Violence, Political Attacks, Layoffs … and Still Doing Vital Work

NIEMAN REPORTS

Violence, political attacks, layoffs … and still doing vital work Contributors The Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University Julia Keller (page 24), a 1998 Nieman www.niemanreports.org Fellow and former cultural critic at the Chicago Tribune, won the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing. “The Cold Way Home” (Minotaur Books), the eighth novel in her series set in her home state of West Virginia, will be published in August. She has taught writing at Princeton University, Notre Dame, and the University of Chicago. publisher Ann Marie Lipinski Lenka Kabrhelova (page 32), a 2018 editor Nieman Fellow, most recently was a James Geary creative producer and presenter at Czech senior editor Radio, the public radio broadcasting Jan Gardner network in the Czech Republic. Prior to editorial assistant that she was a U.S. correspondent for Eryn M. Carlson Czech Radio and a correspondent in Russia. Kabrhelova has reported from staff assistant nearly 20 diff erent countries. She Shantel Blakely additionally worked for the BBC World design Service in Prague and in London. Pentagram Days after a mass shooting at The Capital newspaper, staff members march in the 4th of July parade in Annapolis, Maryland in 2018 editorial offices Michael Blanding (page 6) is a journalist One Francis Avenue, Cambridge, with more than 25 years of experience, MA 02138-2098, 617-496-6308, covering media, crime, culture, and the Contents Winter 2019 / Vol. 73 / No. 1 [email protected] environment. His work has appeared in The New York Times, Wired, Slate, and Copyright 2019 by the President and Features Departments Fellows of Harvard College. other publications. His most recent book, Periodicals postage paid at “The Map Thief: The Gripping Story of Where Does Journalism 6 cover From the Curator 2 Boston, Massachusetts and an Esteemed Rare-Map Dealer Who Made End and Activism Begin? Ann Marie Lipinski additional entries Millions Stealing Priceless Maps,” was This polarized political moment raises Journalism Under Pressure 24 named an NPR Book of the Year. fresh questions in newsrooms about The paradox of journalism today: Niemans@Work 4 subscriptions/business the line between reporting and advocacy Coverage is often exceptional, even Investigating WWII atrocities in 617-496-6299, [email protected] By Michael Blanding as newsrooms and revenues shrink the Philippines, covering the Subscription $25 a year, Shira Springer (page 16) has been a By Julia Keller modern workplace, holding local $40 for two years; sports journalist for more than 20 years. #TIREDOFTHEBIAS 16 offi cials accountable add $10 per year for foreign airmail. Formerly a member of the sports staff at Women’s sports in the U.S. receive The Free Press Under Single copies $7.50. The Boston Globe, she now covers stories only 4 percent of sports media coverage. Threat in Central Europe 32 Nieman Notes 48 Back copies are available from at the intersection of sports and society How—and why—to change that Despite fi nancial challenges and the Nieman offi ce. for NPR and WBUR. She also writes By Shira Springer government pressure, Central Sounding 52 Please address all subscription regular columns on women’s sports for European independent newsrooms Sipho Kings correspondence to: the Globe and The SportsBusiness Journal. are fi nding ways to keep reporting One Francis Avenue, In addition to writing and working in By Lenka Kabrhelova Cambridge, MA 02138-2098 public radio, Springer teaches sports Minnesota Lynx and change of address information to: journalism at Boston University. coach Cheryl Reeve P.O. Box 4951, Manchester, NH 03108 has been outspoken watchdog ISSN Number 0028-9817 Susan Stellin (page 40) is a reporter and in demanding “It’s Not Just About Real 40 better coverage of Postmaster: Send address changes to an adjunct professor at The New School, women’s sports Estate Anymore” Nieman Reports P.O. Box 4951, teaching a course on ethics and the How newsrooms are tackling the complex Manchester, NH 03108 history of media. She recently completed issues that contribute to and result from a master’s degree in public health at the growing housing aff ordability problem Nieman Reports (USPS #430-650) Columbia University and is the co-author of By Susan Stellin is published in March, June, “Chancers,” a memoir about her husband’s September, and December by struggle with addiction, incarceration, the Nieman Foundation at Harvard University, and recovery. She has written for The New One Francis Avenue, York Times, New York magazine, The

Cambridge, MA 02138-2098 Guardian, and many other publications. PRESS ASSOCIATED THE VIA SUN BALTIMORE REED/THE JAY TOP: OPPOSITE: PRESS ASSOCIATED GAY/THE BOTTOM:ERIC from who called “American Dharma” a “tooth- We are unsure. We seem in search of a new the less bromance,” others with an IndieWire journalistic rhetoric, and the possibilities curator reviewer who said, “This may be the first are both promising and perilous. real window into what it takes to talk back.” A few days after Morris visited Nieman, I But far richer than reviews has been the listened to an unlikely podcast, a conversa- deep debate about how journalists calibrate tion between Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel Errol Morris, Steve Bannon, our stories to break through in a moment of and Chicago Tribune theater critic Chris extreme polarization, an important conver- Jones. As the journalist and the politician and American Discourse sation made possible, ironically, by viewing talked about their city, the mayor mentioned a film that few can see. a local critic whose views were pilloried by “What does it mean for journalism What does it mean for journalism when members of the theater community, some of when we cannot examine a subject we cannot examine a subject without ap- whom advocated denying her access to re- pearing to promote it? viewer tickets. Jones publicly defended her without appearing to promote it?” Morris recalled screening his 1999 docu- even as he disagreed with some of her views. mentary “Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred “This country needs to have conversation by ann marie lipinski A. Leuchter Jr.” to a group of college students Filmmaker Errol Morris has faced criticism for his documentary about Steve Bannon and the theater is a place of conversation,” who appeared to be swayed by the subject’s Jones told the mayor. “I think ultimately it or the first time in his long career, populism fueled Breitbart News before he Holocaust denials. “That was not my intent,” supposed to do. I’m supposed to infantilize described as “the Nazi sympathizer next always has to be on the side of tolerance and Academy Award winner Errol Morris imported it to the White House. “American he said wryly. Before releasing the movie, he my audience? I’m supposed to just play to door.” The piece, with its descriptions of it has to be on the side of many points of has made a film that no one will dis- Dharma” has now become its own unknown added direct denunciations of Leuchter, an what’s going to make them happy or feel the man’s Midwest manners and love of TV view. And it has to meet people where they tribute. Perhaps distributors don’t known, something we know that we do not edit he still laments for telling people what to better about themselves?” comedies, unleashed a torrent of criticism are. Not everyone is in the same place in like the documentary. Perhaps they know, a film generating plenty of coverage think rather than asking them to think. He added: “I learned maybe it’s not pos- from readers and media writers who object- Chicago or in America for that matter. And Fdon’t like the subject—Stephen K. Bannon, and opinions but very few screenings. “To me the ironies were so unbelievably sible to make movies like this anymore and ed to anodyne treatment of a white nation- I think the moment you start saying, ‘Well, former chief strategist for President Donald “It’s not a First Amendment [issue] be- strong that you want them just to wash over that I shouldn’t make another political film alist. Some objected to covering him at all. we only want opinions that we agree with,’ Trump. The fact that we can’t quite tell is a cause it isn’t the government suppressing people,” he said. “You don’t want to edito- ever again.” National editor Marc Lacey responded to it’s a slippery slope.” feature of this political moment. It is also a free speech, but what is it?” asked Morris. rialize about them. If they’re incapable of Morris’s troubles with the film coincid- the backlash with what seemed like genuine In what seemed especially relevant to the problem for journalism. “What is it when we’re just afraid to actual- seeing these ironies, then what do you do?” ed with New Yorker editor David Remnick’s introspection, though to some critics that controversy that dogs Morris, Jones added: This is not the first Morris film to docu- ly engage views that we find contrary to the Some argue that perilous political times decision last fall to first invite then disin- too was insufficient. “It goes to the debate among progressives or ment a polarizing subject. “The Fog of War,” way we would like to see the world?” have obviated traditional journalistic in- vite Bannon from the magazine’s annual “We regret the degree to which the piece liberals about whether this is a moment for his 2003 movie about former U.S. Defense I invited Morris to the Nieman quiry and that “American Dharma” should festival. The same week Morris premiered offended so many readers,” Lacey wrote. conversation or whether it’s a moment for Secretary Robert S. McNamara, won an Foundation after arranging a campus have conveyed a more combative stance to- “American Dharma” to an ovation at the “We recognize that people can disagree on resistance… Is this a time for conversation Oscar for best documentary feature. A de- screening of the documentary. One journal- ward Bannon—despite the fact that Morris Venice International Film Festival, two of how best to tell a disagreeable story. What with everybody or do we say, no, we can’t cade later, “The Unknown Known” por- ist cautioned me that showing the film could is more visibly present and critical than in the magazine’s Pulitzer-winning journalists we think is indisputable, though, is the need have that conversation?” trayed another defense secretary, Donald be “controversial” for Nieman. Someone any documentary he’s made. The filmmak- bookended the debate: to shed more light, not less, on the most ex- Morris still hopes that a distributor will Rumsfeld. Morris did not set out to direct a asked if I thought there would be protests. er was despondent. “I don’t know what I’m Kathryn Schulz when Bannon was treme corners of American life and the peo- acquire his film. If not, he may distribute it trilogy, but “American Dharma,” his unset- I was bewildered by any suggestion that announced as a festival speaker: “I love ple who inhabit them.” himself. “Have I done something wrong or tling Bannon film, is at home with these ear- journalists should not see this work for working for @NewYorker, but I’m beyond He added: “That’s what the story, howev- unpardonable?” he asked me recently. “Isn’t lier documentaries examining men who had, themselves. Apparently others in the com- appalled by this.” er imperfectly, tried to do.” it the job of journalism to go out and explore he says, “a destructive effect on America.” munity felt the same; on a freezing Friday Lawrence Wright after Bannon was dis- Journalism in the age of Trump is uneasy, these issues?” But a form that was a Morris signature— night, long lines of filmgoers assembled, and We seem in search of a new invited: “Journalism is about hearing op- covering a presidency and a divided nation A woman recently tweeted about long interviews with single subjects—has a second screening was arranged. “ posing views. I regret that this event is not it didn’t see coming. We disagree about who “American Dharma,” “Is it okay to dread journalistic rhetoric, and found itself in a purgatory governed by The film is only 96 minutes, but when taking place.” is worthy of our attention. We debate basic watching it?” emerging rules about “normalizing” men we met with Morris, we talked for over two the possibilities are both In late 2017, The New York Times pub- building blocks like “lie” and “racist.” We Morris responded, “How about—to dread like Bannon, someone whose inflammatory hours. Some aligned with a Variety critic promising and perilous lished a story about a suburban Dayton man construct new ones (see “deplatform”). not watching it.” �

