. Edited excerpts appear below; a complete video is available at http://nieman.harvard.edu/Gingras/. Having the right to publish doesn’t mean that everyone has the responsibility to listen to you. Always reconsider your core assumptions. If our objective is to communicate, if our objective is to convey I do feel these are extraordinary times. I do feel that we, in a information, then we have to think about what’s the right form sense, are in the beginnings of a renaissance with regard to for the right medium at the right time. journalism. When the iPad came out, I came out and said that I thought it The reason why many entities don’t successfully make the was a fatal distraction for media companies. And I still think transference is that they’re not capable of eating their own that’s true. … Too many publishers were looking at it, were young, as it were. looking at that tablet, and saying “Ahh, this is how I can get my magazine format back. This is how I can get back my glisten- The cycle of change is simply too rapid. Innovation is not a ing full-page ads that we force people to click through. This is luxury; it can’t be intermittent. … I fear that many people think how I can get back that subscription model.” The very nature of that we’re in this transition period from a point of stasis to a the change of a singular device does not change the ecosystem point of stasis, and it’s just not going to be the case. under it.

If there’s one thing we know about the link economy, it’s that a We need to evolve our form to meet the evolution of the underly- persistent URL builds value over time and an ephemeral URL ing audience. I will declare a very modest step of victory when I does not. start seeing news articles maybe even with bullet points in them.

You’ve got at least one reporter and at least one editor who own I’m not suggesting that everything must change, but that we every beat, every story. Why don’t they own that topic page? owe it to ourselves and to the objectives of what we want to do Why would you have a rewrite person do that when, frankly, in journalism to reconsider everything as we go forward. this should be the best real-time expression of the expertise of that reporter and the expertise of that editor? And if anything, The bottom line is, I’ve made more mistakes that anyone else. Richard Gingras, the head of news products at Google, says, “Innovation is not a luxury.” Photo by Lisa Abitbol.

44 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 45 FEATURE: RICHARD GINGRAS chaos theory An online pioneer challenges media companies to think differently.

Over the past 30 years, Richard Gingras’s work has spanned it’s that page that should spawn whatever articles appear in from broadcast teletext services, the earliest version of online your print edition, not the other way around. news, to his current role as head of news products at Google. As he puts it, he’s been online “since the day of steam-powered Transparency regarding the source, right down to the reporter, modems.” is hugely important. More important than ever. I do believe In a talk at the Nieman Foundation in May, Gingras spoke that trust in this environment is not so much about the brand about the transformations media companies must undergo to as it is about the individual. thrive online. Edited excerpts appear below; a complete video is available at http://nieman.harvard.edu/Gingras/. Having the right to publish doesn’t mean that everyone has the responsibility to listen to you. Always reconsider your core assumptions. If our objective is to communicate, if our objective is to convey I do feel these are extraordinary times. I do feel that we, in a information, then we have to think about what’s the right form sense, are in the beginnings of a renaissance with regard to for the right medium at the right time. journalism. When the iPad came out, I came out and said that I thought it The reason why many entities don’t successfully make the was a fatal distraction for media companies. And I still think transference is that they’re not capable of eating their own that’s true. … Too many publishers were looking at it, were young, as it were. looking at that tablet, and saying “Ahh, this is how I can get my magazine format back. This is how I can get back my glisten- The cycle of change is simply too rapid. Innovation is not a ing full-page ads that we force people to click through. This is luxury; it can’t be intermittent. … I fear that many people think how I can get back that subscription model.” The very nature of that we’re in this transition period from a point of stasis to a the change of a singular device does not change the ecosystem point of stasis, and it’s just not going to be the case. under it.

If there’s one thing we know about the link economy, it’s that a We need to evolve our form to meet the evolution of the underly- persistent URL builds value over time and an ephemeral URL ing audience. I will declare a very modest step of victory when I does not. start seeing news articles maybe even with bullet points in them.

You’ve got at least one reporter and at least one editor who own I’m not suggesting that everything must change, but that we every beat, every story. Why don’t they own that topic page? owe it to ourselves and to the objectives of what we want to do Why would you have a rewrite person do that when, frankly, in journalism to reconsider everything as we go forward. this should be the best real-time expression of the expertise of that reporter and the expertise of that editor? And if anything, The bottom line is, I’ve made more mistakes that anyone else. Richard Gingras, the head of news products at Google, says, “Innovation is not a luxury.” Photo by Lisa Abitbol.

44 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 45 Sounding

Depression, and as it turned out, they American girl left behind on one of the of fairy tale. But at the same time, it gave or perhaps delusionally, named “Victory were largely apocryphal. He was his own Channel Islands for 18 years. She learns me a sense that there was an aesthetic Street”—from the ’40s to the ’90s. Of fictional character. to spear fish, tames one of the wild dogs world out there that was, in fact, real. course, psychically, it takes a lot more I also spent a lot of time in church on the island for company, and has a than a coat of pastel paint. with my parents, listening to the moral great fashion moment when she makes a Book critics tend to agree that The poet Wislawa Szymborska won of the story. The family skeptic, I would skirt out of iridescent cormorant feath- there are many paths to the well; the the Nobel Prize that same year. Like entertain myself by trying to imagine the ers. And then there’s the eponymous art is in the journey, the detours made, Kieslowski, Szymborska loved fate and thought bubbles over everyone’s heads. spider of E.B. White’s “Charlotte’s Web,” the choice of rest stops and landmarks chance connections, the metaphysics of Many children are alert to the things who saves Wilbur the pig from slaughter noted, the lions and tigers and bears ordinary life, the “chairs and sorrows, that aren’t being said aloud, and this is by making him a tourist attraction. And encountered en route. But sometimes, scissors, tenderness, transistors, violins, pretty much the terrain that the novel so, as children, we learn just how power- the parallels between literature and teacups, dams and quips,” as she wrote. occupies. In a novel, we can measure the ful a web words weave; they create glam- travel reach beyond the metaphoric to One of Kieslowski’s later films, “Red,” distance between what the characters are our and empathy. They can save lives. the very rudiments of how a perspective a love story in which the lovers don’t thinking, and what they say and do. And I also read a lot of other things is formed. Sometimes, one simply has to actually meet until the final frame, was if it’s a good novel, there’s a magical leap lying around the house that are not get out of Kansas. inspired by one of her poems. In Szym- of faith that happens, and we empathize borska’s Nobel speech she spoke about with them. We feel reassured when we how the work of the poet is to remind recognize ourselves in their thoughts. us that nothing about life is ordinary. And these are people we’ve never met, A good novel is, at some level, usually subverting And whether you grew up amid the and who don’t exist. something —often, the nature of storytelling itself. strip shopping malls of the Midwest When I’m asked about what I’m or the socialist housing blocks of post- looking for when I confront the pile-up Communist Europe, the banality of that of books at my door, fiction or nonfic- meant for children, as we do. Such as In “Silas Marner,” George Eliot writes statement only serves the point. tion, it often comes back to this idea of John Updike’s “Couples”: a terrifying of how “minds that have been unhinged Poles love antihero stories as much the thing that’s hiding in plain sight that substitute for sex ed. And my mother’s from their old faith and love” can find as I do. When I was there, a beloved TV the author is revealing to us. “Plot” is the magazines: She subscribed to Redbook happiness in a “new land, where the series from the ’80s, “Jan Serce,” about book word for fate, and if a story feels and Good Housekeeping. Redbook was beings around them know nothing of a lonely Warsaw sewer worker and his too pat, as journalists know, it usually is. pretty trashy, and that was my favorite. their history, and share none of their search for romance, was rebroadcast. Vogue contributing editor Megan O’Grady, a 2012 Nieman Fellow. Photo by Thorsten Trimpop. For this reason, I’ve always been drawn It had articles with titles like “Would You ideas. … the past becomes dreamy Sometimes, finding beauty and meaning to counter-narratives. A good novel is, Marry Him Again?” and diet tips, and because its symbols have all vanished, requires a flashlight. at some level, usually subverting some- then, a recipe for a high-calorie seasonal and the present too is dreamy because it thing—often, the nature of storytelling dessert. I remember my father once is linked with no memories.” Vogue is not about democratizing Cover Stories itself. The result is that you feel the caught me reading one of these maga- Most of my travels have been about taste. The models are skinny; the clothes urgency in the writing: This is a story zines, and he said, “Be careful. If you losing myself in Eliot’s dreamy pres- are expensive. Our mandate is to choose that must be told, and it must be told in keep reading those, you’ll get a soft spot ent—in Belfast during marching season, the best, to tell you what you should be A book critic in praise of the counter-narrative this way. And however “small” or per- in your head.” in an overcrowded Tijuana orphanage, wearing, watching, reading. I’m very BY MEGAN O’GRADY sonal the story, it’s a response to the big Of course, another important reason in a Guatemalan village traumatized and lucky to have an editor in chief who is story—which is the world we all share at we read is to feel less alone. I think this starved by massacre and corruption, in deeply invested in cultural coverage, the moment it’s written. was why, for decades, magazines like Chile with a Pinochet hangover. But the and books in particular. Books find One lesson we learn young is that stage-plays of robes and cereal bowls this flourished—to make housewives feel best place I ever got lost in was Poland: their way into the magazine as excerpts, there’s a public life and a private and crankiness, love and boredom and Childhood reading gives us a less alone. nation as counter-narrative. Obsessed, in reviews and profiles; I’ve interviewed a narrative, and the two don’t always sometimes despair. constellation of literary heroes. Brightly It was sometime in here that I read my early twenties, with the film director host of authors, from Jhumpa Lahiri to correlate. Walking to school on dark In my family, there was one great fixed in my own memory are Leo my first Vogue. They sold it at the Krzysztof Kieslowski, I deferred gradu- Jonathan Franzen, trying to get to the self winter mornings—I grew up in suburban storyteller, and that was my grandfather. Lionni’s “Frederick,” a phlegmatic poet supermarket near my house, and it was ate school in 1996 and got on a plane, in the story, to the thing that inspires the Kansas City, in the kind of neighborhood Grandpa O’Grady was always the hero mouse with no useful labor skills who is like a passport to another planet. Even casting myself in my own Polish movie. poetic impulse over other imperatives. where you don’t know your neighbors— of his own stories, and there was always ostracized from his mouse community as a 10-year-old I understood that it Teaching English in a grim, formerly How we choose our cultural heroes is I was fascinated by how you could see a very clear narrative trajectory: how but then redeemed; Roald Dahl’s demanded a different kind of relation- German coal-mining town called something I’ve given a lot of thought to inside people’s windows, but that they wisdom and perseverance—his own— “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” my first crush; ship with the reader than my mother’s Gliwice, I witnessed the town’s physical during my time at the magazine—which couldn’t see you: the dioramas of led to triumph over adversity. His stories Karana, the heroine of Scott O’Dell’s magazines did, and that the images in it transformation, in a series of renova- voices have authority, what stories garner family life played out in slow succession, were set in Chicago during the Great “Island of the Blue Dolphins,” a Native represented something idealized, a kind tions along the main street—ironically, attention, how certain elements of our

46 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 47 Sounding

Depression, and as it turned out, they American girl left behind on one of the of fairy tale. But at the same time, it gave or perhaps delusionally, named “Victory were largely apocryphal. He was his own Channel Islands for 18 years. She learns me a sense that there was an aesthetic Street”—from the ’40s to the ’90s. Of fictional character. to spear fish, tames one of the wild dogs world out there that was, in fact, real. course, psychically, it takes a lot more I also spent a lot of time in church on the island for company, and has a than a coat of pastel paint. with my parents, listening to the moral great fashion moment when she makes a Book critics tend to agree that The poet Wislawa Szymborska won of the story. The family skeptic, I would skirt out of iridescent cormorant feath- there are many paths to the well; the the Nobel Prize that same year. Like entertain myself by trying to imagine the ers. And then there’s the eponymous art is in the journey, the detours made, Kieslowski, Szymborska loved fate and thought bubbles over everyone’s heads. spider of E.B. White’s “Charlotte’s Web,” the choice of rest stops and landmarks chance connections, the metaphysics of Many children are alert to the things who saves Wilbur the pig from slaughter noted, the lions and tigers and bears ordinary life, the “chairs and sorrows, that aren’t being said aloud, and this is by making him a tourist attraction. And encountered en route. But sometimes, scissors, tenderness, transistors, violins, pretty much the terrain that the novel so, as children, we learn just how power- the parallels between literature and teacups, dams and quips,” as she wrote. occupies. In a novel, we can measure the ful a web words weave; they create glam- travel reach beyond the metaphoric to One of Kieslowski’s later films, “Red,” distance between what the characters are our and empathy. They can save lives. the very rudiments of how a perspective a love story in which the lovers don’t thinking, and what they say and do. And I also read a lot of other things is formed. Sometimes, one simply has to actually meet until the final frame, was if it’s a good novel, there’s a magical leap lying around the house that are not get out of Kansas. inspired by one of her poems. In Szym- of faith that happens, and we empathize borska’s Nobel speech she spoke about with them. We feel reassured when we how the work of the poet is to remind recognize ourselves in their thoughts. us that nothing about life is ordinary. And these are people we’ve never met, A good novel is, at some level, usually subverting And whether you grew up amid the and who don’t exist. something —often, the nature of storytelling itself. strip shopping malls of the Midwest When I’m asked about what I’m or the socialist housing blocks of post- looking for when I confront the pile-up Communist Europe, the banality of that of books at my door, fiction or nonfic- meant for children, as we do. Such as In “Silas Marner,” George Eliot writes statement only serves the point. tion, it often comes back to this idea of John Updike’s “Couples”: a terrifying of how “minds that have been unhinged Poles love antihero stories as much the thing that’s hiding in plain sight that substitute for sex ed. And my mother’s from their old faith and love” can find as I do. When I was there, a beloved TV the author is revealing to us. “Plot” is the magazines: She subscribed to Redbook happiness in a “new land, where the series from the ’80s, “Jan Serce,” about book word for fate, and if a story feels and Good Housekeeping. Redbook was beings around them know nothing of a lonely Warsaw sewer worker and his too pat, as journalists know, it usually is. pretty trashy, and that was my favorite. their history, and share none of their search for romance, was rebroadcast. Vogue contributing editor Megan O’Grady, a 2012 Nieman Fellow. Photo by Thorsten Trimpop. For this reason, I’ve always been drawn It had articles with titles like “Would You ideas. … the past becomes dreamy Sometimes, finding beauty and meaning to counter-narratives. A good novel is, Marry Him Again?” and diet tips, and because its symbols have all vanished, requires a flashlight. at some level, usually subverting some- then, a recipe for a high-calorie seasonal and the present too is dreamy because it thing—often, the nature of storytelling dessert. I remember my father once is linked with no memories.” Vogue is not about democratizing Cover Stories itself. The result is that you feel the caught me reading one of these maga- Most of my travels have been about taste. The models are skinny; the clothes urgency in the writing: This is a story zines, and he said, “Be careful. If you losing myself in Eliot’s dreamy pres- are expensive. Our mandate is to choose that must be told, and it must be told in keep reading those, you’ll get a soft spot ent—in Belfast during marching season, the best, to tell you what you should be A book critic in praise of the counter-narrative this way. And however “small” or per- in your head.” in an overcrowded Tijuana orphanage, wearing, watching, reading. I’m very BY MEGAN O’GRADY sonal the story, it’s a response to the big Of course, another important reason in a Guatemalan village traumatized and lucky to have an editor in chief who is story—which is the world we all share at we read is to feel less alone. I think this starved by massacre and corruption, in deeply invested in cultural coverage, the moment it’s written. was why, for decades, magazines like Chile with a Pinochet hangover. But the and books in particular. Books find One lesson we learn young is that stage-plays of robes and cereal bowls this flourished—to make housewives feel best place I ever got lost in was Poland: their way into the magazine as excerpts, there’s a public life and a private and crankiness, love and boredom and Childhood reading gives us a less alone. nation as counter-narrative. Obsessed, in reviews and profiles; I’ve interviewed a narrative, and the two don’t always sometimes despair. constellation of literary heroes. Brightly It was sometime in here that I read my early twenties, with the film director host of authors, from Jhumpa Lahiri to correlate. Walking to school on dark In my family, there was one great fixed in my own memory are Leo my first Vogue. They sold it at the Krzysztof Kieslowski, I deferred gradu- Jonathan Franzen, trying to get to the self winter mornings—I grew up in suburban storyteller, and that was my grandfather. Lionni’s “Frederick,” a phlegmatic poet supermarket near my house, and it was ate school in 1996 and got on a plane, in the story, to the thing that inspires the Kansas City, in the kind of neighborhood Grandpa O’Grady was always the hero mouse with no useful labor skills who is like a passport to another planet. Even casting myself in my own Polish movie. poetic impulse over other imperatives. where you don’t know your neighbors— of his own stories, and there was always ostracized from his mouse community as a 10-year-old I understood that it Teaching English in a grim, formerly How we choose our cultural heroes is I was fascinated by how you could see a very clear narrative trajectory: how but then redeemed; Roald Dahl’s demanded a different kind of relation- German coal-mining town called something I’ve given a lot of thought to inside people’s windows, but that they wisdom and perseverance—his own— “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” my first crush; ship with the reader than my mother’s Gliwice, I witnessed the town’s physical during my time at the magazine—which couldn’t see you: the dioramas of led to triumph over adversity. His stories Karana, the heroine of Scott O’Dell’s magazines did, and that the images in it transformation, in a series of renova- voices have authority, what stories garner family life played out in slow succession, were set in Chicago during the Great “Island of the Blue Dolphins,” a Native represented something idealized, a kind tions along the main street—ironically, attention, how certain elements of our