“We were he Indianapolis Star Integrity in Journalism, said during investigation somewhat different what we had. We knew through files that had been compiled by papers across the country on allegations against Nassar was investigation that led to the a talk after the award ceremony and somewhat unusual from a depositions of current and former USA Gymnastics over a 10-year August 4, 2016. There was not published on September 12, inundated T imprisonment of Dr. Larry February 7 at the Nieman lot of other investigations I’ve USA Gymnastics officials that they period.” It took nine months to one word in it about Larry Nassar. 2016. “There were two immediate with calls Nassar began with a tip. In March Foundation. In presenting the done is that we knew immediately had had a policy of not reporting get the records unsealed. Within a few weeks, three women competing reactions from the 2016 a source suggested that award to Kwiatkowski, the Nieman all allegations of sexual abuse to USA Gymnastics opposed who said that Nassar had sexually public. First, there was a pretty from other reporter Marisa Kwiatkowski look class of 2019 cited her “relentless Marisa Kwiatkowski authorities, which is contrary to the Star’s motion to unseal abused them had come forward. significant pushback from his survivors” at how USA Gymnastics handles efforts to give voice to the afflicted the law in many states.” the documents. The reporters “Up until we got that tip about supporters, from people who told Lyons award sexual abuse allegations. “That through her reporting.” “Meanwhile, The Indianapolis discovered that USA Gymnastics Larry Nassar, everyone that we’d us that we were wrong, that there source pointed me toward a law- The documents weren’t Star filed a motion to intervene had learned of allegations written about had already been was no way that it was true and winner unwinds suit in Georgia and documents available online and the only way in that Georgia lawsuit, seeking of sexual abuse, not reported charged or convicted of a crime. that he was an amazing guy. At her paper’s that he said might soon be sealed to get them that day was to hop on access to records that had them, and other children were Nassar had not. He was still the same time, we were inundated by the judge,” Kwiatkowski, the a plane to Atlanta. She returned already been sealed by the court. abused afterward. practicing medicine at the time with calls from other survivors Larry Nassar winner of the 2019 Louis M. with almost a thousand pages of Among them were 54 coaches’ The first story was published in that we started our investigation.” who told us that the same thing investigation Lyons Award for Conscience and records. “What makes this TAYLOR KATHERINE PRESS ASSOCIATED WIGGLESWORTH/THE KIRSTY OPPOSITE: sexual misconduct complaint the Star, USA Today, and Gannett The first article to reveal had happened to them, too.” �

2 nieman reports winter 2019 nieman reports winter 2019 3 niemans organize the vast amount of information—I while fleeing the Japanese. “I can’t imagine our @work digitized almost 4,000 pages of records a We did just that. Jim showed me where day—I created a database, logging the grue- he lived as an 11-year-old boy when American community without some details of what each survivor endured. troops finally rolled into Manila. We visited the Advocate” “An Orgy I married months of archival work with the spot on Florida Street where a Japanese Editor and publisher of Mass Murder” field research in the Philippines, interviewing landmine blew the legs off his family’s teen- In a new book, James survivors and visiting many of the 27 major age housekeeper and nearly killed his mother. Chris Cobler, NF ’06, atrocity sites. I walked the hallways of the We entered the Philippine General Hospital, prioritizes holding local M. Scott, NF ’07, University of Santo Tomas, where American where, via the elevator shaft, Jim and his fam- investigates World internees starved to death at the rate of three ily, along with other civilians, had wriggled officials accountable to four a day before Sherman tanks broke under the hospital’s crawlspace. There they while pushing to keep War II atrocities down the gates and liberated the nearly 3,700 had endured five days, scavenging water from 172-year-old paper on in the Philippines captives. I peered into the dungeons of Fort toilet tanks before American troops killed the Santiago, the infamous Japanese torture cen- last of the Japanese marines. sound financial footing n february 1945, during the Battle of ter where American troops found hundreds Jim was right. Seeing the Battle of Manila Manila, Japanese troops committed one of dead civilians stacked several deep. I like- through his eyes bridged the time gap and ur family-owned newspaper, the I of the worst massacres of WWII, slaugh- wise sat in the chapel of De La Salle College, made it immediate and real. The barbarity Victoria (Texas) Advocate, is an excep- tering tens of thousands of Filipino men, where Japanese marines had slaughtered committed during those few weeks in 1945 O tion to the corporate media strategy of women, and children in a tragedy compa- priests and even children. forever transformed the city and decimated squeezing out every last cent of the brand Income inequality worsened by Hurricane Harvey, which destroyed this man’s rable perhaps only to the Rape of Nanking. One of the most powerful experiences generations of Filipino families, the ripples of until it has no value left. The owners’ roots in Rockport, Texas home, was the topic of the Advocate’s “Hidden in Plain Sight” series It is a story few people remember—but came via Battle of Manila survivor Jim Litton, which still echo through lives even today, 75 Victoria run three generations deep, and the one I resurrect in my new book “Rampage: who told me if I wanted to understand what years later. “In a way we were all massacred,” local ownership of the newspaper goes back platforms to get the maximum reach for his past 10 years, and be true to our core values, MacArthur, Yamashita and the Battle of it was like during that frightful time then I one survivor testified. “Only, some of us were even farther—172 years. ad dollars while at the same time letting him which is why our newspaper ethics board Manila,” published by Norton in October. needed to retrace the path his family took fortunate to have lived through it.” � Against this backdrop, it’s not as surpris- know we’re going to report fairly the other side meets monthly. For community newspa- For the past four years, I have been ex- ing that an editor would take on the role of of his beef with the city’s code enforcement. pers like the Advocate, reader engagement amining the horror that befell the capital of publisher, too, which I did this summer. In Even more important is how deep the is not a new industry buzzword—it’s how this former American colony when trapped my new dual role, I try to bring the right mix newspaper’s ties to the community run. Our we’ve long operated. That’s why readers Japanese soldiers and marines carried out of sensibilities to the challenging financial owners have served on just about every board routinely respond with comments to our what war crimes investigators later described times facing newspapers. I am learning to and given in countless ways to the commu- livestream news meetings and offer story as “an orgy of mass murder.” The crimes look even harder for new revenue streams nity. Victorians know their local newspaper tips via Facebook or at the grocery store. committed during those 29 days included while still honoring the integrity of an inde- is not some carpetbagger sending profits to McCarthy’s work in our newsroom al- locking thousands of civilians inside homes pendent newsroom. As has happened with headquarters out of state. lowed us to produce “Hidden in Plain Sight,” and social halls before setting them ablaze. every U.S. newspaper, our print circulation For them and everyone at the Advocate, an in-depth look at income inequality wors- Troops raped women and tossed infants in has declined, but our readership remains I feel a tremendous obligation to find a path ened by Hurricane Harvey. Our commit- the air, skewering them on their bayonets. high as ever through digital delivery. to a more stable financial future. We have ment to representing the public compelled In one of the more gruesome accounts, I lean on the principles promoted to look for creative ways to fund our jour- us to sue the nearby Calhoun Port Authority Japanese marines forced blindfolded indi- in Penelope Muse Abernathy’s “Saving nalism, which is why we’re part of Report for violating the Texas Open Meetings Act viduals to kneel, and decapitated them with Community Journalism”—especially the for America, a nonprofit that—along with an by hiring disgraced congressman Blake swords. Two hundred men died this way. need to succeed on multiple platforms. This anonymous community member—pays for Farenthold with no public notice. Our em- So how do you report such a story three- is why the Advocate’s reach remains domi- two-thirds of reporter Ciara McCarthy’s sal- phasis on investigative reporting led report- quarters of a century later? I began in the nant in our region: Along with our daily print ary. In addition, we must get a stable source er Jessica Priest to uncover the Calhoun National Archives in Washington, digitizing circulation, we have 3 million monthly page of revenue from our subscribers, which is board’s serious conflicts of interest that led boxes of victim affidavits, often dictated from views at on our website and almost 50,000 why we recently took the long-overdue step to Farenthold’s hiring as a lobbyist. cots in field hospitals just weeks after U.S. Facebook followers in a city of 65,000 people. of adding a metered paywall to our web- I can’t imagine our community without troops liberated Manila. These now-yellow As editor and publisher, I have no qualms site. As always, we must listen intently to its Advocate. As editor and publisher, it’s my statements, recorded for potential use in about telling a local furniture store owner our community, which is why we’ve been job to be sure our readers and advertisers war crimes trials, ran into the thousands. To American troops storm the bank of the Pasig River during the Battle of Manila in 1945 why he needs to be advertising on all three broadcasting live our news meetings for the feel the same way. �

The five-hour id you know it sometimes environment correspondent and but I had never been a full-time about the lost art of drinking on to spur office communication. News sites such as Quartz have woes feed into a spreading sense work day? She’s helps to work when slightly started writing a weekly column columnist and I had barely written the job, a practice U.S. researchers It has become clear why some set up entire sections devoted of workplace insecurity. D drunk? What about the on modern corporate life. a word about working life. think dulls one’s focus enough to columnists say it’s best to ignore to management, leadership, and As someone who has had a got it covered companies asking their staff It was a slightly odd transition. I have always been interested boost creativity. “Bravo,” said one, all reader comments. Yet I am productivity. Podcasts on these career in the newspaper industry, Financial Times to work five-hour days on the After six years on the environment in the foibles and frustrations of when I reported on the companies mostly grateful for mine, especially topics have bloomed around the job insecurity is hardly unfamiliar. same pay? Or the idea that beat, I had just about mastered the working life though and suddenly, switching to five-hour days to those that alert me to something world. Every other day seems to Yet the more I write about the columnist Pilita office smokers are the original intricacies of the Paris agreement it was my job to write about them. boost productivity. “Sad to see I’d never considered before or, bring a new book on the world of modern workplace, the more I Clark, NF ’97, smart networkers? and the workings of a solar panel. Every week. Brilliantly. you have to write such trivia,” said better yet, make me smile. work in my mailbag, often bearing realize that my own, fortunate I knew about precisely none Before that, I had reported on Judging by readers’ comments, another when I hit on the idea that The field of workplace disturbing news. Technological position as a full-time employee takes on the of this until last year, when I airlines and politics, been a foreign the column is a work in progress. the old smoking room was one of reporting has grown more disruption, the gig economy, job- at a relatively prosperous and modern workplace stopped being the Financial Times’ correspondent and an editor, “Right on!” they said when I wrote ADMINISTRATION RECORDS AND ARCHIVES NATIONAL ADVOCATE VICTORIA VANNI/THE OLIVIA OPPOSITE: the cheapest, most effective ways crowded since I stumbled into it. killing robots, and a slew of other humane company sets me apart. �

4 nieman reports winter 2019 nieman reports winter 2019 5 WHERE DOES JOURNALISM END AND ACTIVISM BEGIN? This polarized political moment raises fresh questions in newsrooms about the line between reporting and advocacy by michael blanding illustration by john ritter

6 nieman reports winter 2019 AS JOURNALISM IS OVERLAPPING WITH ACTIVISM IN SOME WAYS, SOME ACTIVISTS ARE ALSO VENTURING INTO JOURNALISM