46 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 47 fractured American identity catch the light. In a series I’ve developed with my editor, Valerie Steiker, called “Lives,” I look at historical women— often a writer sidelined from literary Books history, like the modernist Djuna Barnes, or someone who isn’t well known in the United States, such as deferentially, about the multiple death expos-, and so his revelations are gen- “How dare you, you bastard!” the writer the Russian poet Anna Akhmatova sentences he allegedly survived while tly rendered. A former acolyte of the shouted, pinning the startled official to or Brazil’s Kafka, Clarice Lispector— covering dictatorships and coups in the famed war correspondent, he describes the wall by his lapels. or more famous names—Cleopatra, developing world, the famously mild, Kapuscinski’s improbable trajectory “I begin to think he was crushed by Gypsy Rose Lee, Edith Wharton, self-effacing writer grows defensive. from a childhood of genteel poverty in fear—and not merely of revelations of Sarah Bernhardt, Coco Chanel— He shakes his head in annoyance. In a backwater called Pinsk to the glitter- his cooperation with the intelligence “icons” or “legends” whose complex- accented English, he cuts off the ques- ing banquet halls of Europe and the service,” Domoslawski writes of the aging ity and historical importance has tioner. “I am not talking about these Americas with love—albeit a tough Kapuscinski’s final, anxiety-riddled blurred. These articles tend to have problems—never. Never answer these love. He locates, for example, evidence years. “It was about far more than that.” similar themes: How complicit were questions,” he mutters. Following an these women in the making of their emphatic pause, he adds stiffly, “Next own mythology? And how distant one please.” It appears that Kapuscinski transferred his ‘magical was the reality of their lives? Five years after dying from complica- It’s a dystopic moment in tions of cancer, Kapuscinski remains realism’ to the pages of his own life. American literature right now— one of the most celebrated chroniclers of bookstores are crowded with vam- human suffering in our time: a solitary pires and zombies and apocalyptic philosopher-reporter who was catapulted from government files that implicates He is referring, of course, to visions, and on the other hand, there’s to fame by reporting from the world’s the young Kapuscinski in intelligence Kapuscinski’s controversial habit of a lot of soft nostalgia, a hearkening danger zones, usually on the shoestring gathering abroad. conflating journalism and literature. back to simpler times. For the March budget of the Polish Press Agency, and Many Eastern Bloc foreign cor- Kapuscinski himself often described issue, I chose a book that confronts who shaped his daily dispatches into respondents were forced to collaborate his reporting method as creative: He the mood head-on without resort- books of luminous prose adored by mil- with communist regimes during the Cold insisted he wrote to the “essence of ing to cynicism or naiveté: Lauren lions, among them literary giants such as War. But for Kapuscinski, whose oeuvre the matter.” Domoslawski records him Groff’s “Arcadia,” a novel about the John Updike and Salman Rushdie. returns again and again to ordinary explaining to a colleague how tinker- rise and fall of one utopian society. But in “Ryszard Kapuscinski: A Life,” people’s struggles against power, the ing with the sequence of real events A defense of idealism, it’s a nuanced the journalist Artur Domoslawski strips shame of cooperation was gutting. In is acceptable because it “sometimes response to the anger and disaffection away Kapuscinski’s mythic Lone Ranger Africa, foreign ministry officials assigned helps to convey a deeper meaning. It all that’s behind the Tea Partiers and the mask. And what emerges beneath is him to keep tabs on American compa- depends how it is done, and whether it Occupy movement. We don’t have to a haunting portrait of a man who felt nies and agencies. (The Polish embassies’ sits within the particular realities, within choose between the novel of ideas and increasingly oppressed by his legacy—a vaudevillian code for making contact the climate, or whether it is artificial, the novel of aesthetics, between social storyteller compelled by ultimate truths with the journalist was, “Greetings from invented, deceptive.” relevance and beautiful sentences. and deep history, yet desperate to shield Zygmunt.” Kapuscinski’s countersign This type of literary reportage, Kapus- The challenge lies instead in the over- his readers from manufactured elements was “Has he sold the car?”) In Latin cinski’s defenders have always noted, is whelming clamor for our attention, Accuracy was a hot topic when Ryszard Kapuscinski, right, taught journalists at the invitation of of his own past. He died, ill and steeped America the security service handlers rooted in an Eastern European tradition and the limitations of empathy—not, Gabriel García Márquez. Photo courtesy of the Ibero-American New Journalism Foundation. in dread, still trying. “I will sell you for knew Kapuscinski by his code name that used allegory to navigate around the as it turns out, a new concern. “If we nothing an idea for the title of your “Vera Cruz.” By then, however, Kapuscin- culture of censorship prevalent behind had a keen vision and feeling of all book,” a close friend of Kapuscinski sadly ski had grown famous enough to push the Iron Curtain. To be fair, Kapuscinski’s ordinary human life,” Eliot wrote in tells the biographer. “ ‘Kapuscinski—the back. He pulled the freelancer’s old trick text does brim with dreamlike imagery “Middlemarch” more than a century price of greatness.’ ” of recycling articles—in this case, by that clearly signals the imagination at ago, “it would be like hearing the Secrets and Lies presenting them as intelligence reports. work. An old Indian inexplicably cranks grass grow and the squirrel’s heart TOUGH LOVE An anecdote from the early 1990s, an antique gramophone in the middle of beat, and we should die of that roar Investigating a famed Polish journalist BY PAUL SALOPEK Published two years ago in Polish, when Poland’s right-wing press was a Mexican desert. Or the inhabitants of a which lies on the other side of silence.” Domoslawski’s book ignited fierce gleefully outing intellectuals compro- Siberian town stagger about in a frozen debate in Kapuscinski’s homeland, mised by the ancien régime, reveals fog, leaving discernible tunnels through Megan O’Grady, a 2012 Nieman Ryszard Kapuscinski: A Life A clumsy moment of stonewalling— where the author of “Imperium,” “The the terrible power of this kept secret. it. His books never include disclaimers. Fellow, is a contributing editor at By Artur Domoslawski self-revealing in retrospect—jars an Soccer War,” “The Emperor,” “Another Kapuscinski—by all accounts a gnomish, Meanwhile, during his three years of Vogue, where she writes the Books Translated By Antonia Lloyd-Jones otherwise sleek 2004 documentary Day of Life” and other works of lyrical affable personality—exploded after a research, Domoslawski unearths more column. She’s on the board of the Verso. 464 pages. about the fabled Polish journalist reportage has been elevated to the status cocktail party where a post-communist fictions that have little to do with art. National Book Critics Circle and Ryszard Kapuscinski: When the of Journalist of the Century. Yet bureaucrat glibly named Polish diplo- It appears that Kapuscinski trans- lives in New York. film’s interviewer asks Kapuscinski, Domoslawski’s book is a mournful mats he thought had been Soviet agents. ferred his “magical realism” to the pages

48 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 49 fractured American identity catch the light. In a series I’ve developed with my editor, Valerie Steiker, called “Lives,” I look at historical women— often a writer sidelined from literary Books history, like the modernist Djuna Barnes, or someone who isn’t well known in the United States, such as deferentially, about the multiple death expos-, and so his revelations are gen- “How dare you, you bastard!” the writer the Russian poet Anna Akhmatova sentences he allegedly survived while tly rendered. A former acolyte of the shouted, pinning the startled official to or Brazil’s Kafka, Clarice Lispector— covering dictatorships and coups in the famed war correspondent, he describes the wall by his lapels. or more famous names—Cleopatra, developing world, the famously mild, Kapuscinski’s improbable trajectory “I begin to think he was crushed by Gypsy Rose Lee, Edith Wharton, self-effacing writer grows defensive. from a childhood of genteel poverty in fear—and not merely of revelations of Sarah Bernhardt, Coco Chanel— He shakes his head in annoyance. In a backwater called Pinsk to the glitter- his cooperation with the intelligence “icons” or “legends” whose complex- accented English, he cuts off the ques- ing banquet halls of Europe and the service,” Domoslawski writes of the aging ity and historical importance has tioner. “I am not talking about these Americas with love—albeit a tough Kapuscinski’s final, anxiety-riddled blurred. These articles tend to have problems—never. Never answer these love. He locates, for example, evidence years. “It was about far more than that.” similar themes: How complicit were questions,” he mutters. Following an these women in the making of their emphatic pause, he adds stiffly, “Next own mythology? And how distant one please.” It appears that Kapuscinski transferred his ‘magical was the reality of their lives? Five years after dying from complica- It’s a dystopic moment in tions of cancer, Kapuscinski remains realism’ to the pages of his own life. American literature right now— one of the most celebrated chroniclers of bookstores are crowded with vam- human suffering in our time: a solitary pires and zombies and apocalyptic philosopher-reporter who was catapulted from government files that implicates He is referring, of course, to visions, and on the other hand, there’s to fame by reporting from the world’s the young Kapuscinski in intelligence Kapuscinski’s controversial habit of a lot of soft nostalgia, a hearkening danger zones, usually on the shoestring gathering abroad. conflating journalism and literature. back to simpler times. For the March budget of the Polish Press Agency, and Many Eastern Bloc foreign cor- Kapuscinski himself often described issue, I chose a book that confronts who shaped his daily dispatches into respondents were forced to collaborate his reporting method as creative: He the mood head-on without resort- books of luminous prose adored by mil- with communist regimes during the Cold insisted he wrote to the “essence of ing to cynicism or naiveté: Lauren lions, among them literary giants such as War. But for Kapuscinski, whose oeuvre the matter.” Domoslawski records him Groff’s “Arcadia,” a novel about the John Updike and Salman Rushdie. returns again and again to ordinary explaining to a colleague how tinker- rise and fall of one utopian society. But in “Ryszard Kapuscinski: A Life,” people’s struggles against power, the ing with the sequence of real events A defense of idealism, it’s a nuanced the journalist Artur Domoslawski strips shame of cooperation was gutting. In is acceptable because it “sometimes response to the anger and disaffection away Kapuscinski’s mythic Lone Ranger Africa, foreign ministry officials assigned helps to convey a deeper meaning. It all that’s behind the Tea Partiers and the mask. And what emerges beneath is him to keep tabs on American compa- depends how it is done, and whether it Occupy movement. We don’t have to a haunting portrait of a man who felt nies and agencies. (The Polish embassies’ sits within the particular realities, within choose between the novel of ideas and increasingly oppressed by his legacy—a vaudevillian code for making contact the climate, or whether it is artificial, the novel of aesthetics, between social storyteller compelled by ultimate truths with the journalist was, “Greetings from invented, deceptive.” relevance and beautiful sentences. and deep history, yet desperate to shield Zygmunt.” Kapuscinski’s countersign This type of literary reportage, Kapus- The challenge lies instead in the over- his readers from manufactured elements was “Has he sold the car?”) In Latin cinski’s defenders have always noted, is whelming clamor for our attention, Accuracy was a hot topic when Ryszard Kapuscinski, right, taught journalists at the invitation of of his own past. He died, ill and steeped America the security service handlers rooted in an Eastern European tradition and the limitations of empathy—not, Gabriel García Márquez. Photo courtesy of the Ibero-American New Journalism Foundation. in dread, still trying. “I will sell you for knew Kapuscinski by his code name that used allegory to navigate around the as it turns out, a new concern. “If we nothing an idea for the title of your “Vera Cruz.” By then, however, Kapuscin- culture of censorship prevalent behind had a keen vision and feeling of all book,” a close friend of Kapuscinski sadly ski had grown famous enough to push the Iron Curtain. To be fair, Kapuscinski’s ordinary human life,” Eliot wrote in tells the biographer. “ ‘Kapuscinski—the back. He pulled the freelancer’s old trick text does brim with dreamlike imagery “Middlemarch” more than a century price of greatness.’ ” of recycling articles—in this case, by that clearly signals the imagination at ago, “it would be like hearing the Secrets and Lies presenting them as intelligence reports. work. An old Indian inexplicably cranks grass grow and the squirrel’s heart TOUGH LOVE An anecdote from the early 1990s, an antique gramophone in the middle of beat, and we should die of that roar Investigating a famed Polish journalist BY PAUL SALOPEK Published two years ago in Polish, when Poland’s right-wing press was a Mexican desert. Or the inhabitants of a which lies on the other side of silence.” Domoslawski’s book ignited fierce gleefully outing intellectuals compro- Siberian town stagger about in a frozen debate in Kapuscinski’s homeland, mised by the ancien régime, reveals fog, leaving discernible tunnels through Megan O’Grady, a 2012 Nieman Ryszard Kapuscinski: A Life A clumsy moment of stonewalling— where the author of “Imperium,” “The the terrible power of this kept secret. it. His books never include disclaimers. Fellow, is a contributing editor at By Artur Domoslawski self-revealing in retrospect—jars an Soccer War,” “The Emperor,” “Another Kapuscinski—by all accounts a gnomish, Meanwhile, during his three years of Vogue, where she writes the Books Translated By Antonia Lloyd-Jones otherwise sleek 2004 documentary Day of Life” and other works of lyrical affable personality—exploded after a research, Domoslawski unearths more column. She’s on the board of the Verso. 464 pages. about the fabled Polish journalist reportage has been elevated to the status cocktail party where a post-communist fictions that have little to do with art. National Book Critics Circle and Ryszard Kapuscinski: When the of Journalist of the Century. Yet bureaucrat glibly named Polish diplo- It appears that Kapuscinski trans- lives in New York. film’s interviewer asks Kapuscinski, Domoslawski’s book is a mournful mats he thought had been Soviet agents. ferred his “magical realism” to the pages

48 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 49 BOOKS

of his own life. Traveling in the great Kennedy had learned that while But after careful consideration, he stories like Edward Kennedy’s more than wanderer’s footsteps, Domoslawski he and 16 other correspondents had knew that military security was not ever. finds eyewitnesses who contradict The Fight of His Life agreed not to report the surrender they involved. He and his colleagues had been As Kennedy reminds us, truth need not several famous Kapuscinski-ian had witnessed at General Dwight D. hoodwinked for political purposes. be the first casualty in war, nor the last. incidents of derring-do. It’s unlikely, Eisenhower’s headquarters until given Today, in an age when government All journalists owe Edward Kennedy he concludes, that Kapuscinski faced Ed Kennedy paid a high price for spreading news of the the green light, a German radio station manipulation of information appears to a debt for distinguished journalism death by firing squads in Africa or war’s end. BY BILL SCHILLER in Allied-occupied territory had broad- be growing, when the shameful spinning under fire. South America, as his book jacket cast the news—with Allied approval. of tales like those about soldiers Pat blurbs assert. (Hence, perhaps, his The embargo broken, the news out, Tillman and Jessica Lynch are wrought Bill Schiller, a 2006 Nieman Fellow, is a evasiveness in the documentary.) Ed Kennedy’s War: V-E Day, Censorship & “It was a terrible day for the AP. It Kennedy approached the military, de- from whole cloth, we need inspirational foreign affairs writer for the Toronto Star. Kapuscinski also appears to have The Associated Press was handled in the worst possible way,” manding an explanation. Getting none, grossly exaggerated his friendships Edited By Julia Kennedy Cochran said Tom Curley, the agency’s president he paused to consider, then moved swiftly. with leftist liberation icons such as Louisiana State University Press. and chief executive officer, in making He called a colleague in the AP’s Che Guevara, Salvador Allende, or 201 pages. the apology. Kennedy, he concluded, had London office and told him the news: Patrice Lumumba. He may have done “everything just right.” “Germany has surrendered uncondition- never met them at all. The former foreign correspondent ally. That’s surrendered unconditionally. Domoslawski defers to a former It should have been the apex of ended his days with his pride and That’s official. Make the date Reims, New York Times correspondent who his illustrious career. But in some ways, journalistic principles intact, putting France, and get it out.” knew Kapuscinski to sum up such it was the beginning of the end for out a small, high-quality newspaper in He dictated about 300 words before mythomania: “As the years went by, Edward Kennedy. Monterey, California. the connection broke. Then he turned to he became a member of the intel- The “scoop of the century”—Kennedy’s Already suffering from cancer, he died his colleagues and said, “Well, now let’s ligentsia … but he came from a poor exclusive May 7, 1945 report on in 1963 after being hit by a car. He went see what happens.” background, from the provinces, from Germany’s unconditional surrender and out doing what he loved to do. All hell broke loose. The AP was ignorance,” said the late Michael T. the end of World War II in Europe— “We can sell these pieces of dead trees bullied by the military, its operations in Kaufman. “He had to make a super- commanded front pages and radio only by creating the illusion that they the European Theater shut down, and it human effort and do some incredible reports around the world. It triggered are alive,” he wrote in his final editorial. quickly backed down—even before it had work on himself to get to the top, to celebrations everywhere. “This we attempt to do, with varying obtained the facts from its own reporter. reach the position he achieved at the But Kennedy, then Paris bureau degrees of success, by headlines that Military leaders weren’t the only ones end of his life.” chief for The Associated Press (AP), grip the eye and written material that to condemn Kennedy. The New York Burdened by his self-made legend, was swiftly suspended and months later clutches the heart and soul of man.” Times, which had used Kennedy’s story Kapuscinski died planning one more quietly let go. Kennedy was attempting to do just on its front page with multi-stacked improbable journey, to the islands of He stood accused by the Allied that when, after six long years of war headlines announcing the end of the war, Oceania, a place he had never been. military of breaking an agreed-upon in Europe, the military was trying to also attacked him, decrying Kennedy’s Was it an escape? His last note- embargo, thereby causing a security risk. muzzle the media—not for security report as a “grave disservice to the news- book entries, written after he was His colleagues who had agreed to reasons, but for politics. paper profession.” hooked up to a feeding tube, still hold the embargo accused him of the biggest News that would grip the very heart It was, of course, no such thing. It was the master’s trademark beauty, and double-cross in journalistic history. and soul of a world yearning for peace one of the AP’s and American journal- can be read, as the best Kapuscinski Kennedy stood tall against the charges was being withheld. ism’s finest moments and might well always will be, on multiple levels. all of his life. He contended that he had have saved lives. “A terrible feeling of helplessness, never put any life at risk nor had he DEAL BREAKER “The war was over; there was no mili- I’m losing touch with the world, double-crossed anyone. Instead, he said, The powers in Washington and London tary security involved, and the people had with the light, with my surroundings, he had done his duty as a journalist: He wanted to delay the announcement of a right to know,” Kennedy told reporters with reality, it’s all drifting away, had stood up against political censorship. war’s end for 36 hours to allow the Soviet when he landed in New York on June 4. disappearing.” Now we have his posthumously Union to stage its own signing ceremony As his memoir recounts in telling published memoir explaining it all in cool in Berlin and make people in its sphere detail, Kennedy knew the difference Paul Salopek is a Pulitzer Prize- detail, how he did it, why he did it and of influence believe that it had delivered between censorship for political reasons winning foreign correspondent. why, finally—after all these years—the AP the death blow to Nazism, with contribu- and censorship for security concerns. As While on fellowship at the Nieman was moved to issue an apology this past tions from other, lesser parties. an AP correspondent for a decade, he Foundation, he researched an around- May. Instead of standing up for a reporter But Kennedy brought his signature had traveled across war zones in Spain, the-world journey he’ll make on foot who had performed to the highest jour- alertness, sound judgment, and con- Italy, the Middle East, and Europe, and to tell the story of human migration nalistic standards, his bosses at the AP siderable spine to do what every good had operated regularly under the mili- Ed Kennedy, center, and an unidentified AP staffer react to the bombing at Anzio beachhead in out of Africa 50,000 years ago. not only abandoned him, they fired him. reporter should have done that day. tary censor’s blue pen. 1944. Photo courtesy of Louisiana State University Press.

50 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 51 BOOKS

of his own life. Traveling in the great Kennedy had learned that while But after careful consideration, he stories like Edward Kennedy’s more than wanderer’s footsteps, Domoslawski he and 16 other correspondents had knew that military security was not ever. finds eyewitnesses who contradict The Fight of His Life agreed not to report the surrender they involved. He and his colleagues had been As Kennedy reminds us, truth need not several famous Kapuscinski-ian had witnessed at General Dwight D. hoodwinked for political purposes. be the first casualty in war, nor the last. incidents of derring-do. It’s unlikely, Eisenhower’s headquarters until given Today, in an age when government All journalists owe Edward Kennedy he concludes, that Kapuscinski faced Ed Kennedy paid a high price for spreading news of the the green light, a German radio station manipulation of information appears to a debt for distinguished journalism death by firing squads in Africa or war’s end. BY BILL SCHILLER in Allied-occupied territory had broad- be growing, when the shameful spinning under fire. South America, as his book jacket cast the news—with Allied approval. of tales like those about soldiers Pat blurbs assert. (Hence, perhaps, his The embargo broken, the news out, Tillman and Jessica Lynch are wrought Bill Schiller, a 2006 Nieman Fellow, is a evasiveness in the documentary.) Ed Kennedy’s War: V-E Day, Censorship & “It was a terrible day for the AP. It Kennedy approached the military, de- from whole cloth, we need inspirational foreign affairs writer for the Toronto Star. Kapuscinski also appears to have The Associated Press was handled in the worst possible way,” manding an explanation. Getting none, grossly exaggerated his friendships Edited By Julia Kennedy Cochran said Tom Curley, the agency’s president he paused to consider, then moved swiftly. with leftist liberation icons such as Louisiana State University Press. and chief executive officer, in making He called a colleague in the AP’s Che Guevara, Salvador Allende, or 201 pages. the apology. Kennedy, he concluded, had London office and told him the news: Patrice Lumumba. He may have done “everything just right.” “Germany has surrendered uncondition- never met them at all. The former foreign correspondent ally. That’s surrendered unconditionally. Domoslawski defers to a former It should have been the apex of ended his days with his pride and That’s official. Make the date Reims, New York Times correspondent who his illustrious career. But in some ways, journalistic principles intact, putting France, and get it out.” knew Kapuscinski to sum up such it was the beginning of the end for out a small, high-quality newspaper in He dictated about 300 words before mythomania: “As the years went by, Edward Kennedy. Monterey, California. the connection broke. Then he turned to he became a member of the intel- The “scoop of the century”—Kennedy’s Already suffering from cancer, he died his colleagues and said, “Well, now let’s ligentsia … but he came from a poor exclusive May 7, 1945 report on in 1963 after being hit by a car. He went see what happens.” background, from the provinces, from Germany’s unconditional surrender and out doing what he loved to do. All hell broke loose. The AP was ignorance,” said the late Michael T. the end of World War II in Europe— “We can sell these pieces of dead trees bullied by the military, its operations in Kaufman. “He had to make a super- commanded front pages and radio only by creating the illusion that they the European Theater shut down, and it human effort and do some incredible reports around the world. It triggered are alive,” he wrote in his final editorial. quickly backed down—even before it had work on himself to get to the top, to celebrations everywhere. “This we attempt to do, with varying obtained the facts from its own reporter. reach the position he achieved at the But Kennedy, then Paris bureau degrees of success, by headlines that Military leaders weren’t the only ones end of his life.” chief for The Associated Press (AP), grip the eye and written material that to condemn Kennedy. The New York Burdened by his self-made legend, was swiftly suspended and months later clutches the heart and soul of man.” Times, which had used Kennedy’s story Kapuscinski died planning one more quietly let go. Kennedy was attempting to do just on its front page with multi-stacked improbable journey, to the islands of He stood accused by the Allied that when, after six long years of war headlines announcing the end of the war, Oceania, a place he had never been. military of breaking an agreed-upon in Europe, the military was trying to also attacked him, decrying Kennedy’s Was it an escape? His last note- embargo, thereby causing a security risk. muzzle the media—not for security report as a “grave disservice to the news- book entries, written after he was His colleagues who had agreed to reasons, but for politics. paper profession.” hooked up to a feeding tube, still hold the embargo accused him of the biggest News that would grip the very heart It was, of course, no such thing. It was the master’s trademark beauty, and double-cross in journalistic history. and soul of a world yearning for peace one of the AP’s and American journal- can be read, as the best Kapuscinski Kennedy stood tall against the charges was being withheld. ism’s finest moments and might well always will be, on multiple levels. all of his life. He contended that he had have saved lives. “A terrible feeling of helplessness, never put any life at risk nor had he DEAL BREAKER “The war was over; there was no mili- I’m losing touch with the world, double-crossed anyone. Instead, he said, The powers in Washington and London tary security involved, and the people had with the light, with my surroundings, he had done his duty as a journalist: He wanted to delay the announcement of a right to know,” Kennedy told reporters with reality, it’s all drifting away, had stood up against political censorship. war’s end for 36 hours to allow the Soviet when he landed in New York on June 4. disappearing.” Now we have his posthumously Union to stage its own signing ceremony As his memoir recounts in telling published memoir explaining it all in cool in Berlin and make people in its sphere detail, Kennedy knew the difference Paul Salopek is a Pulitzer Prize- detail, how he did it, why he did it and of influence believe that it had delivered between censorship for political reasons winning foreign correspondent. why, finally—after all these years—the AP the death blow to Nazism, with contribu- and censorship for security concerns. As While on fellowship at the Nieman was moved to issue an apology this past tions from other, lesser parties. an AP correspondent for a decade, he Foundation, he researched an around- May. Instead of standing up for a reporter But Kennedy brought his signature had traveled across war zones in Spain, the-world journey he’ll make on foot who had performed to the highest jour- alertness, sound judgment, and con- Italy, the Middle East, and Europe, and to tell the story of human migration nalistic standards, his bosses at the AP siderable spine to do what every good had operated regularly under the mili- Ed Kennedy, center, and an unidentified AP staffer react to the bombing at Anzio beachhead in out of Africa 50,000 years ago. not only abandoned him, they fired him. reporter should have done that day. tary censor’s blue pen. 1944. Photo courtesy of Louisiana State University Press.

50 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 51 BOOKS Nieman Notes encouraged Wallace to be a part of the boys’ lives and welcomed his presence. Mr. Difficult It led to a renewed relationship. 1942 Sancton was Washington tor of the Nieman Foundation, Wallace’s own life was profoundly Thomas Sancton, a Southern editor for The Nation before Giles is now commentary editor The personal turmoil lurking beneath the tough exterior altered when Peter died as a young man journalist who wrote articles in returning to New Orleans. for GlobalPost. from a fall while hiking in Greece in the 1940s advocating for racial During nine years as a feature BY STUART WATSON 1962. The loss made him rethink his justice, died at a nursing home writer for The New Orleans 1969 career choices. He focused more than in New Orleans on April 6th. He Item, he wrote two novels set Mike McGrady, a longtime Mike Wallace: A Life ever on journalism. It’s easy to see how was 97. in Louisiana, “Count Roller reporter and critic for Newsday By Peter Rader his career could have continued as pitch- A graduate of Tulane Skates,” later reissued as “The best known as the mastermind St. Martin’s Press. 323 pages. man and game show host. But he was University, Sancton began his Magnificent Rascal,” in 1956, and of a ribald literary spoof, died driven to produce more substantial and career reporting for The (New “By Starlight” in 1960. Neither of pneumonia on May 13th in lasting work. Orleans) Times-Picayune before was the financial success he had Shelton, Washington. He was 78. In his waning years, broadcast Wallace learned to use his voice as a Wallace was married four times in all. joining The Associated Press and hoped for but his first novel was Published in the summer pioneer Mike Wallace declined screen- skinny Jewish kid in Brookline, He was not a philanderer, but this book moving to New York. During his optioned this year for a movie. of 1969, “Naked Came the writer and filmmaker Peter Rader’s Massachusetts to compensate for pro- chronicles in some detail how he seemed Nieman year he married Seta, While at the Item, he also Stranger” was conceived by request to be interviewed for his biog- found insecurity about his pockmarked more comfortable with the enduring who died in 2007, and left taught feature writing at Tulane. Pulitzer Prize for Biography: in McGrady as a commentary on raphy, “Mike Wallace: A Life.” It’s prob- face and overbearing mother. Decades marriage to his vocation, his calling, his Cambridge early to become man- Among his students was John 1975 for “The Power Broker,” the declining tastes of American ably just as well. Rader meticulously later, he famously reduced Barbra voice. He recognized it as a character aging editor of The New Republic, Kennedy Toole, author of “A about New York City planner readers. The novel would offer researched Wallace’s unique life in and Streisand to tears on camera over the flaw. He also did not give up on mar- a post that gave him a platform Confederacy of Dunces.” Some of Robert Moses, and in 2003 for little in the way of plot or style out of broadcast journalism and he has very same insecurities he instinctively riage, his final in 1986 was to Mary Yates, for his views on racial justice. his students became so devoted “Master of the Senate,” the third as it followed in graphic detail crafted a narrative that is both engag- recognized from his own experience. the widow of his former producer and His essays and editorials to him that they held annual volume in his “Years of Lyndon a suburban woman’s sexual ing and revealing, though some readers He didn’t gain admission to the good friend Ted Yates. Two years earlier denouncing segregation pro- reunions at his house. One stu- Johnson” series. conquests in the wake of her may be put off by his admission that he University of Michigan without a good she literally saved his life when she voked outrage in some quarters, dent told Sancton’s son, Thomas In a profile in The New York husband’s affair. wrote some “imagined dialogue.” The word from his friendly uncle, Leo rescued him from an overdose of pills. and a Mississippi congressman A. Sancton, a former foreign Times Magazine in April, Caro McGrady wrote the first book exposes many shortcomings and Scharfman, who was on the faculty. Wallace later spoke frequently and freely denounced him on the floor correspondent for Time maga- recalled a pivotal moment chapter and drafted colleagues weaknesses that the great interrogator Wallace later left a legacy there by about his own depression. He spoke of the House of Representa- zine, that the class was like “one during his Nieman year. His class at Newsday to finish the book. zeroed in on in others but never wanted donating Wallace House, home of the less often of the failed suicide attempt. tives, an outburst that Sancton big church service, something to on land use and urban planning “As one of Newsday’s truly to confront himself. Knight-Wallace journalism fellows. He He left a note, which, Rader writes, “… considered a badge of honor. worship and treasure for life.” was discussing how traffic and outstanding literary talents, you In the days and weeks immediately learned the real power of his voice at befitting Mike, was rather impersonal— His role as an early crusader for In addition to his son, population density determined are hereby officially invited to following Wallace’s death, it was easy to the campus radio station and later at relating to financial matters rather than civil rights earned him a place Sancton is survived by two where highways got built, and become the co-author of a best- watch the highlight reels of his career WOOD/WASH radio (twin call letters his feelings.” What is glaringly apparent in books such as The Library of daughters, five grandchildren, Caro thought to himself, “This is selling novel,” McGrady wrote in and feel a warm glow, but it’s much because a furniture company owned from the rest of this book is that had his America anthology “Reporting one great-grandchild, and one completely wrong. This isn’t why his pitch to them. “There will be harder to confront his character flaws off half of the station and a laundry the suicide attempt been successful, Wallace Civil Rights” and John Egerton’s great-great-grandchild. highways get built. Highways an unremitting emphasis on sex. camera. He put his career ahead of fam- other half). His early days in broadcast- would have missed the opportunity to “Speak Now Against the Day: get built because Robert Moses Also, true excellence in writing ily and friends. He could be cruel and ing were less than glamorous. He once make peace with himself and his loved The Generation Before the Civil 1966 wants them built there. If you will be quickly blue-penciled sexist to women in the workplace. He shoveled elephant dung to clear the ones and the world would have been Rights Movement in the South.” Robert A. Caro’s fourth volume don’t find out and explain to into oblivion.” was at times consumed with self-pity. stage for the live broadcast of WGN’s cheated of more decades of tremendous about President Lyndon Johnson, people where Robert Moses gets The project was delayed The retrospectives and obituaries are “Super Circus” in Chicago. reporting. “The Passage of Power,” was his power, then everything else by McGrady’s reporting trip to reminders of his unique contributions to His first marriage was to his college Wallace’s prickly, challenging persona published on May 1 by Knopf. you do is going to be dishonest.” broadcast journalism, but this biography sweetheart, Norma Kaphan. He wasn’t on “60 Minutes” meshed perfectly with Covering the years 1958 to takes Wallace away from the glowing ready. He went off to war in a noncom- public skepticism after Vietnam and 1964, the book examines Bob Giles has been elected to screen and puts him on the couch. It bat role in the South Pacific and was Watergate and the exponential growth of Johnson’s frustration about the American Academy of Arts was not easy to work with him. It was absent when his oldest child developed television as a news medium. He spoke up giving up the power he wielded and Sciences. The 220 members not easy to be married to him. It was tuberculosis. Norma enlisted a family for the voiceless. And that voice said, “Aw as Senate majority leader to elected this year will be inducted not easy to be his child. It was not easy physician to prevail on the U.S. Navy to c’mon!” The phrase that Wallace chose to become vice president, his at a ceremony in October at to be him. send him home. But the military was apply to himself may be applied to Peter ascendency to the presidency the academy’s headquarters Mike Wallace’s resonant voice, his a temporary absence. Wallace’s career Rader’s fine book: “Tough, but fair.” after the assassination of John F. in Cambridge, Massachusetts. jet-black hair, his demeanor at once made for a more prolonged absence in Kennedy, and the burst of legis- Joining Giles in the class of 2012 prickly and endearing, make him the lives of his sons, Peter and Chris. The Stuart Watson, a 2008 Nieman Fellow, lation that laid the groundwork are Boston Globe editor Marty seem—in retrospect—born for broad- book details how Norma’s second hus- is an investigative reporter at WCNC-TV for Johnson’s Great Society. Baron and television journalist cast. What is less well known is how band, CBS executive William Leonard, in Charlotte, North Carolina. Thomas Sancton Caro has twice won the Judy Woodruff. The former cura- Mike McGrady

52 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 53 BOOKS Nieman Notes encouraged Wallace to be a part of the boys’ lives and welcomed his presence. Mr. Difficult It led to a renewed relationship. 1942 Sancton was Washington tor of the Nieman Foundation, Wallace’s own life was profoundly Thomas Sancton, a Southern editor for The Nation before Giles is now commentary editor The personal turmoil lurking beneath the tough exterior altered when Peter died as a young man journalist who wrote articles in returning to New Orleans. for GlobalPost. from a fall while hiking in Greece in the 1940s advocating for racial During nine years as a feature BY STUART WATSON 1962. The loss made him rethink his justice, died at a nursing home writer for The New Orleans 1969 career choices. He focused more than in New Orleans on April 6th. He Item, he wrote two novels set Mike McGrady, a longtime Mike Wallace: A Life ever on journalism. It’s easy to see how was 97. in Louisiana, “Count Roller reporter and critic for Newsday By Peter Rader his career could have continued as pitch- A graduate of Tulane Skates,” later reissued as “The best known as the mastermind St. Martin’s Press. 323 pages. man and game show host. But he was University, Sancton began his Magnificent Rascal,” in 1956, and of a ribald literary spoof, died driven to produce more substantial and career reporting for The (New “By Starlight” in 1960. Neither of pneumonia on May 13th in lasting work. Orleans) Times-Picayune before was the financial success he had Shelton, Washington. He was 78. In his waning years, broadcast Wallace learned to use his voice as a Wallace was married four times in all. joining The Associated Press and hoped for but his first novel was Published in the summer pioneer Mike Wallace declined screen- skinny Jewish kid in Brookline, He was not a philanderer, but this book moving to New York. During his optioned this year for a movie. of 1969, “Naked Came the writer and filmmaker Peter Rader’s Massachusetts to compensate for pro- chronicles in some detail how he seemed Nieman year he married Seta, While at the Item, he also Stranger” was conceived by request to be interviewed for his biog- found insecurity about his pockmarked more comfortable with the enduring who died in 2007, and left taught feature writing at Tulane. Pulitzer Prize for Biography: in McGrady as a commentary on raphy, “Mike Wallace: A Life.” It’s prob- face and overbearing mother. Decades marriage to his vocation, his calling, his Cambridge early to become man- Among his students was John 1975 for “The Power Broker,” the declining tastes of American ably just as well. Rader meticulously later, he famously reduced Barbra voice. He recognized it as a character aging editor of The New Republic, Kennedy Toole, author of “A about New York City planner readers. The novel would offer researched Wallace’s unique life in and Streisand to tears on camera over the flaw. He also did not give up on mar- a post that gave him a platform Confederacy of Dunces.” Some of Robert Moses, and in 2003 for little in the way of plot or style out of broadcast journalism and he has very same insecurities he instinctively riage, his final in 1986 was to Mary Yates, for his views on racial justice. his students became so devoted “Master of the Senate,” the third as it followed in graphic detail crafted a narrative that is both engag- recognized from his own experience. the widow of his former producer and His essays and editorials to him that they held annual volume in his “Years of Lyndon a suburban woman’s sexual ing and revealing, though some readers He didn’t gain admission to the good friend Ted Yates. Two years earlier denouncing segregation pro- reunions at his house. One stu- Johnson” series. conquests in the wake of her may be put off by his admission that he University of Michigan without a good she literally saved his life when she voked outrage in some quarters, dent told Sancton’s son, Thomas In a profile in The New York husband’s affair. wrote some “imagined dialogue.” The word from his friendly uncle, Leo rescued him from an overdose of pills. and a Mississippi congressman A. Sancton, a former foreign Times Magazine in April, Caro McGrady wrote the first book exposes many shortcomings and Scharfman, who was on the faculty. Wallace later spoke frequently and freely denounced him on the floor correspondent for Time maga- recalled a pivotal moment chapter and drafted colleagues weaknesses that the great interrogator Wallace later left a legacy there by about his own depression. He spoke of the House of Representa- zine, that the class was like “one during his Nieman year. His class at Newsday to finish the book. zeroed in on in others but never wanted donating Wallace House, home of the less often of the failed suicide attempt. tives, an outburst that Sancton big church service, something to on land use and urban planning “As one of Newsday’s truly to confront himself. Knight-Wallace journalism fellows. He He left a note, which, Rader writes, “… considered a badge of honor. worship and treasure for life.” was discussing how traffic and outstanding literary talents, you In the days and weeks immediately learned the real power of his voice at befitting Mike, was rather impersonal— His role as an early crusader for In addition to his son, population density determined are hereby officially invited to following Wallace’s death, it was easy to the campus radio station and later at relating to financial matters rather than civil rights earned him a place Sancton is survived by two where highways got built, and become the co-author of a best- watch the highlight reels of his career WOOD/WASH radio (twin call letters his feelings.” What is glaringly apparent in books such as The Library of daughters, five grandchildren, Caro thought to himself, “This is selling novel,” McGrady wrote in and feel a warm glow, but it’s much because a furniture company owned from the rest of this book is that had his America anthology “Reporting one great-grandchild, and one completely wrong. This isn’t why his pitch to them. “There will be harder to confront his character flaws off half of the station and a laundry the suicide attempt been successful, Wallace Civil Rights” and John Egerton’s great-great-grandchild. highways get built. Highways an unremitting emphasis on sex. camera. He put his career ahead of fam- other half). His early days in broadcast- would have missed the opportunity to “Speak Now Against the Day: get built because Robert Moses Also, true excellence in writing ily and friends. He could be cruel and ing were less than glamorous. He once make peace with himself and his loved The Generation Before the Civil 1966 wants them built there. If you will be quickly blue-penciled sexist to women in the workplace. He shoveled elephant dung to clear the ones and the world would have been Rights Movement in the South.” Robert A. Caro’s fourth volume don’t find out and explain to into oblivion.” was at times consumed with self-pity. stage for the live broadcast of WGN’s cheated of more decades of tremendous about President Lyndon Johnson, people where Robert Moses gets The project was delayed The retrospectives and obituaries are “Super Circus” in Chicago. reporting. “The Passage of Power,” was his power, then everything else by McGrady’s reporting trip to reminders of his unique contributions to His first marriage was to his college Wallace’s prickly, challenging persona published on May 1 by Knopf. you do is going to be dishonest.” broadcast journalism, but this biography sweetheart, Norma Kaphan. He wasn’t on “60 Minutes” meshed perfectly with Covering the years 1958 to takes Wallace away from the glowing ready. He went off to war in a noncom- public skepticism after Vietnam and 1964, the book examines Bob Giles has been elected to screen and puts him on the couch. It bat role in the South Pacific and was Watergate and the exponential growth of Johnson’s frustration about the American Academy of Arts was not easy to work with him. It was absent when his oldest child developed television as a news medium. He spoke up giving up the power he wielded and Sciences. The 220 members not easy to be married to him. It was tuberculosis. Norma enlisted a family for the voiceless. And that voice said, “Aw as Senate majority leader to elected this year will be inducted not easy to be his child. It was not easy physician to prevail on the U.S. Navy to c’mon!” The phrase that Wallace chose to become vice president, his at a ceremony in October at to be him. send him home. But the military was apply to himself may be applied to Peter ascendency to the presidency the academy’s headquarters Mike Wallace’s resonant voice, his a temporary absence. Wallace’s career Rader’s fine book: “Tough, but fair.” after the assassination of John F. in Cambridge, Massachusetts. jet-black hair, his demeanor at once made for a more prolonged absence in Kennedy, and the burst of legis- Joining Giles in the class of 2012 prickly and endearing, make him the lives of his sons, Peter and Chris. The Stuart Watson, a 2008 Nieman Fellow, lation that laid the groundwork are Boston Globe editor Marty seem—in retrospect—born for broad- book details how Norma’s second hus- is an investigative reporter at WCNC-TV for Johnson’s Great Society. Baron and television journalist cast. What is less well known is how band, CBS executive William Leonard, in Charlotte, North Carolina. Thomas Sancton Caro has twice won the Judy Woodruff. The former cura- Mike McGrady