THEthe day after the March for OurDAY demand change, but I think the partnershipAFTER Pearce pointing out that “Choosing what you view. I cannot maintain credibility if I make Lives last spring, Rebecca Schneid, co-editor of the two is the only reason that we are able want people to know is a form of activism, a distinction between this is what I see as a of the high school newspaper at Marjory to make change.” even if it’s not the march-and-protest kind.” person and this is what I see as a journalist.” Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, As soon as CNN tweeted the first part of Washington Post national reporter Wesley For some younger journalists, howev- Florida, where a shooter killed 17 people in her quote, Twitter erupted. Comment after Lowery agreed, saying, “Any good journalist er, their identity is intimately wrapped up February 2018, appeared on CNN. “I see a lot comment accused Schneid of failing to un- is an activist for truth, in favor of transparen- with their writing. “I think as the journal- of Parkland students becoming activists, but derstand the difference between journalism cy, on the behalf of accountability.” ism industry crumbles, this may be where you all were there as journalists,” host Brian and propaganda. Journalism has long been committed to the generational divide comes in,” says Stelter observed about Schneid and other “Journalism is covering a story and giving unbiased reporting and to shining a light on Peter Moskowitz, a freelance writer for out- students of the school paper, The Eagle Eye, us the facts, then allowing us, the reader or injustices in society. The tension between lets such as news and opinion site Splinter, who were covering the protest. The march viewer, to make up our mind,” read a typical those two mandates has become more appar- The Outline, and Vice. Moskowitz covered drew more than 200,000 people to advocate response. Others were harsher, including ent in the current polarized political moment, the Charlottesville white supremacy rally for gun control less than six weeks after the some piling on Stelter for not challenging when groups such as Black Lives Matter and for Splinter and wrote a first-person piece school shooting. “Do you see a difference the statement—seeing it as evidence of the the Parkland students clamor against the for The Outline about the rally, including right now between journalism and activism network’s liberal bias. status quo, and the #MeToo movement has seeing the car that drove into the crowd, in what you are doing?” As Danielle Tcholakian, who teach- brought activism into the newsroom itself— killing counterprotester Heather Heyer. Wearing two bright pins, one reading es journalism at the New School, noted in causing some journalists to question where “I would consider writing a part of my “Enough is Enough,” next to her body mic, Longreads, Schneid’s critics included some journalism ends and activism begins. activism,” Moskowitz says. “There is no way Schneid barely missed a beat. “I think that professional journalists, such as the National Two issues stand out: the feeling in many to separate these things. If you are writing Under the direction of executive editor Samhita Mukhopadhyay, right, Teen Vogue has become for me, the purpose of journalism is to raise Journal’s Josh Kraushaar, who blamed jour- newsrooms that there are not two sides to for mainstream news, you are still advocat- a more consciously activist publication the voices of people who maybe don’t have nalism education for not doing enough to some issues—for example, LGBT rights ing for something, you just are not stating for particular ways to fix it. “We supply cred- voices on the right have been accusing the a voice,” she said. “And so I think that in its inculcate objectivity in the next generation. or white supremacy—and the ongoing de- what you are advocating for.” ible information anyone can cite in pursuit mainstream media of liberal bias and using own right, journalism is a form of activism.” “It’s this mentality that’s killing trust in our bate about whether reporters can or should As newsrooms have become—haltingly— of their own aims,” Keller says. “But we those allegations to discredit its reporting. She went on to qualify her statement, profession,” Kraushaar wrote. express political views outside the news- more diverse, a new layer has been added don’t prescribe, we don’t endorse, we want In fact, most journalists do tilt left. saying, “There is a distinction for me, as a Other reporters, however, defended room, such as on social media, and take to the debate. “The view from nowhere to provide people with the information to Numerous studies have found that journal- journalist, and also someone who wants to Schneid, with the Los Angeles Times’s Matt part in marches or other forms of political in the classical tradition was the white, make up their own mind.” ists are more likely to call themselves liberal Appearing on CNN in March 2018, Rebecca Schneid, co-editor in chief of the Marjory Stoneman demonstration. male privileged point of view,” says Indira Even as journalism is overlapping with than conservative, donate to Democratic Douglas High School newspaper, said she considers journalism a form of activism When the president says there are “very Lakshmanan, executive editor of the Pulitzer activism in some ways, some activists are also candidates, and identify as Democrats fine people” on both sides of a white nation- Center and former ethics chair at the Poynter venturing into journalism. As a 2018 story in rather than Republicans, though over half alist rally, is it objectivity or activism to call Institute. In revising their ethical standards, Columbia Journalism Review illustrates, the of journalists in a 2013 study identified as that racist? Lakshmanan says, publications have been democratization of the web has caused ac- Independents. Does that mean that they are When hundreds of thousands of women giving up the idea of objectivity in favor of tivist organizations, including the ACLU, not able to be objective in their reporting? take to the National Mall in a march for fe- other words like “impartiality” or “accura- Human Rights Watch, and Greenpeace, to Not necessarily, according to a 2017 re- male rights and empowerment, does it cross cy” to better reflect the idea that journalists post original content that goes beyond mere port from the Berkman Klein Center for a line for a journalist to stand with them? always approach issues with a point of view press releases. The team of reporters at the Internet and Society at Harvard. In fact, the When the rights of transgender people based on their backgrounds and experience. ACLU, for example, publishes up to 20 sto- report found that a culture of accountability are under attack, is it wrong for a transgen- Even publications that cover specif- ries a week on its site; one 2018 story about exists on the left and center and a culture of der journalist to speak up for equality? ic issues, often funded through philan- concerns with Amazon’s partnership with unchecked bias exists on the far right. The debate in some cases breaks down thropy, strive to find a balance between government around its facial recognition In analyzing news stories shared on along generational lines, with older jour- advocacy and objectivity. Former New software featured in-depth reporting, in- Facebook and Twitter over the past three nalists likely to maintain the separation York Times editor Bill Keller is now edi- cluding public records requests to expose years, the Berkman Klein Center found that between news and opinion while younger tor of The Marshall Project, a nonprofit the issue. It simultaneously released infor- media were divided into two distinct ecosys- journalists see less distinction between their that draws attention to problems in the mation to The New York Times and other tems, according to center co-director Yochai personal and public personas. U.S. criminal justice system. Keller says outlets, which wrote stories at the same Benkler. One group clustered politically Alfredo Carbajal, president of the he maintains the same standards as he did time. from slightly right of center to moderately American Society of News Editors (ASNE) at the Times when it comes to journalists Traditionally, the division between jour- left of center. The same readers liked and and managing editor of Dallas-based Al Día, expressing personal views. He sees the nalism and activism has been motivated in retweeted stories from all of these publica- says being a journalist comes with certain project’s mission as providing information part by a fear of being perceived as biased. tions, and the publications themselves of- sacrifices: “We are giving up the prerogatives about the system—even ways in which the Unspoken in that concern is who will perceive ten linked to each other and commented on

most citizens have to express our point of GETTYVIA IMAGES POST MCCLAIN/THE MATT WASHINGTON BUMBLE FOR KILLILEA/GETTY VIVIEN IMAGES OPPOSITE: system is broken—rather than advocating that bias. For at least the past three decades, each other’s stories.

8 nieman reports winter 2019 nieman reports winter 2019 9 “I DON’T THINK IT’S IMMORAL TO MARCH IN A PROTEST; I THINK IT COULD IMPACT THE WAY YOU WORK” —BUZZFEED EDITOR BEN SMITH