52 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 53 NIEMAN NOTES

Vietnam and his Nieman year, He is survived by his wife, it had published. Twelve other this past fall at the National during which he and his co-edi- Corinne, two sons, a daughter, publishers also turned it down. Broadcasting Corporation in tor, Newsday colleague Harvey and five grandchildren. After her agent suggested using Kyrgyzstan, at the request of Aronson, mailed chapters back a pen name, it sold in three the American Embassy. The and forth. “We found out that 1971 days. The critically acclaimed longtime broadcast journalist it’s very difficult to write badly,” Daniel Rapoport, a longtime “Dressmaker” has spent several said it “was an extraordinary Aronson said. Washington journalist, died at weeks on The New York Times opportunity to influence and The book credited Penelope his home in East Chatham, New extended bestseller list. train both journalists and Ashe, a “demure Long Island York on April 11th after a long executives at the center of the housewife,” as its author, and battle with leukemia. He was 79. 1983 country’s emerging democ- McGrady had his sister-in-law Born in New York City, Guy Gugliotta’s book “Freedom’s racy. I taught how to question play the role for public appear- Rapoport moved to Washington, Daniel Rapoport Cap: The United States Capitol authorities, find stories, and give ances. But after “Naked” sold D.C. in 1959 after graduating and the Coming of the Civil War” William Marimow Roberto Eisenmann Mark Ethridge voice to people who have been 20,000 copies in the first few from the University of Illinois From 1984 to 1996, Farragut was published in February by quieted for so long.” weeks after publication, the and serving in the Navy. He put out 20 nonfiction titles. “As Farrar, Straus and Giroux. program at Arizona State and Stripes and the Great United States. It was released on journalists revealed themselves joined United Press International a publisher, Dan was willing and The book, his second, focuses University’s Walter Cronkite Falls (Mont.) Tribune before DVD and other formats in July. Sabine Rollberg was as its creators. According to and was covering the House of able to follow his own instincts on three men who influenced the School of Journalism and Mass becoming a technical editor The film is based on his 2006 commissioning editor of the Aronson, the revelation created Representatives at the time of and interests. Farragut was design and construction of the Communication. for the United States Forest novel “Grievances,” which was documentary “Sofia’s Last such a sensation that he and his fellowship appointment. like nothing before or since,” building: Union Army Captain In a press release announcing Service. He retired in 2010 and in turn based on a case that Ambulance,” which received McGrady were picked up by His longstanding interests said Paul Dickson, co-author Montgomery C. Meigs, the the move, Marimow said, “It will now describes himself as the Ethridge covered while working the France 4 Visionary Award helicopter for an interview on ranged from prizefighting and of “Baseball: The Presidents’ lead engineer; architect Thomas be a privilege to work alongside “North Hills Elk, Bear and Weed at The Charlotte (N.C.) Observer at the 51st La Semaine de la “CBS Evening News.” the inaccuracy of lie detectors Game,” a Farragut book. Other U. Walter; and Confederate newsroom colleagues who have Volunteer.” in 1970. While the essence of the Critique (“Critic’s Week”) during Before McGrady’s journalism to the number of lions shipped titles included “On This Spot: President Jefferson Davis. continued to produce great film—a rich white Northerner the Cannes Film Festival in May. was overshadowed by “Naked,” to Rome to engage in Coliseum Pinpointing the Past in Gugliotta, who covered journalism despite the toughest 1986 brings attention to the unsolved The film, directed by Ilian Metev, the New York City native covered battles, according to Nieman Washington, D.C.,” and “Grand Congress during a 16-year career economic conditions I’ve ever Roberto Eisenmann received murder of a black man—is follows a team of paramedics the civil rights movement and classmate John Pekkanen, who Allusions: A Lively Guide to at The Washington Post, is now a experienced.” a lifetime achievement award true to the facts, many details in the Bulgarian capital of Sofia, the Vietnam War as a reporter called Rapoport “the kindest Those Terms, Expressions and freelance science writer. Marimow’s return was from the Fundación Fórum de were changed. “The story’s not where 13 ambulances serve a and columnist for Newsday, and most gregarious man I’ve References You Ought to Know announced just days after Periodistas por las Libertades factual,” he said, “but it is true.” population of nearly 2 million. It where he worked until 1991. ever known.” But Might Not,” which was William Marimow returned the sale of Philadelphia Media de Expresión e Información Ethridge’s second novel, was produced in part by German After John Steinbeck, writing After leaving UPI, Rapoport reissued as “Merriam-Webster’s as editor of The Philadelphia Network, which controls the (Journalist’s Forum for Freedom “Fallout,” was published in broadcaster WDR, where in Newsday, called for other wrote “Inside the House: An Dictionary of Allusions.” Inquirer at the beginning of May. Inquirer as well as the of Expression and Information February by NewSouth Books. Rollberg is a commissioning American writers to come to Irreverent Guided Tour Through In addition to his wife, he is He ran the paper from 2006 Philadelphia Daily News and Foundation) in Panama. It’s what he calls “an ‘Old Man editor. Vietnam and see the war for the House of Representatives, survived by three children and to 2010 when he was reassigned their joint website Philly.com, Eisenmann, the retired and the Sea’ kind of story,” about themselves, McGrady convinced From the Days of Adam Clayton one grandchild. to the investigative reporting to local investors. founder of the daily newspaper an editor at a weekly newspaper 1989 the paper to send him in 1967. Powell to Those of Peter Rodino,” team. He left the paper in 2011 La Prensa who was exiled from who stumbles onto a big story. Norman Robinson will receive His columns from Vietnam were published by Follett in 1975. He 1974 to head the Carnegie-Knight 1984 Panama during the Noriega To promote “Deadline,” the a 2012 Lifetime Achievement honored with an award from also wrote for National Journal Patricia O’Brien’s sixth novel, News21 digital journalism Bert Lindler was named a hero regime, was honored for his filmmakers teamed up with Award from the Press Club of the Overseas Press Club for best and Washingtonian magazine. “The Dressmaker,” was pub- of conservation in the April issue long commitment to journalists’ newspapers to host screenings New Orleans. interpretation of foreign affairs, In 1983 he founded Farragut lished by Doubleday in February of Field & Stream magazine. rights. in 45 cities, with all of the profits A longtime broadcast and they were republished as a Publishing, which had early suc- under the pseudonym Kate For the past seven years This is the 16th year that going to local nonprofits, such journalist who is a news anchor book called “A Dove in Vietnam.” cess with a series of cookbooks Alcott. Lindler has been a volunteer the foundation has given the as the Reporters Committee for at WDSU-TV in New Orleans, Later he was a film critic and co-written by his wife, Maxine. It tells the story of Tess, a caretaker for a herd of 470 elk awards. A panel of eight inter- the Freedom of the Press in Robinson will be recognized at restaurant reviewer. “He was a natural innovator,” passenger on the Titanic who is that winter on the outskirts national journalists, including Washington, D.C. and VOX, the organization’s 54th annual McGrady wrote a number said a Farragut colleague, an aspiring seamstress work- of Missoula, Montana. He has Cecilia Alvear, NF ‘89, an inde- a group that supports teen Excellence in Journalism Awards of novels and nonfiction books, Merideth Menken. “He offered ing for a famous designer. She worked with conservation pendent multimedia journalist, journalists in Atlanta. in July. In addition to New including “Stranger Than Naked: profit-sharing agreements to survives the disaster only to be groups, state agencies, local made the selections. “The movie has a very posi- Orleans, he has worked for Or, How to Write Dirty Books for Farragut authors and created caught up in the media frenzy ranchers, and homeowners tive message about journalists broadcast outlets in Southern Fun and Profit” and “The Kitchen partnerships with those who that followed. to control weeds and modify Mark Ethridge wrote the screen- and journalism,” Ethridge said. California, New York, and Sink Papers: My Life as a House needed Farragut’s experience to Simon & Schuster rejected fences so the elk can find food play for the independent film Washington, D.C., where he was Husband.” He also was the co- ‘package’ books under their own the manuscript due to poor sales and move across the land. “Deadline,” which premiered in 1987 a member of the White House author of two memoirs by “Deep imprints, a forerunner of today’s for O’Brien’s previous novel, Lindler was a reporter for February and has been screened Valerie Hyman conducted a Press Corps as a correspondent Throat” star Linda Lovelace. self-publishing movement.” “Harriet and Isabella,” which the European edition of Stars in a number of cities across the three-week training program for CBS News.

54 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 55 NIEMAN NOTES

Vietnam and his Nieman year, He is survived by his wife, it had published. Twelve other this past fall at the National during which he and his co-edi- Corinne, two sons, a daughter, publishers also turned it down. Broadcasting Corporation in tor, Newsday colleague Harvey and five grandchildren. After her agent suggested using Kyrgyzstan, at the request of Aronson, mailed chapters back a pen name, it sold in three the American Embassy. The and forth. “We found out that 1971 days. The critically acclaimed longtime broadcast journalist it’s very difficult to write badly,” Daniel Rapoport, a longtime “Dressmaker” has spent several said it “was an extraordinary Aronson said. Washington journalist, died at weeks on The New York Times opportunity to influence and The book credited Penelope his home in East Chatham, New extended bestseller list. train both journalists and Ashe, a “demure Long Island York on April 11th after a long executives at the center of the housewife,” as its author, and battle with leukemia. He was 79. 1983 country’s emerging democ- McGrady had his sister-in-law Born in New York City, Guy Gugliotta’s book “Freedom’s racy. I taught how to question play the role for public appear- Rapoport moved to Washington, Daniel Rapoport Cap: The United States Capitol authorities, find stories, and give ances. But after “Naked” sold D.C. in 1959 after graduating and the Coming of the Civil War” William Marimow Roberto Eisenmann Mark Ethridge voice to people who have been 20,000 copies in the first few from the University of Illinois From 1984 to 1996, Farragut was published in February by quieted for so long.” weeks after publication, the and serving in the Navy. He put out 20 nonfiction titles. “As Farrar, Straus and Giroux. program at Arizona State and Stripes and the Great United States. It was released on journalists revealed themselves joined United Press International a publisher, Dan was willing and The book, his second, focuses University’s Walter Cronkite Falls (Mont.) Tribune before DVD and other formats in July. Sabine Rollberg was as its creators. According to and was covering the House of able to follow his own instincts on three men who influenced the School of Journalism and Mass becoming a technical editor The film is based on his 2006 commissioning editor of the Aronson, the revelation created Representatives at the time of and interests. Farragut was design and construction of the Communication. for the United States Forest novel “Grievances,” which was documentary “Sofia’s Last such a sensation that he and his fellowship appointment. like nothing before or since,” building: Union Army Captain In a press release announcing Service. He retired in 2010 and in turn based on a case that Ambulance,” which received McGrady were picked up by His longstanding interests said Paul Dickson, co-author Montgomery C. Meigs, the the move, Marimow said, “It will now describes himself as the Ethridge covered while working the France 4 Visionary Award helicopter for an interview on ranged from prizefighting and of “Baseball: The Presidents’ lead engineer; architect Thomas be a privilege to work alongside “North Hills Elk, Bear and Weed at The Charlotte (N.C.) Observer at the 51st La Semaine de la “CBS Evening News.” the inaccuracy of lie detectors Game,” a Farragut book. Other U. Walter; and Confederate newsroom colleagues who have Volunteer.” in 1970. While the essence of the Critique (“Critic’s Week”) during Before McGrady’s journalism to the number of lions shipped titles included “On This Spot: President Jefferson Davis. continued to produce great film—a rich white Northerner the Cannes Film Festival in May. was overshadowed by “Naked,” to Rome to engage in Coliseum Pinpointing the Past in Gugliotta, who covered journalism despite the toughest 1986 brings attention to the unsolved The film, directed by Ilian Metev, the New York City native covered battles, according to Nieman Washington, D.C.,” and “Grand Congress during a 16-year career economic conditions I’ve ever Roberto Eisenmann received murder of a black man—is follows a team of paramedics the civil rights movement and classmate John Pekkanen, who Allusions: A Lively Guide to at The Washington Post, is now a experienced.” a lifetime achievement award true to the facts, many details in the Bulgarian capital of Sofia, the Vietnam War as a reporter called Rapoport “the kindest Those Terms, Expressions and freelance science writer. Marimow’s return was from the Fundación Fórum de were changed. “The story’s not where 13 ambulances serve a and columnist for Newsday, and most gregarious man I’ve References You Ought to Know announced just days after Periodistas por las Libertades factual,” he said, “but it is true.” population of nearly 2 million. It where he worked until 1991. ever known.” But Might Not,” which was William Marimow returned the sale of Philadelphia Media de Expresión e Información Ethridge’s second novel, was produced in part by German After John Steinbeck, writing After leaving UPI, Rapoport reissued as “Merriam-Webster’s as editor of The Philadelphia Network, which controls the (Journalist’s Forum for Freedom “Fallout,” was published in broadcaster WDR, where in Newsday, called for other wrote “Inside the House: An Dictionary of Allusions.” Inquirer at the beginning of May. Inquirer as well as the of Expression and Information February by NewSouth Books. Rollberg is a commissioning American writers to come to Irreverent Guided Tour Through In addition to his wife, he is He ran the paper from 2006 Philadelphia Daily News and Foundation) in Panama. It’s what he calls “an ‘Old Man editor. Vietnam and see the war for the House of Representatives, survived by three children and to 2010 when he was reassigned their joint website Philly.com, Eisenmann, the retired and the Sea’ kind of story,” about themselves, McGrady convinced From the Days of Adam Clayton one grandchild. to the investigative reporting to local investors. founder of the daily newspaper an editor at a weekly newspaper 1989 the paper to send him in 1967. Powell to Those of Peter Rodino,” team. He left the paper in 2011 La Prensa who was exiled from who stumbles onto a big story. Norman Robinson will receive His columns from Vietnam were published by Follett in 1975. He 1974 to head the Carnegie-Knight 1984 Panama during the Noriega To promote “Deadline,” the a 2012 Lifetime Achievement honored with an award from also wrote for National Journal Patricia O’Brien’s sixth novel, News21 digital journalism Bert Lindler was named a hero regime, was honored for his filmmakers teamed up with Award from the Press Club of the Overseas Press Club for best and Washingtonian magazine. “The Dressmaker,” was pub- of conservation in the April issue long commitment to journalists’ newspapers to host screenings New Orleans. interpretation of foreign affairs, In 1983 he founded Farragut lished by Doubleday in February of Field & Stream magazine. rights. in 45 cities, with all of the profits A longtime broadcast and they were republished as a Publishing, which had early suc- under the pseudonym Kate For the past seven years This is the 16th year that going to local nonprofits, such journalist who is a news anchor book called “A Dove in Vietnam.” cess with a series of cookbooks Alcott. Lindler has been a volunteer the foundation has given the as the Reporters Committee for at WDSU-TV in New Orleans, Later he was a film critic and co-written by his wife, Maxine. It tells the story of Tess, a caretaker for a herd of 470 elk awards. A panel of eight inter- the Freedom of the Press in Robinson will be recognized at restaurant reviewer. “He was a natural innovator,” passenger on the Titanic who is that winter on the outskirts national journalists, including Washington, D.C. and VOX, the organization’s 54th annual McGrady wrote a number said a Farragut colleague, an aspiring seamstress work- of Missoula, Montana. He has Cecilia Alvear, NF ‘89, an inde- a group that supports teen Excellence in Journalism Awards of novels and nonfiction books, Merideth Menken. “He offered ing for a famous designer. She worked with conservation pendent multimedia journalist, journalists in Atlanta. in July. In addition to New including “Stranger Than Naked: profit-sharing agreements to survives the disaster only to be groups, state agencies, local made the selections. “The movie has a very posi- Orleans, he has worked for Or, How to Write Dirty Books for Farragut authors and created caught up in the media frenzy ranchers, and homeowners tive message about journalists broadcast outlets in Southern Fun and Profit” and “The Kitchen partnerships with those who that followed. to control weeds and modify Mark Ethridge wrote the screen- and journalism,” Ethridge said. California, New York, and Sink Papers: My Life as a House needed Farragut’s experience to Simon & Schuster rejected fences so the elk can find food play for the independent film Washington, D.C., where he was Husband.” He also was the co- ‘package’ books under their own the manuscript due to poor sales and move across the land. “Deadline,” which premiered in 1987 a member of the White House author of two memoirs by “Deep imprints, a forerunner of today’s for O’Brien’s previous novel, Lindler was a reporter for February and has been screened Valerie Hyman conducted a Press Corps as a correspondent Throat” star Linda Lovelace. self-publishing movement.” “Harriet and Isabella,” which the European edition of Stars in a number of cities across the three-week training program for CBS News.

54 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 55 NIEMAN NOTES: NEW FELLOWS

Laura Norton Amico Borja Echevarría de David Abel Chris Arnold Alexandra Garcia Jeneen Interlandi Karim Ben Khelifa Katrin Bennhold Ludovic Blecher Lee Chong-ae Jin Deng Yaakov Katz la Gándara

Blair Kamin Jennifer B. McDonald Betsy O’Donovan Mary Beth Sheridan Jane Spencer Laura Wides-Muñoz Souad Mekhennet Paula Molina Finbarr O’Reilly Beauregard Tromp San Truong

IN THE 75TH CLASS, A NEW FELLOWSHIP TAKES AIM AT INNOVATION platforms. She is the Louis Stark reporter, Seoul Broadcasting strategies of terrorist organiza- San Truong (a k a Huy Duc) Nieman Fellow. System, will study journalism tions such as al-Qaeda and how (Vietnam), a freelance journalist related to complex trauma, Islamic law deals with human based in Ho Chi Minh City, will The 75th class of Nieman Fellows includes two members named to Alexandra Garcia, video els for community newsrooms. INTERNATIONAL FELLOWS: focusing on people who have rights, women and democracy. study public policy, American a new fellowship designed to generate ideas to advance quality journalist at The Washington She is the Donald W. Reynolds Karim Ben Khelifa (Tunisia/ experienced the effects of She is the Barry Bingham, Jr. literature, and the history of journalism in the digital age. Post, will study interactive sto- Nieman Fellow in Community Belgium), photojournalist and periods of colonialism, war and Nieman Fellow. Vietnam, to sharpen his work The Nieman-Berkman Fellowship in Journalism Innovation is a rytelling forms and how news Journalism. founder of Emphas.is, will military-influenced dictatorial Paula Molina (Chile), anchor as a political analyst. He is the collaboration between the Nieman Foundation for Journalism and organizations can create visual Mary Beth Sheridan, a news conduct research on journalist- administrations followed by and editor at Radio Cooperativa, Atsuko Chiba (NF ’68) Nieman Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society. Laura Norton Amico, experiences that engage users. editor at The Washington Post, audience engagement, analyze rapid economic growth. Her fel- will explore opportunities the Fellow. founder and editor of Homicide Watch in Washington, D.C., and Borja Jeneen Interlandi, a science plans to study international the behavioral economics linked lowship is sponsored by The Asia digital revolution has created for In addition to Ann Marie Echevarría de la Gándara (Spain), deputy managing editor of El País and health journalist based in politics and economics, with a to crowdfunding, and study new Foundation. better development, sharing and Lipinski, NF ’90, curator of in Madrid, will be full participants in both the Nieman and Berkman New Jersey, will study the history focus on countries, particularly business models promoting the Jin Deng (China), senior edi- distribution of broadcast news. the Nieman Foundation, the fellowship communities. of pharmaceuticals, the cultural those in Latin America, moving diversification of visual story- tor, Southern Weekly, will study Finbarr O’Reilly (Canada), selection committees for the Amico will study criminal justice journalism in the digital age, forces that shaped people’s rela- from authoritarian to demo- telling. He is the Carroll Binder how the democratization and Africa-based photographer for 2013 class included Steven focusing on best practices and new models for reporting on crime and tionships to medication, and the cratic systems. Nieman Fellow. fragmentation of information in Reuters, will focus on under- Bloomfield, executive direc- courts. Echevarría will study the structural evolution of newsrooms, impact that has had on percep- Jane Spencer, international Katrin Bennhold (Germany), the social media era will affect standing how the human mind tor of Harvard’s Weatherhead look for patterns among successful newsrooms, and determine if the tions of illness and health. editor at large for Newsweek London-based reporter for the journalism, society and politics and behavior are affected by Center for International Affairs; practices of digital start-ups can be applied effectively in established Blair Kamin, architecture and The Daily Beast, will study International Herald Tribune, will in China. Her fellowship is sup- what happens in trauma and Colin Maclay, managing director newsrooms. critic at the Chicago Tribune, will digital tools for narrative story- study the economics of gender ported through Sovereign Bank conflict zones. He is the Ruth of Harvard’s Berkman Center for seek to re-examine and revitalize telling, with an emphasis on and motherhood and explore the and the Marco Polo Program of Cowan Nash Nieman Fellow. Internet & Society; Jack Megan, the field of architectural criticism how emerging technologies can barriers to and costs of gender Banco Santander. Beauregard Tromp (South director of Harvard’s Office for U.S. FELLOWS: fueling the modern American in print and online. He is the Arts be used to improve news cover- equality in the early 21st century. Yaakov Katz (Israel/United Africa), senior field producer, the Arts; George de Lama, NF David Abel, staff writer at The food culture and their impact on and Culture Nieman Fellow. age of global women’s issues. She is the William Montalbano States), military reporter, The eNews Africa, will study how ’92, Nieman Advisory Board Boston Globe, plans to study the way Americans eat. Jennifer B. McDonald, an edi- Laura Wides-Muñoz, His- (NF ’70) Nieman Fellow. Jerusalem Post, will study the the purchase of large tracts member and president of global the evolution of new media, the Chris Arnold, national corre- tor at The New York Times Book panic affairs writer for The Ludovic Blecher (France), use of censorship in the digital of land in Africa by countries development at Answers Media impact of rising income inequal- spondent at NPR, will study the Review, will study canonical Associated Press, will study the executive director and editor in age, especially in coverage of and global corporations may LLC; journalist Dave Denison, ity on the social fabric, and the reshaping of the government’s works of literature and philoso- nexus between immigration chief of Liberation.fr, will study Israel and the Middle East. affect trade agreements, govern- NF ’90; Alicia Anstead, NF ’08, science as well as the potential role in housing after the collapse phy and the historical role of the and economics. She will exam- online media business models Souad Mekhennet (Germany/ ments and local communities editor in chief of Inside Arts effects of climate change. of the bubble and how the crash critic in culture. ine how the global financial and explore ways to monetize Morocco), a reporter and col- concerned about possible exploi- magazine; Stefanie Friedhoff, Brett Anderson, restaurant will shape the future of home Betsy O’Donovan, a freelance crisis affects the integration of high-value journalism. He is umnist for The New York Times, tation under a “new colonial- NF ’01, special projects manager critic and features writer at The ownership. He is the Donald writer and editor for The Herald- immigrants into U.S. society and the Robert Waldo Ruhl Nieman Der Spiegel, and ZDF (German ism.” His fellowship is supported for the Nieman Foundation; and Times-Picayune in New Orleans, W. Reynolds Nieman Fellow in Sun in Durham, North Carolina, how the data can be presented Fellow. TV), will study how the Arab by the Nieman Society of Joshua Benton, NF ’08, director will study the forces and people Business Journalism. will study entrepreneurial mod- in dynamic ways on multimedia Lee Chong-ae (Korea), senior Spring influenced the long-term Southern Africa. of the Nieman Journalism Lab.