“What was surprising was the extent which over the past three years has become to which, all the way from The Wall Street a more consciously activist publication, Journal, Forbes, and The Hill to Daily Kos embracing causes including Standing Rock, and Mother Jones, they were all linked Black Lives Matter, #MeToo, and the March to each other,” says Benkler. “They are all for Our Lives. operating in a media ecosystem where me- “We show our point of view by the ed- dia outlets check each other and call each itorial choices we make, by the subjects other’s errors out,” which Benkler calls a we cover,” says executive editor Samhita “reality-check dynamic.” Mukhopadhyay. “It’s not just Teen Vogue. I The other ecosystem spans politically think there are a lot of platforms that cater to from moderate to far right—from Fox News a younger audience, and many of them have to Infowars, with Breitbart in between. “That shifted to a more social-justice focused tone.” network is much more insular from the rest Teen Vogue’s political coverage has of journalism, and there is no actual equiva- included stories on protests in dozens of lent on the left to that,” says Benkler, a co-au- cities against the Trump administration’s thor of “Network Propaganda: Manipulation, policy of separating children from immi- Disinformation, and Radicalization in grant parents at the border. Another article American Politics” which was published by profiled teens in Flint, Michigan, who have Oxford University Press in September. grown up without clean water in their That ecosystem, unchecked by the rest homes since the lead crisis was discovered of the media landscape, operates in a “pro- in 2014. Above all, the magazine has cov- paganda feedback loop,” Benkler and his ered young gun-control activists, including colleagues found. “As long as the story is a story focused on participants in a die-in at consistent with a partisan identity, it is rep- congressional offices, a profile of a teen run- licated and communicated,” Benkler says. ning for her local school board after being “Its truth or falsehood is not an issue.” That threatened with suspension for taking creates a double standard, he says, where un- part in gun-control protests, and ongoing verified stories on the left quickly wilt and coverage of the latest efforts of the teen disappear, while those on the right are am- activists from Parkland. Mukhopadhyay plified and repeated. observes a change in the way millennials According to this analysis, media outlets and Generation Z (“zillennials”) conceive on the far right can be considered activist by of their role as journalists. “When I started promoting viewpoints divorced from fact. 10 years ago, I never would have dreamed Those on the center-left, meanwhile, can en- of allowing a reporter to go to a protest, but gage in false equivalencies as a way to avoid it’s just different now,” she says. “I feel like being labeled “activist” by the right. we are facing a movement right now like in Benkler’s advice to those journalists: the 1960s when black journalists were asked In contrast, NPR’s current guidelines on and making space for the people I am writ- Toronto Star columnist Desmond Cole addresses a crowd at a Black Lives Matter protest Forget about trying to persuade those in the to cover the civil rights movement. I have marches, for example, emphasize that there ing about to speak for themselves, while in Toronto in July 2015. Cole left the paper in 2017 after being reprimanded for his activism right-wing ecosystem by presenting both a young, outspoken staff, and that’s what “is real journalistic value in being an observ- also providing an informed context for their of progressive speakers, Mukhopadhyay in- equality, there are not two sides.” For editor sides of issues when one side is demonstra- makes our work so impactful.” er at public events such as a march or rally, voices and experiences,” she says. sists the goal is not to promote any party or Ben Smith, that’s an uncontroversial state- bly false. “Professional journalism needs to In covering social movements, even without a reporting assignment.” But Since 2017, Teen Vogue has taken that at- political viewpoint, but just to get teens to ment: “It’s hard to find a news organization shift away from the way in which it performs Mukhopadhyay urges her reporters to re- it goes on to acknowledge that “waving a titude outside of the newsroom, too, with a be active politically. where they say there are two sides to racial objectivity. The critical move needs to be frain from participating in protests while picket sign or joining along in a cheer would Teen Vogue Summit focusing on politics The line between information and ad- segregation. I don’t think the question of from objectivity as neutrality to objectivity they are covering them, but she doesn’t be inappropriate.” and activism. Last year’s conference, held in vocacy can get more complicated, however, whether LGBT citizens have equal rights is a as truth-seeking. That’s how you avoid false have any hard-and-fast rules about it. “I am Teen Vogue wellness features editor Vera June in New York, featured Parkland activist when publications take a stance on specific debatable point.” equivalencies. In a propaganda-rich system, going to expect a story, and it’s very hard to Papisova, who helped cover the March for Emma González and other teens advocat- issues. There is a line, though, between express- to be neutral is to be complicit.” get a story if you are there protesting,” she Our Lives protest, sees the magazine’s job as ing for gun control as well as transgender In 2015, BuzzFeed published new ethics ing your point of view and being partisan, Perhaps no publication represents the re- says. “If they want to protest on their own above all giving a voice to young people who Virginia lawmaker Danica Roem, rapper guidelines stating, “We firmly believe that says Smith. The publication enforces a pol- jection of the on-the-one-hand/on-the-oth- time, I will not decide whether they should are passionate about issues. “Telling the Common, and climate activist and former for a number of issues, including civil rights, icy prohibiting staffers from taking part in

er-hand approach better than Teen Vogue, or should not do that.” story responsibly means doing my research GETTYVIA IMAGES STAR RENWICK/TORONTO MELISSA vice president Al Gore. Despite the roster women’s rights, anti-racism, and LGBT political rallies or posting partisan political

10 nieman reports winter 2019 nieman reports winter 2019 11 “AS A MARGINALIZED WRITER OF COLOR, I CAN’T AFFORD TO BE CALLED AN ACTIVIST” —FREELANCE JOURNALIST JENNI MONET