56 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 57 NIEMAN NOTES: NEW FELLOWS

Laura Norton Amico Borja Echevarría de David Abel Chris Arnold Alexandra Garcia Jeneen Interlandi Karim Ben Khelifa Katrin Bennhold Ludovic Blecher Lee Chong-ae Jin Deng Yaakov Katz la Gándara

Blair Kamin Jennifer B. McDonald Betsy O’Donovan Mary Beth Sheridan Jane Spencer Laura Wides-Muñoz Souad Mekhennet Paula Molina Finbarr O’Reilly Beauregard Tromp San Truong

IN THE 75TH CLASS, A NEW FELLOWSHIP TAKES AIM AT INNOVATION platforms. She is the Louis Stark reporter, Seoul Broadcasting strategies of terrorist organiza- San Truong (a k a Huy Duc) Nieman Fellow. System, will study journalism tions such as al-Qaeda and how (Vietnam), a freelance journalist related to complex trauma, Islamic law deals with human based in Ho Chi Minh City, will The 75th class of Nieman Fellows includes two members named to Alexandra Garcia, video els for community newsrooms. INTERNATIONAL FELLOWS: focusing on people who have rights, women and democracy. study public policy, American a new fellowship designed to generate ideas to advance quality journalist at The Washington She is the Donald W. Reynolds Karim Ben Khelifa (Tunisia/ experienced the effects of She is the Barry Bingham, Jr. literature, and the history of journalism in the digital age. Post, will study interactive sto- Nieman Fellow in Community Belgium), photojournalist and periods of colonialism, war and Nieman Fellow. Vietnam, to sharpen his work The Nieman-Berkman Fellowship in Journalism Innovation is a rytelling forms and how news Journalism. founder of Emphas.is, will military-influenced dictatorial Paula Molina (Chile), anchor as a political analyst. He is the collaboration between the Nieman Foundation for Journalism and organizations can create visual Mary Beth Sheridan, a news conduct research on journalist- administrations followed by and editor at Radio Cooperativa, Atsuko Chiba (NF ’68) Nieman Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society. Laura Norton Amico, experiences that engage users. editor at The Washington Post, audience engagement, analyze rapid economic growth. Her fel- will explore opportunities the Fellow. founder and editor of Homicide Watch in Washington, D.C., and Borja Jeneen Interlandi, a science plans to study international the behavioral economics linked lowship is sponsored by The Asia digital revolution has created for In addition to Ann Marie Echevarría de la Gándara (Spain), deputy managing editor of El País and health journalist based in politics and economics, with a to crowdfunding, and study new Foundation. better development, sharing and Lipinski, NF ’90, curator of in Madrid, will be full participants in both the Nieman and Berkman New Jersey, will study the history focus on countries, particularly business models promoting the Jin Deng (China), senior edi- distribution of broadcast news. the Nieman Foundation, the fellowship communities. of pharmaceuticals, the cultural those in Latin America, moving diversification of visual story- tor, Southern Weekly, will study Finbarr O’Reilly (Canada), selection committees for the Amico will study criminal justice journalism in the digital age, forces that shaped people’s rela- from authoritarian to demo- telling. He is the Carroll Binder how the democratization and Africa-based photographer for 2013 class included Steven focusing on best practices and new models for reporting on crime and tionships to medication, and the cratic systems. Nieman Fellow. fragmentation of information in Reuters, will focus on under- Bloomfield, executive direc- courts. Echevarría will study the structural evolution of newsrooms, impact that has had on percep- Jane Spencer, international Katrin Bennhold (Germany), the social media era will affect standing how the human mind tor of Harvard’s Weatherhead look for patterns among successful newsrooms, and determine if the tions of illness and health. editor at large for Newsweek London-based reporter for the journalism, society and politics and behavior are affected by Center for International Affairs; practices of digital start-ups can be applied effectively in established Blair Kamin, architecture and The Daily Beast, will study International Herald Tribune, will in China. Her fellowship is sup- what happens in trauma and Colin Maclay, managing director newsrooms. critic at the Chicago Tribune, will digital tools for narrative story- study the economics of gender ported through Sovereign Bank conflict zones. He is the Ruth of Harvard’s Berkman Center for seek to re-examine and revitalize telling, with an emphasis on and motherhood and explore the and the Marco Polo Program of Cowan Nash Nieman Fellow. Internet & Society; Jack Megan, the field of architectural criticism how emerging technologies can barriers to and costs of gender Banco Santander. Beauregard Tromp (South director of Harvard’s Office for U.S. FELLOWS: fueling the modern American in print and online. He is the Arts be used to improve news cover- equality in the early 21st century. Yaakov Katz (Israel/United Africa), senior field producer, the Arts; George de Lama, NF David Abel, staff writer at The food culture and their impact on and Culture Nieman Fellow. age of global women’s issues. She is the William Montalbano States), military reporter, The eNews Africa, will study how ’92, Nieman Advisory Board Boston Globe, plans to study the way Americans eat. Jennifer B. McDonald, an edi- Laura Wides-Muñoz, His- (NF ’70) Nieman Fellow. Jerusalem Post, will study the the purchase of large tracts member and president of global the evolution of new media, the Chris Arnold, national corre- tor at The New York Times Book panic affairs writer for The Ludovic Blecher (France), use of censorship in the digital of land in Africa by countries development at Answers Media impact of rising income inequal- spondent at NPR, will study the Review, will study canonical Associated Press, will study the executive director and editor in age, especially in coverage of and global corporations may LLC; journalist Dave Denison, ity on the social fabric, and the reshaping of the government’s works of literature and philoso- nexus between immigration chief of Liberation.fr, will study Israel and the Middle East. affect trade agreements, govern- NF ’90; Alicia Anstead, NF ’08, science as well as the potential role in housing after the collapse phy and the historical role of the and economics. She will exam- online media business models Souad Mekhennet (Germany/ ments and local communities editor in chief of Inside Arts effects of climate change. of the bubble and how the crash critic in culture. ine how the global financial and explore ways to monetize Morocco), a reporter and col- concerned about possible exploi- magazine; Stefanie Friedhoff, Brett Anderson, restaurant will shape the future of home Betsy O’Donovan, a freelance crisis affects the integration of high-value journalism. He is umnist for The New York Times, tation under a “new colonial- NF ’01, special projects manager critic and features writer at The ownership. He is the Donald writer and editor for The Herald- immigrants into U.S. society and the Robert Waldo Ruhl Nieman Der Spiegel, and ZDF (German ism.” His fellowship is supported for the Nieman Foundation; and Times-Picayune in New Orleans, W. Reynolds Nieman Fellow in Sun in Durham, North Carolina, how the data can be presented Fellow. TV), will study how the Arab by the Nieman Society of Joshua Benton, NF ’08, director will study the forces and people Business Journalism. will study entrepreneurial mod- in dynamic ways on multimedia Lee Chong-ae (Korea), senior Spring influenced the long-term Southern Africa. of the Nieman Journalism Lab.

56 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 57 NIEMAN NOTES: PRIZES

1990 wrote the discussion paper The fellowship, given Every year the Nieman Foundation awards a portfolio of prizes. Yossi Melman has joined the “The Case for Open Journalism annually by the Michener Israeli news website Walla after Now.” Awards Foundation, provides The winners of three major awards were celebrated this spring. 27 years with the daily newspa- funding for a reporter pursuing per Haaretz. He will continue Larry Tye has written “Superman: an investigative project that writing about security and The High-Flying History of serves the public interest. intelligence matters. America’s Most Enduring Hero,” BINGHAM PRIZE FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM His self-published book published in June by Random 1998 “Spies Against Armageddon,” House. The book looks not just Julia Keller will join the faculty co-written with CBS News at the Man of Steel character at Ohio University this fall, A centerpiece clock tower that was lop- reporter Dan Raviv, will be but at the creators, designers, teaching writing in the journal- sided. A rooftop track and field rendered available in July on Amazon.com. owners and performers who ism department. She had been unusable by design flaws. A feeding It is an unofficial history of the made him a cultural icon. Tye, the cultural critic at the Chicago trough set too high for the pig to reach. Joseph Thloloe Israeli intelligence community who has written biographies of Tribune. From major to mundane, construction from 1948 to today. baseball pitcher Leroy “Satchel” “It’s been an extraordinary flaws plagued the $5.7 billion program Joseph Thloloe received the He also recently published Paige and Edward L. Bernays, journey for me,” Keller told that Los Angeles voters authorized to Order of Ikhamanga silver medal “Running: An Autobiography” the father of public relations, Time Out Chicago about her rebuild the city’s community colleges. But from South Africa’s President in Hebrew. In the memoir he grew up reading Superman tenure at the Tribune, where after reporters Gale Holland and Michael Jacob Zuma in April. reflects on his life as a Polish boy comics and watching nearly all she had worked since 1998. “I Finnegan spent 18 months investigat- He was one of 31 people who moved to Israel with his 104 episodes of “Adventures of was given the chance to write ing for their Los Angeles Times series honored with national orders on parents and how that history Superman” on TV. He writes in about anything and everything, “Billions to Spend,” it became clear that Freedom Day, the anniversary influenced him to start running the acknowledgements that the from a long series on traumatic the real story wasn’t the flaws, but the of the country’s first democratic marathons at age 43. idea for the book “came from brain injury to a series on the corruption, greed and hubris that had elections. the place so many good things aftermath of the Utica, Illinois, created them. Los Angeles Times reporters Gale Holland and Michael Finnegan constructed a narrative of the The Order of Ikhamanga 1991 do for me, my wife, Lisa.” tornado. … Not too shabby for In April the series received the Nie- corruption they discovered by piecing together e-mails they obtained. Photos by Brooks Canaday. recognizes South Africans who Kevin Noblet completed his a kid from Huntington, West man Foundation’s 2011 Worth Bingham have excelled in the fields of term as president of the Society 1996 Virginia.” Prize for Investigative Journalism. Prize arts, culture, literature, music, of American Business Editors Laura Eggertson has been Keller has taught at a judge Walter Robinson, formerly a long- down, and a new one built, just because E-mail was really a mother lode for journalism and sport. Thloloe, and Writers (SABEW) at the end awarded the Michener-Deacon number of universities and time Boston Globe investigative reporter, they had enough money to do it. We met our project. They delivered a lot of the a veteran of South African of 2011. Fellowship for Investigative written three books, including called it “a stark reminder of the impor- with our editors, and the conclusion was e-mail in an Outlook format so it was journalism who is currently “Past presidents warned me Journalism. A freelance journal- “A Killing in the Hills,” which is tance of the watchdog role the press plays that the elected trustees were basically word-searchable, which saved us tons serving as the country’s press it was a lot of work, and it was,” ist based in Ottawa, Eggertson being published by St. Martin’s when government spends scarce public invisible in L.A., allowing them to spend of organizational work. It set up the ombudsman, was cited for his he says. “But business news plans to write about suicide Press in August. It’s a mystery funds. This was an important public $5.7 billion in the dark of night, without chronology of when and how things hap- contributions to the struggle is now front-page news and among aboriginal communities set in her home state about a works project whose biggest beneficiaries any oversight. So they set us loose to take pened. And more importantly, it created against apartheid and his role SABEW’s work has never been in Canada. She plans to produce mother and daughter with a should have been working class com- a comprehensive look at the program. a narrative, because this e-mail was all shaping the post-apartheid more important.” a series of articles in print and strained relationship who have munity college students,” Robinson said. We went about trying to get the architects, contractors and managers media. online and a radio documentary. to work together to solve a “Instead, the funds were used to award public records that would detail exactly arguing over what went wrong, and The relationship between 1994 bizarre murder. lucrative contracts to politically con- what the construction problems were whose fault was it, and accusations back the government and the press Melanie Sill has been named Keller won the 2005 Pulitzer nected companies, with lax oversight.” and exactly how much they cost. Our and forth, so we had more of a story, with has been strained of late, with executive editor of Southern Prize for Feature Writing for her Edited excerpts of the reporters’ focus was to be very specific and to human beings talking, and we didn’t Zuma’s African National California Public Radio, a stories about the Utica tornado. discussion at the ceremony follow; a full rely on public records, but for a year have to rely just on the public records Congress party proposing a network of three stations. The version is available at http://nieman. they gave us nothing. Finally, we had reports to document the problems. media appeals tribunal and a former editor of The Sacramento 2004 harvard.edu/2011Bingham/. the bright idea of asking for the e-mail We discovered that there were secre- Protection of State Information Bee and The (Raleigh, N.C.) News Santiago Lyon has been pro- between the public officials and these taries and PR people who were on the Bill that many journalists view & Observer, she is overseeing moted at The Associated Press. Gale Holland: I’m a higher education contractors, architects and construc- payrolls of shell companies that were as a form of censorship. the newsgathering operation He is now a vice president in reporter, and I got a tip that the elected tion managers. When it arrived, in the owned and run by big campaign donors Thloloe said it is “a measure across online and broadcast addition to continuing as direc- trustees of the college system had fired attachments were all of the reports we for the district. They were charging very of the maturity of our democ- platforms. She previously spent tor of photography, a position he the chancellor because he opposed these had been seeking—all the engineering fat markups, ostensibly to cover their racy that they overlooked our six months as executive-in- has held since December 2003. outlandish renewable energy projects. reports, and even a confidential legal business overhead and a small amount differences and gave this residence at the University of He says that he will continue “to Meanwhile Michael [Finnegan], who’s a settlement. So we put it all in a file of profit. In one example, the district was award. It bodes well for Southern California’s Annenberg be involved in working closely political reporter, got a tip that a newly and called it “Nirvana,” because it was paying about $300,000 for somebody our democracy.” School of Journalism, where she with AP Images, renovated theater was going to be torn everything we needed. who was writing press releases, but that