views on social media. “This isn’t an exact journalism. We do independent, objective the anti-trans bathroom bill, but for me, I for Toronto Life claiming he’d been carded science,” Smith says, “but if my clever tweet reporting that brings forward a balanced want to focus on getting the story right— more than 50 times on the streets of the city. makes it harder for my colleague to cover a point of view on the news we cover.” and trying to simultaneously participate can The Star, which hired Cole for his opinions business because it seems like I am sneer- Wallace says it was actually his own su- be a distraction.” on racial issues, wasn’t always comfortable ing at them, I shouldn’t do it.” That stance periors at APM who had encouraged him to Wallace is currently writing a book about with his advocacy in print. According to is as much a tactical decision as it is a moral be more personal and “voicey” in his posts the history of objectivity in journalism for the Cole, in 2016, the paper’s publisher John judgment for Smith, who says, “I don’t think on social media, and others have pointed University of Chicago Press, tracing its roots Honderich suggested he was writing about it’s immoral to march in a protest; I think it out they didn’t seem to have a problem back to the creation of journalism schools racial issues too often and that he diversify could impact the way you work.” with host Kai Ryssdal posting tweets open- and ethical codes in the early 20th century. his subject matter. Honderich denies that, Exaclty where that line is can be difficult ly critical of Trump on his personal Twitter At that time, some Americans were facing saying only that he suggested Cole not write to discern. feed. “I loved my job,” says Wallace, who new anxieties about the influx of immigrants so much about carding. Jenni Monet, pictured on the outskirts of the Dakota Access Pipeline opposition camp at the In 2016, BuzzFeed ran into controver- now works as state news editor at Southern into cities and the right of women to vote. In April 2017, at a police board meeting, Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in February 2017, was arrested while covering the protests sy when it called out the hosts of an HGTV politics and culture magazine Scalawag. “There was a lot more visibility to a whole Cole lifted his hand in a black power salute decision and others decrying a double- In a podcast episode two weeks after the home improvement show for their member- “I think ‘Marketplace’ missed an opportuni- lot of diverse populations,” says Wallace, and refused to leave the podium until the standard, in which the Star has continued to school shooting, Williams and a cohost de- ship in an anti-gay church. Many conser- ty to be leaders in a nuanced conversation. who sees a connection between these two police agreed to destroy the information publish outspoken activists, such as wom- rided gun control measures and advocated vatives felt BuzzFeed crossed a line, with I am always coming into a situation where phenomena, not only codifying what it they’d gathered through carding. In re- en’s rights campaigner Michele Landsberg for arming teachers to make schools safer. Christians arguing that people who oppose people don’t perceive me as ‘neutral,’ in means to be objective but also what kind of sponse, Cole says the paper privately ad- and anti-corporate globalization activist Inside the Sarasota Herald-Tribune news- same-sex marriage and LGBT rights are much the same way there is not a ‘neutral’ person is able to be objective; namely, those monished him, saying he couldn’t be both Naomi Klein. room, reactions were mixed. One columnist persecuted by the media. A Lutheran pastor interaction for a person of color to cover a who reflected a white, male worldview. “No an activist and a columnist. Landsberg herself criticized the paper’s quit soon after Williams’ appointment, but published a piece in The Federalist under white supremacist rally.” sooner had objectivity come fully into being As the Star’s public editor Kathy English handling of the issue, saying that for 25 years executive editor Matthew Sauer defended the the headline, “BuzzFeed Wants To Destroy Scalawag doesn’t prohibit journalists as a framework than it was used to keep out explained in an article, the paper didn’t have as a columnist the newspaper had supported appointment to Poynter, which first wrote Chip And Joanna Gaines For Being Christian from expressing personal views about is- journalists whose interests were different any problem with an opinion columnist her activism on feminism and poverty issues, about Williams in April, saying, “We encour- And Wildly Popular.” sues or covering issues that personally affect than the owners of the paper.” taking public stands on issues. “It was only including printing a petition to prevent the age people to be passionate about certain A prohibition against expressing political them, Wallace says. In any case, he doesn’t Wallace’s firing is not an isolated inci- when Cole became the story … that he took closure of a child care center and filming a topics and to pursue it … Do I worry about opinions doesn’t always sit well with jour- see that as activism in the same way that dent. In the spring of 2017, the University of his activism to a new level that became of commercial of her presenting the signed it coloring his opinion of a certain topic? nalists who feel their rights and identity are organizing a community around an issue Tennessee at Chattanooga fired an openly concern.” She went on to say that the pa- petitions to the Canadian premier. “Is race No. He is a professional.” Indeed, the paper’s under threat. In the wake of Trump’s inaugu- would be: “There is such a thing as conflict transgender reporter at the university-owned per had spent years reporting the carding less vital than poverty or sex discrimina- coverage of guns doesn’t showcase any ob- ration in 2017, then-“Marketplace” reporter of interest, and I am fairly vigilant about that. NPR affiliate WUTC. The reporter had been story, in fact, spending “large sums of mon- tion?” she wrote in the Toronto alternative vious bias. Breaking stories have included Lewis Wallace took to his personal blog with We fact-check and make sure that the story covering an anti-trans bathroom bill in ey” on public records requests that showed weekly NOW Magazine. “People of color coverage of the Santa Fe, Texas school shoot- a post called “Objectivity is dead, and I am considers as many points of view as possible. Tennessee. The firing happened after law- black people were three times as likely to be who are (or were) loyal to the Star will not ing in May, continuing calls from Parkland fine with it.” “The media has finally picked But we certainly don’t say, ‘You have a con- makers threatened to cut funding from the stopped by Toronto police as white people— ignore the fact that one of their own has students for more gun control, and efforts up trans stories, but the nature of the debate nection to this issue, so you can’t cover it.’” station, complaining that she had not iden- but that Cole’s protest at the board hearing effectively been shown the door for his activ- from Democrats and Republicans in the is over whether or not we should be allowed In a 2018 story about transgender peo- tified herself as a reporter. The corporate called into question the paper’s ability to ism on their behalf.” Florida legislature to pass new legislation to live and participate in society, use public ple helping one another access healthcare, offices of NPR defended the reporter, who cover the issue fairly. The question of where to draw the line on school safety. facilities and expect not to be harassed, fired, Wallace profiles activists in Tennessee had been wearing a press pass and carrying Cole, who declined to be interviewed for between journalism and activism isn’t only In 1989, Linda Greenhouse, then a re- or even killed,” he wrote. “Obviously, I can’t and Kentucky who run nonprofit hotlines bulky recording equipment, chastising the this article, decided to leave the paper rather an issue on the left. In 2017, the Sarasota porter for The New York Times, was criti- be neutral or centrist in a debate over my connecting trans people with trans-friend- university for caving to political pressure. than limit his activism, writing on his blog Herald-Tribune appointed one of its opin- cized for taking part in a pro-abortion rights own humanity.” ly doctors and medical clinics. The story The university subsequently agreed to pay that “[i]f I must choose between a newspa- ion columnists, Lee Williams, as topics edi- march while she was covering the Supreme In response, American Public presents a positive view of the activists and the reporter $50,000 to settle a lawsuit she per column and the actions I must take to tor of the newspaper, a position responsible Court for the paper. In her 2017 book “Just a Media (APM), the parent company of doesn’t hold back on criticizing the “hostile had filed related to her firing. liberate myself and my community, I choose for assigning breaking news stories as well Journalist: On the Press, Life, and the Spaces “Marketplace,” fired Wallace, saying his post legislative and cultural environment” that Also in 2017, Toronto Star columnist activism in the service of Black liberation.” as editing columnists. In addition to his Between,” Greenhouse calls herself an “ac- conflicted with its policy that requires that has led to discrimination against transgen- Desmond Cole, who covered issues of police Cole has taken his fight against carding na- role as a columnist at the paper, Williams cidental activist,” making a distinction be- reporters “keep their political views private” der people seeking medical care. Nor does harassment of African-Americans, left the tional with campaigns against the carding is a proponent of gun rights, running a blog tween attending an event as an activist and to avoid “creating the perception of political it include the point of view of a doctor who paper after being reprimanded for staging a of indigenous groups in Alberta, while con- for the paper called “The Gun Writer” and as an engaged citizen. “The abortion march bias.” In a statement at the time expanding might decline to serve a transgender person protest at a police board hearing. tinuing to promote his views as host of a talk a podcast called “Think, Aim, Fire.” On his was an action in which half a million people on the company’s reasoning, Deborah Clark, on religious grounds. For several years, Cole had opposed radio show and even flirting with running for blog he’s sympathetically covered gun rights took part,” Greenhouse says. “Would I have senior vice president and general manager As for participating in protests of an- “carding,” in which police randomly stop mayor of Toronto. rallies and criticized companies like Dick’s marched under a banner that said, ‘New York of “Marketplace,” said, “When I talk about ti-trans “bathroom bills,” Wallace says, black people on the street to demand their The incident sparked intense debate Sporting Goods, which ended sales of as- Times Reporters for Choice’? No, I would not being part of the ‘view from nowhere,’ “I wouldn’t say a journalist could never cover IDs and interrogate them without probable within Toronto’s journalist community, sault-style weapons and raised the age for not. I simply went as a person.” that doesn’t mean we do advocacy or biased the anti-trans bathroom bill and also protest cause. In 2015, Cole had written an article SYLVESTER TERRAY with some reporters supporting the paper’s gun buyers after the Parkland shootings. While the case has since become a classic

12 nieman reports winter 2019 nieman reports winter 2019 13 THE LINES BETWEEN ACCURACY AND ACTIVISM, AND ADVOCACY AND ADVERSARY, MAY SHIFT DEPENDING ON WHICH SIDE OF THE POLITICAL DIVIDE YOU ARE STANDING

study in conflict of interest, Greenhouse inherent for female journalists and journal- explains. “I don’t carry political signs or “If you are going to use the word racism, you firsthand evidence of the kind of racism to militarization of our police force and the way says she actually went with the full knowl- ists of color in the profession. “We are told signs for any particular group. But I don’t better be prepared on every corner to tell which Native protesters were subjected. those forces were deployed against largely edge of her colleagues at the time. Her par- to speak truth to power, to reveal inequal- see a reason to stop advocating for equality.” why this is racism,” Monet says. “As a mar- Experiencing close-up what activists go peaceful protesters,” Barnard says. “The fact ticipation quickly was made into an issue, ity, to empower the disadvantaged and the And just because a journalist strongly ginalized writer of color, I can’t afford to be through can lead to richer, more sympathetic that journalists were tear-gassed, detained, with the Times eventually publishing a story poor,” she wrote. “But diverse employees are identifi es with a marginalized group, that called an activist.” coverage, even for journalists who are not and limited in doing their jobs was a bit of a saying that Greenhouse had violated its con- also told to stay silent when they feel their doesn’t mean she is necessarily drawn to pro- Writers from marginalized groups must members of marginalized groups. But it can trigger for them, that this is crossing a line fl ict-of-interest policy. The controversy fl ared own rights and those of other marginalized testing for their rights. Freelance journalist walk a fine line, in part due to the media’s also lead to questions about maintaining and we won’t stand for it.” up again in 2006 after Greenhouse made a communities are threatened.” Jenni Monet, who is Laguna Pueblo, started own desire for sensationalistic stories about proper distance to objectively cover events. Barnard’s “Citizens at the Gates: Twitter, speech at the Radcliffe Institute criticizing She went on to argue that silencing may covering the protests against the Dakota conflict and injustice, she says, rather than That’s what happened in the Black Lives Networked Publics, and the Transformation then-President George W. Bush’s policies be one reason that journalism has not got- Access Pipeline (DAPL) at the Standing more nuanced takes on Indian Country. Matter protests in Ferguson in 2014, accord- of American Journalism,” published in 2018 on reproductive rights. At that event, critics ten more diverse despite decades of eff orts. Rock Sioux Reservation around the time that Mainstream media loves headlines that ing to Stephen Barnard, a professor of so- by Palgrave Macmillan, extends the analysis again raised her participation in the march, “There is a barrier to entry in journalism, it first attracted wide media coverage. She fire up readers by foregrounding injustice, ciology at St. Lawrence University. Barnard to journalists’ coverage of Donald Trump now more than 25 years later, as something particularly for the younger generation, kept herself at a remove from the activists Monet says, “so indigenous writers are analyzed the use of Twitter by activists and after the election. On the whole, Barnard that prevented her from being objective. which is not interested in hiding identity who were staying at the camp, sleeping in forced to work within those confines,” which journalists during the events. In the chaos of found journalists’ responses to be restrained “It was a retrospective sanctimony that the way we were told to,” she says. “It is not motels or in her car. often means getting typecast as an advocacy the protests, which sometimes turned vio- compared to those from the general public. descended on mainstream journalism, much honest to pretend we are not what we are.” For Monet’s fi rst piece for Yes! Magazine, journalist. Monet has found less interest in lent, lines between journalists and activists Journalists were not merely reporting the to my surprise,” Greenhouse says, adding that Mohajer attended the Women’s March, “Climate Justice Meets Racism,” she inter- more complex stories about politics both broke down, says Barnard, with hybrid citizen facts of Trump’s statements, but adding it’s ironic that up until that time, the quality of carrying a sign urging women around the viewed white, conservative North Dakotans inside and outside the tribe. In later sto- journalists—or “journo-activists,” as he calls commentary, context, and fact-checking, her work hadn’t been questioned. “Whatever world to unite. As an Iranian-American, about their discomfort with “outsiders” ries for Reveal at the Center for Investigative them—often breaking news on social media sometimes with a forceful edge—for ex- happened to judging reporters by the quality she also attended protests at Los Angeles coming in to stir up unrest. She also exam- Reporting and Yes!, for example, Monet con- and professional journalists playing catch-up. ample, saying, “This is ridiculously out of and fairness of their work, rather than what’s International Airport in response to the ined how the pipeline’s course was changed sidered how the tribes were caught in a tug of Even more interesting was how the cov- context,” or “This shows how Trump sim- in their hearts and minds?” she asks. “If we are Trump administration’s travel ban on from its original path near Bismarck to go war between state and federal authorities for erage by journalists embedded with protest- ply does not understand governing.” “They not professional enough to keep our opinions citizens from predominantly Muslim coun- through Standing Rock and detailed big- control of the reservation, subtly criticized ers—including the Post’s Wesley Lowery, were using [Twitter] to correct the record,” out of the news product, maybe we shouldn’t tries. “I don’t speak to media when I go,” she oted posts on Facebook by local offi cials. outside protesters coming in who exoticized the LA Times’s Matt Pearce, and HuffPo’s says Barnard, even if in an entertaining and be making a news product.” Marches demanding sensible gun control laws, including this one in D.C., took place nation- the Native American camp, and covered Ryan J. Reilly—diverged from those at more engaging way. More recently, journalists fretted about wide after the mass shooting at Florida’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018 disagreements among tribal leaders about of a remove. As police pushed to control To those on the other side of the po- newsroom edicts forbidding them from whether continuing to protest the pipeline the crowd with tear gas and rubber bullets, litical divide, those same tweets could be taking part in the Women’s March on was best for the reservation. tweets by embedded journalists became seen as partisan attacks. “It blurs the line Washington, which took place the day af- Her position as a Native American writ- more emotional and sympathetic in tone. between what is advocacy or activism, and ter Trump’s inauguration in January 2017. er gives her insight into debates within the “As journalists started to be on the what is traditional adversarial journalism,” Those strictures didn’t sit well with many community that an outside writer might ground with activists and share these viscer- says Barnard. female journalists, who discussed on private miss, says Monet, allowing her to under- al experiences, they were tweeting in many The lines between accuracy and activism, Facebook groups their desire to take part in stand distinctions within the community ways not that differently than the way ac- and advocate and adversary, may shift de- the event, says Shaya Tayefe Mohajer, a for- rather than viewing it as monolithic in its tivists were tweeting,” says Barnard. In the pending on which side of the political divide, mer reporter for the Associated Press who views. “Yet, often the condescending as- heat of the protests, one journalist wrote, or which side of the police line, you are stand- now teaches journalism at the University of sumption is that stories that come from “Police shooting tear gas directly at journal- ing. But journalism “does require some skill Southern California. Native writers like myself have an inability ists now. Flashing lights so cameras can’t in recognizing other people’s points of view “We have to admit that women have to be objective,” she says. record. #Ferguson #MikeBrown.” The next and being able to hear someone’s story,” says never experienced full equality in America When activists at Standing Rock were day, a journalist shared a statement of sol- Teen Vogue’s Mukhopadhyay. That open- or any society,” says Mohajer, who wrote an arrested en masse, Monet was arrested with idarity with activists and implicit criticism ness extends to hearing the story of the po- article for Columbia Journalism Review ti- them. As a journalist who had been regular- of police, saying, “It wasn’t all bad tonight. I lice when writing about a protest, or hearing tled, “Why journalists should be able to join ly covering press conferences, she expected made friends with at least a handful of folks the story of an accused rapist when reporting the Women’s March.” The way of the world to be released by the time she got to jail; in- who didn’t threaten me with batons and tear on sexual assault, something most activists in journalism is very male and very white, stead, she says she was detained for 30 hours, gas. #Ferguson.” would never trouble themselves with. she says, and that limits the perspective of strip searched, and denied the right to make That doesn’t mean these reporters were “What I want to know more than anything people who may have never had to protest a phone call. Despite repeatedly telling jail not reporting the facts, but they were ex- is if you are curious,” says Mukhopadhyay. for their rights. officials she was a member of the press, she posed to different facts than the journalists “We all know none of these stories are black While Mohajer says she followed the rules was subjected to racial slurs by the jail cap- on the other side of the police line who were -and-white. Despite what your opinion is, if on not protesting while at the AP, she point- tain, who called the women “savages.” She getting their news from the officials at press you are ruled by your opinion, that is not ed out in her CJR piece the contradictions GETTYVIA IMAGES PRESS/LIGHTROCKET NIGRO/PACIFIC MICHAEL wrote about that experience, too, providing conferences. They could see “the facts of real reporting.” �

14 nieman reports winter 2019 nieman reports winter 2019 15 niemanWomen’s sports in the U.S. storyboardreceive only 4 percent of sports media coverage. How—and why—to change that by shira springer