58 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 59 NIEMAN NOTES: PRIZES

1990 wrote the discussion paper The fellowship, given Every year the Nieman Foundation awards a portfolio of prizes. Yossi Melman has joined the “The Case for Open Journalism annually by the Michener Israeli news website Walla after Now.” Awards Foundation, provides The winners of three major awards were celebrated this spring. 27 years with the daily newspa- funding for a reporter pursuing per Haaretz. He will continue Larry Tye has written “Superman: an investigative project that writing about security and The High-Flying History of serves the public interest. intelligence matters. America’s Most Enduring Hero,” BINGHAM PRIZE FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM His self-published book published in June by Random 1998 “Spies Against Armageddon,” House. The book looks not just Julia Keller will join the faculty co-written with CBS News at the Man of Steel character at Ohio University this fall, A centerpiece clock tower that was lop- reporter Dan Raviv, will be but at the creators, designers, teaching writing in the journal- sided. A rooftop track and field rendered available in July on Amazon.com. owners and performers who ism department. She had been unusable by design flaws. A feeding It is an unofficial history of the made him a cultural icon. Tye, the cultural critic at the Chicago trough set too high for the pig to reach. Joseph Thloloe Israeli intelligence community who has written biographies of Tribune. From major to mundane, construction from 1948 to today. baseball pitcher Leroy “Satchel” “It’s been an extraordinary flaws plagued the $5.7 billion program Joseph Thloloe received the He also recently published Paige and Edward L. Bernays, journey for me,” Keller told that Los Angeles voters authorized to Order of Ikhamanga silver medal “Running: An Autobiography” the father of public relations, Time Out Chicago about her rebuild the city’s community colleges. But from South Africa’s President in Hebrew. In the memoir he grew up reading Superman tenure at the Tribune, where after reporters Gale Holland and Michael Jacob Zuma in April. reflects on his life as a Polish boy comics and watching nearly all she had worked since 1998. “I Finnegan spent 18 months investigat- He was one of 31 people who moved to Israel with his 104 episodes of “Adventures of was given the chance to write ing for their Los Angeles Times series honored with national orders on parents and how that history Superman” on TV. He writes in about anything and everything, “Billions to Spend,” it became clear that Freedom Day, the anniversary influenced him to start running the acknowledgements that the from a long series on traumatic the real story wasn’t the flaws, but the of the country’s first democratic marathons at age 43. idea for the book “came from brain injury to a series on the corruption, greed and hubris that had elections. the place so many good things aftermath of the Utica, Illinois, created them. Los Angeles Times reporters Gale Holland and Michael Finnegan constructed a narrative of the The Order of Ikhamanga 1991 do for me, my wife, Lisa.” tornado. … Not too shabby for In April the series received the Nie- corruption they discovered by piecing together e-mails they obtained. Photos by Brooks Canaday. recognizes South Africans who Kevin Noblet completed his a kid from Huntington, West man Foundation’s 2011 Worth Bingham have excelled in the fields of term as president of the Society 1996 Virginia.” Prize for Investigative Journalism. Prize arts, culture, literature, music, of American Business Editors Laura Eggertson has been Keller has taught at a judge Walter Robinson, formerly a long- down, and a new one built, just because E-mail was really a mother lode for journalism and sport. Thloloe, and Writers (SABEW) at the end awarded the Michener-Deacon number of universities and time Boston Globe investigative reporter, they had enough money to do it. We met our project. They delivered a lot of the a veteran of South African of 2011. Fellowship for Investigative written three books, including called it “a stark reminder of the impor- with our editors, and the conclusion was e-mail in an Outlook format so it was journalism who is currently “Past presidents warned me Journalism. A freelance journal- “A Killing in the Hills,” which is tance of the watchdog role the press plays that the elected trustees were basically word-searchable, which saved us tons serving as the country’s press it was a lot of work, and it was,” ist based in Ottawa, Eggertson being published by St. Martin’s when government spends scarce public invisible in L.A., allowing them to spend of organizational work. It set up the ombudsman, was cited for his he says. “But business news plans to write about suicide Press in August. It’s a mystery funds. This was an important public $5.7 billion in the dark of night, without chronology of when and how things hap- contributions to the struggle is now front-page news and among aboriginal communities set in her home state about a works project whose biggest beneficiaries any oversight. So they set us loose to take pened. And more importantly, it created against apartheid and his role SABEW’s work has never been in Canada. She plans to produce mother and daughter with a should have been working class com- a comprehensive look at the program. a narrative, because this e-mail was all shaping the post-apartheid more important.” a series of articles in print and strained relationship who have munity college students,” Robinson said. We went about trying to get the architects, contractors and managers media. online and a radio documentary. to work together to solve a “Instead, the funds were used to award public records that would detail exactly arguing over what went wrong, and The relationship between 1994 bizarre murder. lucrative contracts to politically con- what the construction problems were whose fault was it, and accusations back the government and the press Melanie Sill has been named Keller won the 2005 Pulitzer nected companies, with lax oversight.” and exactly how much they cost. Our and forth, so we had more of a story, with has been strained of late, with executive editor of Southern Prize for Feature Writing for her Edited excerpts of the reporters’ focus was to be very specific and to human beings talking, and we didn’t Zuma’s African National California Public Radio, a stories about the Utica tornado. discussion at the ceremony follow; a full rely on public records, but for a year have to rely just on the public records Congress party proposing a network of three stations. The version is available at http://nieman. they gave us nothing. Finally, we had reports to document the problems. media appeals tribunal and a former editor of The Sacramento 2004 harvard.edu/2011Bingham/. the bright idea of asking for the e-mail We discovered that there were secre- Protection of State Information Bee and The (Raleigh, N.C.) News Santiago Lyon has been pro- between the public officials and these taries and PR people who were on the Bill that many journalists view & Observer, she is overseeing moted at The Associated Press. Gale Holland: I’m a higher education contractors, architects and construc- payrolls of shell companies that were as a form of censorship. the newsgathering operation He is now a vice president in reporter, and I got a tip that the elected tion managers. When it arrived, in the owned and run by big campaign donors Thloloe said it is “a measure across online and broadcast addition to continuing as direc- trustees of the college system had fired attachments were all of the reports we for the district. They were charging very of the maturity of our democ- platforms. She previously spent tor of photography, a position he the chancellor because he opposed these had been seeking—all the engineering fat markups, ostensibly to cover their racy that they overlooked our six months as executive-in- has held since December 2003. outlandish renewable energy projects. reports, and even a confidential legal business overhead and a small amount differences and gave this residence at the University of He says that he will continue “to Meanwhile Michael [Finnegan], who’s a settlement. So we put it all in a file of profit. In one example, the district was award. It bodes well for Southern California’s Annenberg be involved in working closely political reporter, got a tip that a newly and called it “Nirvana,” because it was paying about $300,000 for somebody our democracy.” School of Journalism, where she with AP Images, renovated theater was going to be torn everything we needed. who was writing press releases, but that

58 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 59 NIEMAN NOTES: PRIZES

employee himself only made about How do you go about recreating the $65,000. The rest of it went to these TAYLOR AWARD FOR FAIRNESS particulars of a case? layers of private companies. That As a case goes up through the appeals particular employee happened to be a on the stand and was asked a series of process, things can get distilled, nephew of one of the college trustees. questions and clearly did not handle the and in the distillation, there can be questions well. My paper was the only distortion. And so, as much as pos- Michael Finnegan: My first job was one who covered that hearing, but on the sible, I tried to rely on the actual trial reporting in New Jersey and New same floor, basically across the hall, the transcripts. York, where I had done some inves- news media for the entire region were What happens is that one side tigative work and some political covering a murder trial. If everybody is arguing their point really hard, work. So my assumption when we else was sitting in the same courtroom, and the other side is arguing their couldn’t get questions answered was would they have seen what I did and point really hard, and sometimes the that something must be wrong here, decide to go look? Who knows. But part appeals court just adopts one side of somebody must be on the take. Los of doing good work, in my view, is seeing it—when it’s more nuanced than that. From left, prize winners Daniel J. Sharfstein, Jonathan M. Katz, and Sophia Rosenfeld. Jonathan Angeles is largely a Democratic Party things happen. It’s not just sources and You might think in a court story like Alter, right, is chairman of the J. Anthony Lukas Prize Project Committee. Photo by Lisa Abitbol. town where environmentally friendly records and all of that. this that it’s like, “Oh wow! This is all programs are kind of a given, and it I was covering that hearing as part just sitting there in the court records.” wasn’t unheard of for contracts to of my follow-up to another series my Well, I wish it were that easy. You When J. Andrew Curliss investigated a district go to people as political favors in the paper had done. I could have just wrote can’t just ask, “Oh, can I pull the file attorney, she attacked his work and his paper. J. ANTHONY LUKAS BOOK PRIZES green energy world. the story, “Oh, here’s the case. It got for the cases where the prosecutor’s Photo by Lisa Abitbol. It turned out, though, that it was dismissed.” But as I was sitting there and work was questioned?” I mean, that’s not a standard story of public officials seeing what I witnessed, my mindset was the work, and there is no central file J. Anthony Lukas’s “Common Ground” had been a “close friend and hero” of his. ripping off the public. It was a much To say that the subject of reporter J. “God, there’s more to this,” you know? for that. was a model and inspiration to Daniel Ann Marie Lipinski, NF ’90, curator of the more interesting story. It was about Andrew Curliss’s “Twisted Truth” series And the “more to it” was about the D.A. J. Sharfstein, winner of this year’s J. Nieman Foundation, said her Nieman Larry Eisenberg, who was in charge was difficult is putting it mildly. Tracey You told the district attorney early on Anthony Lukas Book Prize. class had had the pleasure of spending an of the program. It was about his ego, Cline, the district attorney of Durham, What are your go-to techniques for that she was the focus of your investi- Sharfstein’s “The Invisible Line: afternoon with J. Anthony Lukas, NF ’69. partly. He fashioned himself to be the North Carolina, repeatedly battled Curl- interviewing? gation and shared your findings with Three American Families and the Secret “Common Sense: A Political His- Robert Moses of green construction iss and his paper, The News & Observer When I’m interviewing somebody, I’m her. Is that how you always operate? Journey From Black to White” tells the tory” by Sophia Rosenfeld, a professor in California. in Raleigh, over the investigation. thinking about two things. One is, what- Yeah, on a story like that, I think it’s story of blacks who over the centuries at University of Virginia, is this year’s Eisenberg spent two, three, four, The three-part series is the 2011 win- ever I’m asking them about, how might helpful to try to get to the focus of have passed as whites. Largely by mining winner of the Mark Lynton History five hours with us, trying to explain ner of the Taylor Family Award for I describe it in the paper? Let’s say that the story as early as possible—“as online databases, he found enough details Prize. The judges praised the book as an what they were doing, putting up Fairness in Newspapers. Speaking I’m going to describe some fund as a slush possible” being the key words. I to spin a narrative about three black “extraordinary, wide-ranging and original these solar panels and windmills all about it, judge Tyler Bridges, NF ’12, fund, right? Well, if I’m going to write the mean, you have to know what you families who passed as white. work” that shows how central common over the campuses. Somehow they said “what especially stood out for me words “slush fund” in the newspaper, I want to ask them. But part of being A professor at Vanderbilt University, sense is to the “evolution of our modern were going to generate so much was how the newspaper handled Cline’s want to make sure that I say that in the fair is giving the person a chance to Sharfstein recalled that he became understanding of politics.” electricity that they would no longer attempts to discredit its work and that of interview. I want to ask them, “Is this a properly explain himself or herself. enamored with “Common Ground: A The Work-in-Progress Award went have to pay power bills, and the its reporter ... The paper’s editors demon- slush fund?” The other is that I’m trying This notion of just showing up at Turbulent Decade in the Lives of Three to Jonathan M. Katz for his book, “The power costs would go down to noth- strated considerable fairness when Cline to listen. I think a lot of times we can the courthouse on Friday before a American Families” in the late 1980s after Big Truck That Went By: How the World ing. Something didn’t add up though, cast the paper in the difficult role of hav- just get so focused on, “I’ve got this list story’s going to run on Sunday and his brother returned home from college, Came to Save Haiti and Left Behind a because renewable energy is more ing to report on her attacks against it.” of questions I’ve got to get through, one catching them where they can’t really clutching it “as if it were a sacred text.” He Disaster” to be published by Palgrave expensive than the traditional kind. She has since been removed from office. to 10,” and you don’t really listen to the explain their position—I just don’t said Lukas’s book has long influenced his Macmillan. For us, it didn’t matter how con- Nieman Reports’s Jonathan Seitz spoke answers. Maybe you’re on question three, think that’s the right way to do it. thinking “about the complexities of race In January 2010, Katz, then a cor- voluted and detailed this was, any- with Curliss after the award ceremony. and it could lead you in a whole new I don’t want to catch them; I want in the United States and the possibili- respondent for The Associated Press, was thing—the construction of a rocket Edited excerpts of their conversation fol- direction—if you were just listening. their best. ties for telling stories about how we see on his computer upstairs at his home ship, say—could be explained if you low; a longer version is available online at The other thing I’m trying to do—I’ll And I want their best because ourselves and order our worlds.” outside Port-au-Prince when he heard just took enough time to listen to the http://nieman.harvard.edu/Curliss/. just be honest here: I’m trying to shut that’s what gets you to the truth. The Lukas prize is one of three admin- what he thought was the rumbling of a people who were explaining how it up. I tape a lot of my interviews and I When you’re balancing the value of istered jointly by the Columbia University passing truck. “What we were hearing was done. They couldn’t do it—it was Jonathan Seitz: What led you to the go back and I’m listening to it and I’m “Ooh, I caught them in a moment Graduate School of Journalism and the was the first shockwave coming from the Alice in Wonderland. Finally, after “Twisted Truth” investigation? just, like, “Would you just shut up?” You and they couldn’t explain this” or “I Nieman Foundation as the Lukas Prize epicenter [of the earthquake],” he said. he said, “Part of the plan is such-and- J. Andrew Curliss: It was me sitting in know? And so—that’s one of the things surprised them,” the surprise factor, Project Awards. In remarks at the awards The awards were established to honor such,” I just asked him: “What plan?” the courtroom, paying attention. There that I’m really trying to do: ask short to me, doesn’t outweigh the fairness ceremony in May, Nicholas Lemann, the late Lukas by recognizing excellence Of course, there was no plan. was a hearing where the D.A. ended up questions, and then be quiet. factor. I guess that’s the bottom line. dean of the journalism school, said Lukas in narrative nonfiction books.

60 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 61 NIEMAN NOTES: PRIZES

employee himself only made about How do you go about recreating the $65,000. The rest of it went to these TAYLOR AWARD FOR FAIRNESS particulars of a case? layers of private companies. That As a case goes up through the appeals particular employee happened to be a on the stand and was asked a series of process, things can get distilled, nephew of one of the college trustees. questions and clearly did not handle the and in the distillation, there can be questions well. My paper was the only distortion. And so, as much as pos- Michael Finnegan: My first job was one who covered that hearing, but on the sible, I tried to rely on the actual trial reporting in New Jersey and New same floor, basically across the hall, the transcripts. York, where I had done some inves- news media for the entire region were What happens is that one side tigative work and some political covering a murder trial. If everybody is arguing their point really hard, work. So my assumption when we else was sitting in the same courtroom, and the other side is arguing their couldn’t get questions answered was would they have seen what I did and point really hard, and sometimes the that something must be wrong here, decide to go look? Who knows. But part appeals court just adopts one side of somebody must be on the take. Los of doing good work, in my view, is seeing it—when it’s more nuanced than that. From left, prize winners Daniel J. Sharfstein, Jonathan M. Katz, and Sophia Rosenfeld. Jonathan Angeles is largely a Democratic Party things happen. It’s not just sources and You might think in a court story like Alter, right, is chairman of the J. Anthony Lukas Prize Project Committee. Photo by Lisa Abitbol. town where environmentally friendly records and all of that. this that it’s like, “Oh wow! This is all programs are kind of a given, and it I was covering that hearing as part just sitting there in the court records.” wasn’t unheard of for contracts to of my follow-up to another series my Well, I wish it were that easy. You When J. Andrew Curliss investigated a district go to people as political favors in the paper had done. I could have just wrote can’t just ask, “Oh, can I pull the file attorney, she attacked his work and his paper. J. ANTHONY LUKAS BOOK PRIZES green energy world. the story, “Oh, here’s the case. It got for the cases where the prosecutor’s Photo by Lisa Abitbol. It turned out, though, that it was dismissed.” But as I was sitting there and work was questioned?” I mean, that’s not a standard story of public officials seeing what I witnessed, my mindset was the work, and there is no central file J. Anthony Lukas’s “Common Ground” had been a “close friend and hero” of his. ripping off the public. It was a much To say that the subject of reporter J. “God, there’s more to this,” you know? for that. was a model and inspiration to Daniel Ann Marie Lipinski, NF ’90, curator of the more interesting story. It was about Andrew Curliss’s “Twisted Truth” series And the “more to it” was about the D.A. J. Sharfstein, winner of this year’s J. Nieman Foundation, said her Nieman Larry Eisenberg, who was in charge was difficult is putting it mildly. Tracey You told the district attorney early on Anthony Lukas Book Prize. class had had the pleasure of spending an of the program. It was about his ego, Cline, the district attorney of Durham, What are your go-to techniques for that she was the focus of your investi- Sharfstein’s “The Invisible Line: afternoon with J. Anthony Lukas, NF ’69. partly. He fashioned himself to be the North Carolina, repeatedly battled Curl- interviewing? gation and shared your findings with Three American Families and the Secret “Common Sense: A Political His- Robert Moses of green construction iss and his paper, The News & Observer When I’m interviewing somebody, I’m her. Is that how you always operate? Journey From Black to White” tells the tory” by Sophia Rosenfeld, a professor in California. in Raleigh, over the investigation. thinking about two things. One is, what- Yeah, on a story like that, I think it’s story of blacks who over the centuries at University of Virginia, is this year’s Eisenberg spent two, three, four, The three-part series is the 2011 win- ever I’m asking them about, how might helpful to try to get to the focus of have passed as whites. Largely by mining winner of the Mark Lynton History five hours with us, trying to explain ner of the Taylor Family Award for I describe it in the paper? Let’s say that the story as early as possible—“as online databases, he found enough details Prize. The judges praised the book as an what they were doing, putting up Fairness in Newspapers. Speaking I’m going to describe some fund as a slush possible” being the key words. I to spin a narrative about three black “extraordinary, wide-ranging and original these solar panels and windmills all about it, judge Tyler Bridges, NF ’12, fund, right? Well, if I’m going to write the mean, you have to know what you families who passed as white. work” that shows how central common over the campuses. Somehow they said “what especially stood out for me words “slush fund” in the newspaper, I want to ask them. But part of being A professor at Vanderbilt University, sense is to the “evolution of our modern were going to generate so much was how the newspaper handled Cline’s want to make sure that I say that in the fair is giving the person a chance to Sharfstein recalled that he became understanding of politics.” electricity that they would no longer attempts to discredit its work and that of interview. I want to ask them, “Is this a properly explain himself or herself. enamored with “Common Ground: A The Work-in-Progress Award went have to pay power bills, and the its reporter ... The paper’s editors demon- slush fund?” The other is that I’m trying This notion of just showing up at Turbulent Decade in the Lives of Three to Jonathan M. Katz for his book, “The power costs would go down to noth- strated considerable fairness when Cline to listen. I think a lot of times we can the courthouse on Friday before a American Families” in the late 1980s after Big Truck That Went By: How the World ing. Something didn’t add up though, cast the paper in the difficult role of hav- just get so focused on, “I’ve got this list story’s going to run on Sunday and his brother returned home from college, Came to Save Haiti and Left Behind a because renewable energy is more ing to report on her attacks against it.” of questions I’ve got to get through, one catching them where they can’t really clutching it “as if it were a sacred text.” He Disaster” to be published by Palgrave expensive than the traditional kind. She has since been removed from office. to 10,” and you don’t really listen to the explain their position—I just don’t said Lukas’s book has long influenced his Macmillan. For us, it didn’t matter how con- Nieman Reports’s Jonathan Seitz spoke answers. Maybe you’re on question three, think that’s the right way to do it. thinking “about the complexities of race In January 2010, Katz, then a cor- voluted and detailed this was, any- with Curliss after the award ceremony. and it could lead you in a whole new I don’t want to catch them; I want in the United States and the possibili- respondent for The Associated Press, was thing—the construction of a rocket Edited excerpts of their conversation fol- direction—if you were just listening. their best. ties for telling stories about how we see on his computer upstairs at his home ship, say—could be explained if you low; a longer version is available online at The other thing I’m trying to do—I’ll And I want their best because ourselves and order our worlds.” outside Port-au-Prince when he heard just took enough time to listen to the http://nieman.harvard.edu/Curliss/. just be honest here: I’m trying to shut that’s what gets you to the truth. The Lukas prize is one of three admin- what he thought was the rumbling of a people who were explaining how it up. I tape a lot of my interviews and I When you’re balancing the value of istered jointly by the Columbia University passing truck. “What we were hearing was done. They couldn’t do it—it was Jonathan Seitz: What led you to the go back and I’m listening to it and I’m “Ooh, I caught them in a moment Graduate School of Journalism and the was the first shockwave coming from the Alice in Wonderland. Finally, after “Twisted Truth” investigation? just, like, “Would you just shut up?” You and they couldn’t explain this” or “I Nieman Foundation as the Lukas Prize epicenter [of the earthquake],” he said. he said, “Part of the plan is such-and- J. Andrew Curliss: It was me sitting in know? And so—that’s one of the things surprised them,” the surprise factor, Project Awards. In remarks at the awards The awards were established to honor such,” I just asked him: “What plan?” the courtroom, paying attention. There that I’m really trying to do: ask short to me, doesn’t outweigh the fairness ceremony in May, Nicholas Lemann, the late Lukas by recognizing excellence Of course, there was no plan. was a hearing where the D.A. ended up questions, and then be quiet. factor. I guess that’s the bottom line. dean of the journalism school, said Lukas in narrative nonfiction books.

60 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 61 NIEMAN NOTES

Facebook posting announcing Gary Knight’s photographs her new position, Allam said that are featured in the new book her time abroad was “exhilarat- “Questions Without Answers: ing,” but that she’s “excited The World in Pictures by the about the new beat, the chance Photographers of VII,” a retro- for Bilal to be closer to his grand- spective of work by members of mas and cousins, and the pros- photo agency VII. pect of an occasional day off.” His photo essays are “Evidence: War Crimes in David Jackson and colleague Kosovo,” in which he takes a Gary Marx at the Chicago forensic approach to photo- Santiago Lyon Eliza Griswold Kondwani Munthali Kael Alford Tribune won the 2011 Medill David Jackson Lisa Mullins graphing the former Yugoslavia Medal for Courage in after the indictment of Serbia’s AP’s photo licensing arm, to Times Magazine story This is the first year that effects of erosion on Louisiana, Journalism for their series, The series was a finalist 2010 President Slobodan Milosevic; grow AP’s photo business, as she wrote about poetry in MISA has given the award, especially in the wake of Hur- “Across the Border, Beyond the for this year’s Pulitzer Prize for Lisa Mullins received a Gracie “The Bridge,” about one of the well as ongoing cross-format Afghanistan, and a book about with financial support from ricane Katrina and the Gulf oil Law,” about how flaws in the Investigative Reporting. Award from the Alliance for first major assaults of the Iraq leadership activities in AP’s the fall of manmade America the U.S. Embassy. The recipi- spill, as part of a commission justice system allow fugitives Women in Media Foundation. war; and “Amongst the Poor,” news department.” and the nation’s collective pov- ent was selected by a vote of from the museum. to leave the United States and Tommy Tomlinson has been Mullins was recognized as an which grew out of Knight’s Lyon has been with the AP erty. The fellowships, awarded journalists who are members According to Alford, “Like evade the law. Their series hired to write for a joint outstanding anchor in the news/ journeys through India over since 1991, when he joined as by the John Simon Guggenheim of the organization. “I am proud the Lower Ninth Ward in New identified dozens of criminals venture of USA Today Sports news magazine category for her a two-year period. a photographer based in Cairo. Memorial Foundation, provide that my peers, who form the Orleans, what is being lost on from Chicago, including a priest Media Group and Major League work on Public Radio Interna- Knight is director of the funding to writers, scholars and majority of my critics, thought the coast of Louisiana is more charged with sexual assault, Baseball Advanced Media. The tional’s “The World,” which she Program for Narrative and 2007 scientists to work on projects of this was the best out of my than a neighborhood or a who had fled the country. partnership plans to launch a has anchored since 1998. Documentary Practice at Tufts Eliza Griswold has been awarded their choosing. Motherland Malawi,” Munthali storm buffer. It’s a piece of The Medill Medal is awarded website this summer. He’ll be University’s Institute for Global a Guggenheim Fellowship. The wrote in a blog post after the our collective memory and a annually by Northwestern writing about all sports, with an 2011 Leadership. journalist and poet plans to Kondwani Munthali was named announcement. unique piece of heritage that University’s Medill School of emphasis on college football. Hui Sui Fun’s “Misjudged Cases” spend her fellowship year work- Malawi’s Blogger of the Year by When Munthali started blog- defines us as a nation.” Journalism to the individual or Tomlinson spent the last was one of two documentaries 2012 ing on three projects: a collec- the Media Institute of Southern ging during his Nieman year, team of journalists “who best 23 years at The Charlotte (N.C.) from Hong Kong-based TVB Jade Carlotta Gall has been signed tion of poems to be published by Africa (MISA) during its World he mainly posted his opinions Hannah Allam joined displayed moral, ethical or physi- Observer, where he has been a Channel that received a 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Farrar, Straus and Giroux in 2013, Press Freedom Day celebrations on issues ranging from global McClatchy’s Washington, D.C. cal courage in the pursuit of a local columnist since 1997. In his Peabody Award. Her documen- to write a book about what the a book based on a New York in May. health to youth empowerment bureau on July 1st, covering story or series of stories.” final column, he wrote, “When tary focuses on unjust arrests publisher calls “America’s long programs. Recently he has foreign affairs as part of the “In their work, Marx and I decided to leave the Observer, and prosecutions. occupation of Afghanistan, focused more on news, and he national security reporting team. Jackson blend old-fashioned I had two main reasons: I’d The George Foster Peabody from 9/11 to the present, a has occasionally faced harsh For the past nine years, Allam reporting shoe-leather, exhaus- never been part of something Awards are given annually by Vietnam-esque tragedy that criticism and reprisals for his has worked for McClatchy in the tive public records searches that was starting from the the University of Georgia’s leaves behind a country in writing, especially during the Middle East, serving as bureau and fierce courage in confront- ground up, and I didn’t want Grady College of Journalism and turmoil.” Gall, a reporter for The political turmoil in Malawi over chief in Baghdad and Cairo. She ing international fugitives on to be an old man sitting on my Mass Communication to honor New York Times, has been based the past two years, he said in gave birth to a son, Bilal, while their home turfs,” said Medill porch wondering,“What if I had excellence in television, radio in Afghanistan and Pakistan an interview posted on Global covering the Iraq War. In a Professor Donna Leff, who led tried that?.” and the Web. since 2001. Voices Online. the judging. “The reporters wandered in areas known for 2009 harboring drug cartels that rule Kael Alford’s photographs from by assassination and kidnapping Louisiana are featured at the and through their fearless work, High Museum of Art in Atlanta, showed how the Justice Depart- Georgia. Her work is part of the ment, county prosecutors and “Picturing the South” exhibit local police could have found on display until September. A these fugitives from justice.” Anja Niedringhaus, NF ’07, won first place in a spot news photography companion book, “Bottom of da On an 18-day trip to Mexico, category of the National Headliner Awards. “Shot Down” shows Boot,” has been published by the two reporters found eight of a Libyan warplane moments before it crashed to the ground. Fall Line Press. She has spent the the nine fugitives they were seek- Niedringhaus works for The Associated Press. last five years documenting the Hannah Allam ing. Two agreed to interviews. Tommy Tomlinson Hui Sui Fun

62 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 63 NIEMAN NOTES

Facebook posting announcing Gary Knight’s photographs her new position, Allam said that are featured in the new book her time abroad was “exhilarat- “Questions Without Answers: ing,” but that she’s “excited The World in Pictures by the about the new beat, the chance Photographers of VII,” a retro- for Bilal to be closer to his grand- spective of work by members of mas and cousins, and the pros- photo agency VII. pect of an occasional day off.” His photo essays are “Evidence: War Crimes in David Jackson and colleague Kosovo,” in which he takes a Gary Marx at the Chicago forensic approach to photo- Santiago Lyon Eliza Griswold Kondwani Munthali Kael Alford Tribune won the 2011 Medill David Jackson Lisa Mullins graphing the former Yugoslavia Medal for Courage in after the indictment of Serbia’s AP’s photo licensing arm, to Times Magazine story This is the first year that effects of erosion on Louisiana, Journalism for their series, The series was a finalist 2010 President Slobodan Milosevic; grow AP’s photo business, as she wrote about poetry in MISA has given the award, especially in the wake of Hur- “Across the Border, Beyond the for this year’s Pulitzer Prize for Lisa Mullins received a Gracie “The Bridge,” about one of the well as ongoing cross-format Afghanistan, and a book about with financial support from ricane Katrina and the Gulf oil Law,” about how flaws in the Investigative Reporting. Award from the Alliance for first major assaults of the Iraq leadership activities in AP’s the fall of manmade America the U.S. Embassy. The recipi- spill, as part of a commission justice system allow fugitives Women in Media Foundation. war; and “Amongst the Poor,” news department.” and the nation’s collective pov- ent was selected by a vote of from the museum. to leave the United States and Tommy Tomlinson has been Mullins was recognized as an which grew out of Knight’s Lyon has been with the AP erty. The fellowships, awarded journalists who are members According to Alford, “Like evade the law. Their series hired to write for a joint outstanding anchor in the news/ journeys through India over since 1991, when he joined as by the John Simon Guggenheim of the organization. “I am proud the Lower Ninth Ward in New identified dozens of criminals venture of USA Today Sports news magazine category for her a two-year period. a photographer based in Cairo. Memorial Foundation, provide that my peers, who form the Orleans, what is being lost on from Chicago, including a priest Media Group and Major League work on Public Radio Interna- Knight is director of the funding to writers, scholars and majority of my critics, thought the coast of Louisiana is more charged with sexual assault, Baseball Advanced Media. The tional’s “The World,” which she Program for Narrative and 2007 scientists to work on projects of this was the best out of my than a neighborhood or a who had fled the country. partnership plans to launch a has anchored since 1998. Documentary Practice at Tufts Eliza Griswold has been awarded their choosing. Motherland Malawi,” Munthali storm buffer. It’s a piece of The Medill Medal is awarded website this summer. He’ll be University’s Institute for Global a Guggenheim Fellowship. The wrote in a blog post after the our collective memory and a annually by Northwestern writing about all sports, with an 2011 Leadership. journalist and poet plans to Kondwani Munthali was named announcement. unique piece of heritage that University’s Medill School of emphasis on college football. Hui Sui Fun’s “Misjudged Cases” spend her fellowship year work- Malawi’s Blogger of the Year by When Munthali started blog- defines us as a nation.” Journalism to the individual or Tomlinson spent the last was one of two documentaries 2012 ing on three projects: a collec- the Media Institute of Southern ging during his Nieman year, team of journalists “who best 23 years at The Charlotte (N.C.) from Hong Kong-based TVB Jade Carlotta Gall has been signed tion of poems to be published by Africa (MISA) during its World he mainly posted his opinions Hannah Allam joined displayed moral, ethical or physi- Observer, where he has been a Channel that received a 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Farrar, Straus and Giroux in 2013, Press Freedom Day celebrations on issues ranging from global McClatchy’s Washington, D.C. cal courage in the pursuit of a local columnist since 1997. In his Peabody Award. Her documen- to write a book about what the a book based on a New York in May. health to youth empowerment bureau on July 1st, covering story or series of stories.” final column, he wrote, “When tary focuses on unjust arrests publisher calls “America’s long programs. Recently he has foreign affairs as part of the “In their work, Marx and I decided to leave the Observer, and prosecutions. occupation of Afghanistan, focused more on news, and he national security reporting team. Jackson blend old-fashioned I had two main reasons: I’d The George Foster Peabody from 9/11 to the present, a has occasionally faced harsh For the past nine years, Allam reporting shoe-leather, exhaus- never been part of something Awards are given annually by Vietnam-esque tragedy that criticism and reprisals for his has worked for McClatchy in the tive public records searches that was starting from the the University of Georgia’s leaves behind a country in writing, especially during the Middle East, serving as bureau and fierce courage in confront- ground up, and I didn’t want Grady College of Journalism and turmoil.” Gall, a reporter for The political turmoil in Malawi over chief in Baghdad and Cairo. She ing international fugitives on to be an old man sitting on my Mass Communication to honor New York Times, has been based the past two years, he said in gave birth to a son, Bilal, while their home turfs,” said Medill porch wondering,“What if I had excellence in television, radio in Afghanistan and Pakistan an interview posted on Global covering the Iraq War. In a Professor Donna Leff, who led tried that?.” and the Web. since 2001. Voices Online. the judging. “The reporters wandered in areas known for 2009 harboring drug cartels that rule Kael Alford’s photographs from by assassination and kidnapping Louisiana are featured at the and through their fearless work, High Museum of Art in Atlanta, showed how the Justice Depart- Georgia. Her work is part of the ment, county prosecutors and “Picturing the South” exhibit local police could have found on display until September. A these fugitives from justice.” Anja Niedringhaus, NF ’07, won first place in a spot news photography companion book, “Bottom of da On an 18-day trip to Mexico, category of the National Headliner Awards. “Shot Down” shows Boot,” has been published by the two reporters found eight of a Libyan warplane moments before it crashed to the ground. Fall Line Press. She has spent the the nine fugitives they were seek- Niedringhaus works for The Associated Press. last five years documenting the Hannah Allam ing. Two agreed to interviews. Tommy Tomlinson Hui Sui Fun

62 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 63 NIEMAN NOTES

the city visible. Make it feel like a small town. Stories! … After that, Pulitzer Prizes for Two Niemans one story at a time, I began to make sense of this amazing, chaotic place. Seattle Times investigative character and capture the culture of her for commentary, wrote about how she It was like putting together a giant reporter Ken Armstrong, NF ’01, and famed city.” Her subjects ranged from got started as a columnist 20 years ago jigsaw puzzle, one you can never get Chicago Tribune columnist Mary the personal to the political, from crime and what she has learned since: entirely assembled because pieces Schmich, NF ’96, have won journalism’s to the installation of a cringe-worthy “On a chilly afternoon in the April I keep vanishing and new pieces keep most prestigious award. statue of Marilyn Monroe. arrived, I sat in a Coffee Chicago with a turning up.” Schmich won the Pulitzer Prize for After the announcement, Schmich, yellow pad … . I wrote down things like: Armstrong and fellow reporter Commentary for “her wide range of who had been a Pulitzer finalist in 2006 Go out. Get to know people. Introduce Michael J. Berens’s series “Metha- down-to-earth columns that reflect the for feature writing as well as last year Chicago people to each other. Make done and the Politics of Pain” was one of two winners in the investiga- tive reporting category. The prize was given “for their investigation of how a little known governmental Seattle Times reporter Ken Armstrong is congratulated in the newsroom on the day the 2012 Kristen Lombardi was part of body in Washington State moved Pulitzers were announced. Photo by Bettina Hansen/The Seattle Times. the Center for Public Integrity/ vulnerable patients from safer pain- NPR investigation, “Poisoned control medication to methadone, a Places: Toxic Air, Neglected cheaper but more dangerous drug, Communities,” that won the coverage that prompted statewide Society of Professional health warnings.” ‘METHADONE AND THE POLITICS Journalists’ (SPJ) 2011 Sigma A week after the series was pub- Delta Chi Award for Public lished in December 2011, the state OF PAIN’ Service in Online Journalism. announced that it would issue an The series looked at hun- emergency public-health advisory The Seattle Times series by Michael J. Berens and ers, and state employees—to methadone, a dreds of cities across the US to more than 1,000 pharmacists Ken Armstrong, NF ’01, that won a 2012 Pulitzer narcotic with two notable characteristics. The where efforts to clean up air Kristen Lombardi Raquel Rutledge Pir Zubair Shah and about 17,000 licensed health Prize for Investigative Reporting began under drug is cheap. The drug is unpredictable. pollution have fallen far short care professionals, warning of the the headline: “State Pushes Drug That Saves The state highlights the former and down- of expectations. More than 20 since 2007. She won the 2009 prit behind illnesses and deaths Pir Zubair Shah has been named risks associated with taking metha- Money, Costs Lives.” Among the chilling facts plays the latter, cutting its costs while refus- years after clean air legislation Sigma Delta Chi award in the in hospitals, including that of the 2012-2013 Edward R. Murrow done. In January the state went in the three-part series was that California ing to own up to the consequences, according was passed, many communities same category for “Sexual 2-year-old Harrison Kothari. The Press Fellow at the Council further, instructing physicians to has more than five times the population of to a Seattle Times investigation that includes are still exposed to chemicals Assault on Campus: A Frustrat- reporters discovered that for a on Foreign Relations in New treat methadone as a drug of last Washington, but fewer methadone deaths. computerized analysis of death certificates, that can cause cancer and other ing Search for Justice.” decade a Wisconsin firm had York. The fellowship provides resort. The excerpt below lays out the problem: hospitalization records, and poverty data. health problems. frequently violated federal rules an opportunity for a foreign The series also won the Selden Methadone belongs to a class of narcotic SPJ judges said the series Raquel Rutledge and her affili- for making sterile products, but correspondent or editor to Ring Award and an Investigative Map the deaths and you see the story. painkillers, called opioids, that includes Oxy- “fully utilizes the tenets of ate John Diedrich were part of the U.S. Food and Drug Adminis- focus on sustained analysis of Reporters and Editors (IRE) award. Assign a dot to each person who has died in Contin, fentanyl and morphine. Within that online journalism to uncover an the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel tration had taken little action. events abroad. Shah, who has The reporters announced that Washington by accidentally overdosing on group, methadone accounts for less than 10 important issue. The in-depth team that won a Sigma Delta “While the FOI effort alone reported for The New York Times they would donate their $10,000 methadone, a commonly prescribed drug percent of the drugs prescribed—but more stories, photography and video Chi Award for Investigative could constitute a first-place in Pakistan, intends to work on Pulitzer Prize to provide IRE used to treat chronic pain. Since 2003, there than half of the deaths, The Times found. give readers an immersive Reporting for “A Case of Shat- award, the reporting was what he calls a “politically rel- training to their colleagues at The are 2,173 of these dots. That alone is striking, Methadone works wonders for some experience on what it feels like tered Trust.” The series also won humanized and made intensely evant memoir of growing up in Seattle Times. “We just wanted a graphic illustration of an ongoing epidemic. patients, relieving chronic pain from throb- to live near a company that is on first place in the investigative relevant when the writers intro- Pakistan.” The book will examine to find a way to do something for But it’s the clusters that pop out—the bing backs to inflamed joints. But the drug’s the EPA’s watch list. … Upon its category of the Association of duced us to the Kothari family’s the nation’s past and present in the paper and something for IRE,” concentration of dots in places with lower unique properties make it unforgiving and publication, the EPA posted data Health Care Journalists’ (AHCJ) loss,” the AHCJ judges said. an effort to predict its future. Armstrong said. “IRE, more than incomes. Everett, whose residents earn less sometimes lethal. on its website. One state cracked Awards for Excellence in Health “Overall, this effort exemplifies any other organization you can than the state average, has 99 dots. Bellevue, Most painkillers, such as OxyContin, down on a polluter. Other media Care Journalism and a 2012 Ger- best practices in multimedia think of, is the group that people with more people and more money, has eight. dissipate from the body within hours. caught on to the story and ald Loeb Award for excellence in storytelling, with graphics, To submit a note about a new turn to when they want to learn this Working-class Port Angeles has 40 dots. Methadone can linger for days, pooling to a published their own pieces and business reporting. compelling photos, and rivet- job, project or award, please reach craft and they want to be inspired. Mercer Island, upscale and more populous, toxic reservoir that depresses the respiratory reaction to the work.” In the paper’s investigation, ing video. This will become a us at [email protected] or And to me, those two things are has none. For the past eight years Washing- system. With little warning, patients fall Lombardi has been on staff contaminated alcohol wipes hallmark for how to accomplish Nieman Reports, One Francis Ave., equally important.” ton has steered people with state-subsidized asleep and don’t wake up. Doctors call it the at the Center for Public Integrity emerged as the suspected cul- public service reporting.” Cambridge, MA 02138. —Jonathan Seitz health care—Medicaid patients, injured work- silent death.

64 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 65 NIEMAN NOTES

the city visible. Make it feel like a small town. Stories! … After that, Pulitzer Prizes for Two Niemans one story at a time, I began to make sense of this amazing, chaotic place. Seattle Times investigative character and capture the culture of her for commentary, wrote about how she It was like putting together a giant reporter Ken Armstrong, NF ’01, and famed city.” Her subjects ranged from got started as a columnist 20 years ago jigsaw puzzle, one you can never get Chicago Tribune columnist Mary the personal to the political, from crime and what she has learned since: entirely assembled because pieces Schmich, NF ’96, have won journalism’s to the installation of a cringe-worthy “On a chilly afternoon in the April I keep vanishing and new pieces keep most prestigious award. statue of Marilyn Monroe. arrived, I sat in a Coffee Chicago with a turning up.” Schmich won the Pulitzer Prize for After the announcement, Schmich, yellow pad … . I wrote down things like: Armstrong and fellow reporter Commentary for “her wide range of who had been a Pulitzer finalist in 2006 Go out. Get to know people. Introduce Michael J. Berens’s series “Metha- down-to-earth columns that reflect the for feature writing as well as last year Chicago people to each other. Make done and the Politics of Pain” was one of two winners in the investiga- tive reporting category. The prize was given “for their investigation of how a little known governmental Seattle Times reporter Ken Armstrong is congratulated in the newsroom on the day the 2012 Kristen Lombardi was part of body in Washington State moved Pulitzers were announced. Photo by Bettina Hansen/The Seattle Times. the Center for Public Integrity/ vulnerable patients from safer pain- NPR investigation, “Poisoned control medication to methadone, a Places: Toxic Air, Neglected cheaper but more dangerous drug, Communities,” that won the coverage that prompted statewide Society of Professional health warnings.” ‘METHADONE AND THE POLITICS Journalists’ (SPJ) 2011 Sigma A week after the series was pub- Delta Chi Award for Public lished in December 2011, the state OF PAIN’ Service in Online Journalism. announced that it would issue an The series looked at hun- emergency public-health advisory The Seattle Times series by Michael J. Berens and ers, and state employees—to methadone, a dreds of cities across the US to more than 1,000 pharmacists Ken Armstrong, NF ’01, that won a 2012 Pulitzer narcotic with two notable characteristics. The where efforts to clean up air Kristen Lombardi Raquel Rutledge Pir Zubair Shah and about 17,000 licensed health Prize for Investigative Reporting began under drug is cheap. The drug is unpredictable. pollution have fallen far short care professionals, warning of the the headline: “State Pushes Drug That Saves The state highlights the former and down- of expectations. More than 20 since 2007. She won the 2009 prit behind illnesses and deaths Pir Zubair Shah has been named risks associated with taking metha- Money, Costs Lives.” Among the chilling facts plays the latter, cutting its costs while refus- years after clean air legislation Sigma Delta Chi award in the in hospitals, including that of the 2012-2013 Edward R. Murrow done. In January the state went in the three-part series was that California ing to own up to the consequences, according was passed, many communities same category for “Sexual 2-year-old Harrison Kothari. The Press Fellow at the Council further, instructing physicians to has more than five times the population of to a Seattle Times investigation that includes are still exposed to chemicals Assault on Campus: A Frustrat- reporters discovered that for a on Foreign Relations in New treat methadone as a drug of last Washington, but fewer methadone deaths. computerized analysis of death certificates, that can cause cancer and other ing Search for Justice.” decade a Wisconsin firm had York. The fellowship provides resort. The excerpt below lays out the problem: hospitalization records, and poverty data. health problems. frequently violated federal rules an opportunity for a foreign The series also won the Selden Methadone belongs to a class of narcotic SPJ judges said the series Raquel Rutledge and her affili- for making sterile products, but correspondent or editor to Ring Award and an Investigative Map the deaths and you see the story. painkillers, called opioids, that includes Oxy- “fully utilizes the tenets of ate John Diedrich were part of the U.S. Food and Drug Adminis- focus on sustained analysis of Reporters and Editors (IRE) award. Assign a dot to each person who has died in Contin, fentanyl and morphine. Within that online journalism to uncover an the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel tration had taken little action. events abroad. Shah, who has The reporters announced that Washington by accidentally overdosing on group, methadone accounts for less than 10 important issue. The in-depth team that won a Sigma Delta “While the FOI effort alone reported for The New York Times they would donate their $10,000 methadone, a commonly prescribed drug percent of the drugs prescribed—but more stories, photography and video Chi Award for Investigative could constitute a first-place in Pakistan, intends to work on Pulitzer Prize to provide IRE used to treat chronic pain. Since 2003, there than half of the deaths, The Times found. give readers an immersive Reporting for “A Case of Shat- award, the reporting was what he calls a “politically rel- training to their colleagues at The are 2,173 of these dots. That alone is striking, Methadone works wonders for some experience on what it feels like tered Trust.” The series also won humanized and made intensely evant memoir of growing up in Seattle Times. “We just wanted a graphic illustration of an ongoing epidemic. patients, relieving chronic pain from throb- to live near a company that is on first place in the investigative relevant when the writers intro- Pakistan.” The book will examine to find a way to do something for But it’s the clusters that pop out—the bing backs to inflamed joints. But the drug’s the EPA’s watch list. … Upon its category of the Association of duced us to the Kothari family’s the nation’s past and present in the paper and something for IRE,” concentration of dots in places with lower unique properties make it unforgiving and publication, the EPA posted data Health Care Journalists’ (AHCJ) loss,” the AHCJ judges said. an effort to predict its future. Armstrong said. “IRE, more than incomes. Everett, whose residents earn less sometimes lethal. on its website. One state cracked Awards for Excellence in Health “Overall, this effort exemplifies any other organization you can than the state average, has 99 dots. Bellevue, Most painkillers, such as OxyContin, down on a polluter. Other media Care Journalism and a 2012 Ger- best practices in multimedia think of, is the group that people with more people and more money, has eight. dissipate from the body within hours. caught on to the story and ald Loeb Award for excellence in storytelling, with graphics, To submit a note about a new turn to when they want to learn this Working-class Port Angeles has 40 dots. Methadone can linger for days, pooling to a published their own pieces and business reporting. compelling photos, and rivet- job, project or award, please reach craft and they want to be inspired. Mercer Island, upscale and more populous, toxic reservoir that depresses the respiratory reaction to the work.” In the paper’s investigation, ing video. This will become a us at [email protected] or And to me, those two things are has none. For the past eight years Washing- system. With little warning, patients fall Lombardi has been on staff contaminated alcohol wipes hallmark for how to accomplish Nieman Reports, One Francis Ave., equally important.” ton has steered people with state-subsidized asleep and don’t wake up. Doctors call it the at the Center for Public Integrity emerged as the suspected cul- public service reporting.” Cambridge, MA 02138. —Jonathan Seitz health care—Medicaid patients, injured work- silent death.

64 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 65 NIEMAN NOTES NIEMAN JOURNALISM LAB

WRITING HER HEART OUT BY MARY SCHMICH And You Thought Your Newsroom Was Innovative This column by Mary Schmich, NF ’96, who won the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Commentary, Across the globe, journalists are finding new ways to deliver diverse content to an appeared in the Chicago Tribune on August 7, 2011 under the headline “Troubled daughter increasingly mobile audience. BY ADRIENNE LAFRANCE grows up.”

My sister Gina received her first cellphone as Does your daily newspaper offer romance novels on the of contemporary photographs of the same settings. With the a birthday gift a few days ago. side? How about an interactive evening edition for the iPad? swipe of a finger, users could reveal the modern photo that cor- Until recently, Gina had insisted that a As media innovation increasingly targets an on-demand responded to an old painting. cellphone was too complicated for her, a culture, these were among the projects that attracted interest Doria said the paper saw engagement with its tablet app plausible statement given how many things at the 13th International Symposium on Online Journalism skyrocket after it introduced the edition earlier this year. O she finds hard. (ISOJ), where hundreds of journalists, media executives, and Globo found that the amount of time people spent using the For years, she found bathing complicated, academics gathered in April to exchange research and ideas app jumped from an average of 26 minutes a day to 77 minutes so she rarely stepped into a tub or shower. about disruptions in journalism and global reactions to them. a day. Brushing her teeth felt complicated, so her The conference, hosted by the Knight Center for Journalism One key factor, Doria said, is that the company assembled a teeth went bad. Cleaning her room felt like in the Americas at the University of Texas at Austin, reliably team dedicated to building something “not for the Web, not for climbing a mountain, so her room devolved draws a mix of professional news producers and high-level the newspaper—for the tablet.” The mentality at O Globo, he into a jungle of junk with a skinny path to researchers. In addition to the continuing need for innovation said, is that great journalism should be distributed wherever it the unmade bed. In the final weeks of her old and entrepreneurialism, many of this year’s speakers empha- fits best, and that no single channel—print, television, tablets, cat’s life, she found it too complicated to pick sized the importance of addressing the challenges presented by smartphones—should inherently trump another. up the cat feces on the carpet, so she neatly the rise of mobile devices. Chicago Tribune columnist Mary Schmich on the day it was announced that she had won the 2012 laid a paper towel over each set of droppings. MOBILE NETWORKS Pulitzer Prize for Commentary. Photo by Nancy Stone/Chicago Tribune/via The Associated Press. When Gina was little, doctors said she E-BOOKS In some cases, people connecting to the Internet for the first had an IQ of 34, and though they were far When it comes to finding opportunities for revenue, the atti- time are doing so through mobile devices. That’s true in parts wrong, the right diagnosis has never been But after Mama died, we braced for up soft drinks, after years of a dozen a day. tude increasingly is “why not?” That’s the case at the Inquirer of Africa where those who missed the shift to desktop Internet clear. Mild autism. Borderline personality Gina’s familiar rages. We talked about how She has gone to the dentist, and her teeth, Group, one of the largest media companies in the Philippines, access are now getting connected via phones. This development disorder. The verdict seems to have changed to handle her when she burst into shrieks at minus several that had to be pulled, are where JV Rufino heads the mobile and books group. holds great promise for expanding access to news, but it also almost as often as her medications. the memorial. white again. His group has tried a number of approaches in its foray into carries a risk. What is clear is that Gina is different, so On the morning of the service, she found She showers. e-books, including publishing collections of what had already Harry Dugmore, a mobile communication expert who she always lived with our mother and our me while I washed my face. And now, thanks to two brothers, she is a appeared in the print newspaper—like a three-part investiga- teaches at Rhodes University’s School of Journalism and Media mother lived with the question: What will “Do you think,” she began. “Do you think modern woman with a cellphone. I called her tive series that examined the failed promises of a fund estab- Studies in South Africa, is behind a project called Iindaba happen to Gina when I die? it would be OK if I don’t go? I just. I just think on it last week. lished to help coconut farmers. Ziyafika, which promotes the use of mobile phones for “interac- Gina worried too. As Mama grew frail, the best way for me to honor Mom today is “I’m doing a lot of things I never thought But some of the other genres that the newspaper com- tive journalism.” It encourages citizens to send information Gina often climbed in her bed in the middle to take a shower and brush my teeth and go I’d be doing,” she said with a big laugh. pany went with for its e-books may surprise you. At Easter, it to media outlets via text message and is working to develop of the night to weep. out on the bus.” “Living alone! And a cellphone!” released a collection of prayers that had been published over methods of distributing news directly to cell phones. “Honey,” my mother would soothe And that’s what she did. I try to understand my sister’s transfor- time on the front page of the community newspaper Inquirer At ISOJ, Dugmore talked about the enormous importance of her, “you’ll be OK,” and my siblings and I, With clean hair, in new brown capris and mation, to trust that it will last. It’s one of Libre. It also offered a Tagalog romance novel that had been mobile networks in delivering news to consumers in Africa. Yet unconvinced, told our mother we’d make shin-high socks from Target, she rode the bus the most mysterious and beautiful things serialized in another Inquirer newspaper. these networks have a down side. They tend to be centralized sure she was. from store to store that day, along a route I’ve ever witnessed, though maybe it’s no The Inquirer Group also published books—this time in and they’re often under government control. In the months leading up to my mother’s she rides for hours almost every day just for more complex than this: physical as well as electronic formats—about the Supreme In nations that lack press protections, the architecture of death, Gina began to change. She calmed fun. She visited with clerks and pharmacists When your greatest fear comes to pass Court’s decision-making process. mobile networks raises security risks for those who rely on down, some. She took pride in making she considers her best friends, telling them and you survive, you discover who you them. As the global population shifts toward phones and tab- Mother’s morning coffee. When one of my her mom was gone. really are. EVENING EDITION lets, innovation in the arena of mobile security will be critical to brothers or I bathed our mother, Gina held the “Mom would be proud of me for being Pedro Doria, digital platforms editor of O Globo, a national promoting freedom of speech and of the press. towels. When we’d lift Mother off the portable independent,” she said when she got back. Reprinted with permission from Chicago newspaper based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, wowed ISOJ with commode next to the sofa where she slept, In the year since, Gina has lived alone, Tribune; copyright Chicago Tribune. All a demonstration of his newspaper’s evening-edition iPad app. Adrienne LaFrance is a staff writer for the Nieman Journalism Gina was quick to say, “I’ll empty it.” next to one of our brothers. She has given rights reserved. One feature layered 300-year-old paintings of Brazil on top Lab.

66 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 67 NIEMAN NOTES NIEMAN JOURNALISM LAB

WRITING HER HEART OUT BY MARY SCHMICH And You Thought Your Newsroom Was Innovative This column by Mary Schmich, NF ’96, who won the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Commentary, Across the globe, journalists are finding new ways to deliver diverse content to an appeared in the Chicago Tribune on August 7, 2011 under the headline “Troubled daughter increasingly mobile audience. BY ADRIENNE LAFRANCE grows up.”

My sister Gina received her first cellphone as Does your daily newspaper offer romance novels on the of contemporary photographs of the same settings. With the a birthday gift a few days ago. side? How about an interactive evening edition for the iPad? swipe of a finger, users could reveal the modern photo that cor- Until recently, Gina had insisted that a As media innovation increasingly targets an on-demand responded to an old painting. cellphone was too complicated for her, a culture, these were among the projects that attracted interest Doria said the paper saw engagement with its tablet app plausible statement given how many things at the 13th International Symposium on Online Journalism skyrocket after it introduced the edition earlier this year. O she finds hard. (ISOJ), where hundreds of journalists, media executives, and Globo found that the amount of time people spent using the For years, she found bathing complicated, academics gathered in April to exchange research and ideas app jumped from an average of 26 minutes a day to 77 minutes so she rarely stepped into a tub or shower. about disruptions in journalism and global reactions to them. a day. Brushing her teeth felt complicated, so her The conference, hosted by the Knight Center for Journalism One key factor, Doria said, is that the company assembled a teeth went bad. Cleaning her room felt like in the Americas at the University of Texas at Austin, reliably team dedicated to building something “not for the Web, not for climbing a mountain, so her room devolved draws a mix of professional news producers and high-level the newspaper—for the tablet.” The mentality at O Globo, he into a jungle of junk with a skinny path to researchers. In addition to the continuing need for innovation said, is that great journalism should be distributed wherever it the unmade bed. In the final weeks of her old and entrepreneurialism, many of this year’s speakers empha- fits best, and that no single channel—print, television, tablets, cat’s life, she found it too complicated to pick sized the importance of addressing the challenges presented by smartphones—should inherently trump another. up the cat feces on the carpet, so she neatly the rise of mobile devices. Chicago Tribune columnist Mary Schmich on the day it was announced that she had won the 2012 laid a paper towel over each set of droppings. MOBILE NETWORKS Pulitzer Prize for Commentary. Photo by Nancy Stone/Chicago Tribune/via The Associated Press. When Gina was little, doctors said she E-BOOKS In some cases, people connecting to the Internet for the first had an IQ of 34, and though they were far When it comes to finding opportunities for revenue, the atti- time are doing so through mobile devices. That’s true in parts wrong, the right diagnosis has never been But after Mama died, we braced for up soft drinks, after years of a dozen a day. tude increasingly is “why not?” That’s the case at the Inquirer of Africa where those who missed the shift to desktop Internet clear. Mild autism. Borderline personality Gina’s familiar rages. We talked about how She has gone to the dentist, and her teeth, Group, one of the largest media companies in the Philippines, access are now getting connected via phones. This development disorder. The verdict seems to have changed to handle her when she burst into shrieks at minus several that had to be pulled, are where JV Rufino heads the mobile and books group. holds great promise for expanding access to news, but it also almost as often as her medications. the memorial. white again. His group has tried a number of approaches in its foray into carries a risk. What is clear is that Gina is different, so On the morning of the service, she found She showers. e-books, including publishing collections of what had already Harry Dugmore, a mobile communication expert who she always lived with our mother and our me while I washed my face. And now, thanks to two brothers, she is a appeared in the print newspaper—like a three-part investiga- teaches at Rhodes University’s School of Journalism and Media mother lived with the question: What will “Do you think,” she began. “Do you think modern woman with a cellphone. I called her tive series that examined the failed promises of a fund estab- Studies in South Africa, is behind a project called Iindaba happen to Gina when I die? it would be OK if I don’t go? I just. I just think on it last week. lished to help coconut farmers. Ziyafika, which promotes the use of mobile phones for “interac- Gina worried too. As Mama grew frail, the best way for me to honor Mom today is “I’m doing a lot of things I never thought But some of the other genres that the newspaper com- tive journalism.” It encourages citizens to send information Gina often climbed in her bed in the middle to take a shower and brush my teeth and go I’d be doing,” she said with a big laugh. pany went with for its e-books may surprise you. At Easter, it to media outlets via text message and is working to develop of the night to weep. out on the bus.” “Living alone! And a cellphone!” released a collection of prayers that had been published over methods of distributing news directly to cell phones. “Honey,” my mother would soothe And that’s what she did. I try to understand my sister’s transfor- time on the front page of the community newspaper Inquirer At ISOJ, Dugmore talked about the enormous importance of her, “you’ll be OK,” and my siblings and I, With clean hair, in new brown capris and mation, to trust that it will last. It’s one of Libre. It also offered a Tagalog romance novel that had been mobile networks in delivering news to consumers in Africa. Yet unconvinced, told our mother we’d make shin-high socks from Target, she rode the bus the most mysterious and beautiful things serialized in another Inquirer newspaper. these networks have a down side. They tend to be centralized sure she was. from store to store that day, along a route I’ve ever witnessed, though maybe it’s no The Inquirer Group also published books—this time in and they’re often under government control. In the months leading up to my mother’s she rides for hours almost every day just for more complex than this: physical as well as electronic formats—about the Supreme In nations that lack press protections, the architecture of death, Gina began to change. She calmed fun. She visited with clerks and pharmacists When your greatest fear comes to pass Court’s decision-making process. mobile networks raises security risks for those who rely on down, some. She took pride in making she considers her best friends, telling them and you survive, you discover who you them. As the global population shifts toward phones and tab- Mother’s morning coffee. When one of my her mom was gone. really are. EVENING EDITION lets, innovation in the arena of mobile security will be critical to brothers or I bathed our mother, Gina held the “Mom would be proud of me for being Pedro Doria, digital platforms editor of O Globo, a national promoting freedom of speech and of the press. towels. When we’d lift Mother off the portable independent,” she said when she got back. Reprinted with permission from Chicago newspaper based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, wowed ISOJ with commode next to the sofa where she slept, In the year since, Gina has lived alone, Tribune; copyright Chicago Tribune. All a demonstration of his newspaper’s evening-edition iPad app. Adrienne LaFrance is a staff writer for the Nieman Journalism Gina was quick to say, “I’ll empty it.” next to one of our brothers. She has given rights reserved. One feature layered 300-year-old paintings of Brazil on top Lab.

66 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 67 HEARD AT LIPPMANN HOUSE

Out of His Comfort Zone Buzz Bissinger on ambition, fear of failure, and the genesis of ‘Friday Night Lights’

The 2012 fellowship year ended on a bittersweet note this spring something different, not simply go back to my paper with the when narrative nonfiction legend Buzz Bissinger, NF ’86, came sort of glow of a great year. So that’s what I did.” home to Lippmann House to talk about his new book, “Father’s Bissinger of course went on to write the iconic “Friday Night Day: A Journey Into the Mind and Heart of My Extraordinary Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream,” a narrative about high Son.” school football in Texas, and other acclaimed books. “Father’s Day,” “The Nieman year was probably the most special year of my published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, is about a cross-country life,” he told fellows, who moments later would have their closing road trip with one of his twin sons, Zach, a 24-year-old savant. barbecue. “The intimacy, the stimulation … people say, ‘Why’d In conversation with curator Ann Marie Lipinski, NF ’90, you begin to write books?’ The reason I really began to write who was his editor at the Chicago Tribune, Bissinger talked books is that after my Nieman year I felt I owed it to myself about books, newspapers and the best possible attitude for an to go and do something out of the box, and really, really do outgoing Nieman. What follows is an edited excerpt:

I get excited about a lot of ideas and I just let them sit. I get a sort After your Nieman year you owe it to yourself to do something of pulsating feeling in my heart, my chest—this excitement. And different. Even if you’re going back to your own paper, do some- if the excitement lingered that meant I was onto something. thing different. Do a different beat. Write a book. Whatever. Just do something different. I had a passion and a feeling in my heart that [“Friday Night Lights”] was the right book for me to do. And then I got lucky.

As my father says, “You have to be close to be lucky.”

As a journalist, all I ever do is try to get people to be honest about themselves and open up. I felt, well if I’m gonna turn the light on myself I have to be honest, because I think there’s purity in honesty. I think that’s where you learn about people.

Did [“Father’s Day”] change me? Did the trip change me? I don’t think it did.

I’m still ambitious. I’m still frantic the book will be a failure and if it’s a success it won’t be as big a success as I anticipated. But it did make me feel closer to Zach.

What was great about journalism when I entered it, which was right after Watergate, in 1976, papers were hot, papers were making money, but beyond that they all wanted investigative reporting, they all wanted long-form reporting.

68 Nieman Reports | Summer 2012 N IEMA N R SUMMER 2012 E P

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