#TIREDO16 nieman reports winter 2019 FTHEBIASnieman reports winter 2019 17 the Celtics beat writer for The Boston Globe and went the Globe sent a reporter to Killington, Vt. to cover on to cover the NBA Finals, the Stanley Cup playoffs, the 23-year-old skiing phenom Mikaela Shiffrin. Super Bowl, the World Series, and the Olympics with a Among legacy news organizations, the Star Tribune smattering of WNBA games, women’s pro soccer, and the and Seattle Times are outliers. Rana Cash, former as- National Women’s Hockey League thrown into the mix sistant sports editor at the Star Tribune, knew she had when time, space, and the sports budget permitted. something special in Minneapolis with the Minnesota Now, as someone who covers stories at the intersection Lynx, winners of four WNBA titles. “The Lynx have high of sports and society for public radio and writes regular engagement in terms of reader interest so our coverage columns on women’s sports for The Boston Globe and reflects that,” says Cash, who is now sports editor of the SportsBusiness Journal, I find it hard to ignore what’s hap- (Louisville, Ky.) Courier-Journal. Meanwhile, Seattle pening with women’s sports coverage—and what’s not. Times sports editor Paul Barrett sees something special on may 18, 2018, with the NBA and NHL playoffs More and more, female journalists, athletes, and in the Storm, the 2018 WNBA champions. When the team making headlines across the country, three of the four coaches—as well as fans of women’s sports—are clapping made the Finals, he says, the paper simply had “an oppor- stories on the front page of the Minneapolis Star Tribune back, launching sports podcasts, crowdfunding sports tunity to do something big for this big event and jumped sports section focused on women’s sports, including websites, and advocating for better women’s sports cov- on it.” He adds: “As a newspaper, I feel like it’s our duty the WNBA’s Minnesota Lynx. On September 7, with erage. They’re introducing new voices and experimenting to cover as many things as well as possible and give read- the NFL starting up, college football rumbling along, with different approaches to coverage in niche publica- ers a well-rounded experience, and inform and entertain. and Major League Baseball nearing the playoffs, The tions. They’re showing how women’s sports and women’s I don’t think what we should do is just pound people with Seattle Times wrapped its sports section in a poster of perspectives on sports can be entertaining, compelling, Seahawks, Mariners, and [University of Washington] the Seattle Storm’s biggest stars, 11-time WNBA All-Star and potentially money making. That’s crucial. Because Huskies coverage only and ignore everything else, even Sue Bird and 2018 WNBA MVP Breanna Stewart. Inside, sometimes the dearth of coverage is about economics if that makes more sense from a business perspective.” there were two-plus pages devoted to the women’s bas- more than anything else. While a grassroots push for better coverage of wom- ketball team and its upcoming WNBA Finals matchup If women’s sports stories don’t lead to more subscrip- en’s sports is critical, it’s still a top-down media world against the Washington Mystics. tions or more viewers, decision-makers question whether with change almost always spurred by major outlets with If these sections were your introduction to America’s Michelle Carter, One of her targets on social media: The Athletic. On those stories are worth the investment of time, money, broad reach. Here’s a look at what sports outlets and obsession with sports, you might have thought women’s who wrote a Twitter, she asked “Why would a subscriber-based sports and talent. If women’s pro soccer matches or women’s journalists are doing to improve coverage. And what they sports generated more interest than men’s sports. The personal essay medium that claims “full access to all sports” limit its pro hockey games barely draw crowds, it’s hard to justify should be doing more. reality is far different. for espnW on the earnings potential by not covering women’s sports?? The sending a senior reporter or columnist to cover them, es- lessons learned In July, NBA summer league games got far more from shot putting, Athletic does just that ... and it’s bad business. #tiredof pecially for newspapers fighting for survival. COMMIT TO CONSISTENT COVERAGE mainstream media coverage than WNBA regular season competes at the thebias.” This season, the website assigned two writers For the Globe, a combination of factors—including If news organizations don’t commit to consistent wom- games. Every day, men’s sports stories dominate the 10 2016 Summer to almost every Lynx game and practice. While regular a shrinking sports staff, fewer print pages, and a focus en’s sports coverage, then they’re helping perpetuate most popular sports websites. The bigger picture: wom- Olympics in Rio Lynx coverage was something the website said it always on digital subscriptions—has pushed aside women’s the biased, inaccurate belief that fans don’t care about en’s sports in the U.S. receive only 4 percent of sports de Janeiro, Brazil, planned to do, Reeve’s outspokenness drew wider atten- sports coverage. The paper believes it can survive by in- women’s sports. You can’t build a following for women’s media coverage, according to the Tucker Center for where she won gold tion to the issue and undoubtedly prompted faster action. creasing digital subscriptions from its current 109,000 sports when fans don’t know when or where they’ll find Research on Girls & Women in Sport at the University of This fall, The Athletic held organizational meetings to to 200,000. To do that, the Globe sports section has games, features, or in-depth analysis. “Women’s coverage PREVIOUS SPREAD: Minnesota. In a study of televised sports news, ongoing Sue Bird of the discuss its approach to content in 2019 and beyond. So, concentrated almost exclusively on what drives digital wouldn’t be around four percent if we had consistent cov- since 1989, three LA-based stations dedicated, on average, Seattle Storm goes how does women’s sports coverage fit into The Athletic’s subscriptions since internal metrics show that the city’s erage that wasn’t cyclical,” says the Tucker Center’s co- 3.2 percent of their sports coverage to women’s sports, for the basket plans for growth? Paul Fichtenbaum, chief content officer four major men’s professional teams create the most director Nicole LaVoi. “If you could follow women’s sport according to the 2014 results, the latest available. in a July 2018 for The Athletic, says, “We’re right in the middle of it so buzz online. in season and out of season, around the calendar like we “We had days where we were collecting data on local game against the I’m not comfortable making projections. But we’re having “So, that’s where we’ve devoted most of our resources,” do men’s sport, then that would change the landscape.” news broadcasts or on ESPN’s ‘SportsCenter’ and there Phoenix Mercury in a thoughtful discussion internally on the best approaches. says former Globe sports editor Joe Sullivan, speaking The Seattle Storm’s Sue Bird agrees and adds: “There Phoenix, Arizona would literally be no coverage of women’s sports,” says We want to cover women’s sports. It is on the agenda and about his department’s approach before he recently re- are story lines that get missed without constant coverage Purdue University associate professor Cheryl Cooky, a we’re serious about it.” tired. “We’ve added more people into covering the Red throughout the season.” Those story lines might focus on co-author of the television study. “But the local network But even when women’s sports do get covered, a num- Sox, Patriots, Celtics, and Bruins, as much as we can, to a scoring streak, a comeback from injury, or a quest for a would spend 55 seconds out of their three minutes of ber of studies have found, the focus is often on femininity get people to come to BostonGlobe.com. We want people franchise record. sports content talking about a stray dog that had wan- and attractiveness, not athleticism. Also, in 2017, Cooky in California to get subscriptions to read about the Red The Star Tribune and its Lynx coverage offer a model dered into the Milwaukee Brewers stadium. And it’s like, and her fellow researchers highlighted what they call Sox. What falls by the wayside? Women’s sports in gener- of consistency. Even with a budget that limits travel ‘The women’s NCAA basketball tournament is going on “gender-bland sexism.” That’s when sports commenta- al. College sports have fallen by the wayside for us, too.” during the pre- and regular season, Cash and Lynx beat and you can’t talk about the tournament but you can tors downplay the accomplishments of female athletes For new Globe sports editor Matt Pepin, the deci- writer Kent Youngblood have made sure Lynx road games find time to talk about a stray dog going into a stadium?’ and convey less excitement about big wins or milestones. sion tree looks the same. When it comes to women’s get covered, either by stringers or game stories compiled There’s a lot of missed opportunities with respect to help- “To me, it’s like, if we can’t sexualize them, then we’re just sports, Pepin says, “We’ll cover it when we know the by copy desk editors. Cash says the paper’s consistent ing build audiences for women’s sport.” not going to really talk about them at all,” says Cooky. stories have something that lifts them above a niche au- Lynx coverage has paid off with a strong following. There are also signs of change, thanks in part to vocal “Or, if we have to talk about them, then we’re just going dience and gives them broad appeal.” One example of Sports fandom, the kind that leads to website traf- critics, social media, and a rash of sports media startups to talk about them in really boring and bland ways.” when that happened under his leadership: in November, fic, higher ratings, and newspaper subscriptions, is eager to build bigger audiences. “There are people in As a sports journalist for more than 20 years, I cov- about more than coverage of a tournament or big race women’s sports who are demanding better coverage,” ered one of the most thrilling college basketball games or championship game. So much of fan culture relies says former Sports Illustrated sports media reporter of all-time (No. 16 Harvard upsetting No. 1 Stanford in on getting to know athletes and building anticipatory Richard Deitsch, who now writes for The Athletic. “Lynx the first round of the 1998 women’s NCAA tournament) WOMEN’S SPORTS IN THE excitement, understanding strategy, knowing statistics, coach and general manager Cheryl Reeve is the ultimate and one of the most historic World Cup games ever (the and arguing about contracts, trades, and lineup changes. example. She’s basically called out media people on 1999 women’s soccer final between the U.S. and China U.S. RECEIVE ONLY 4% OF All of that takes consistent coverage to make an audience

Twitter. And I think her actions have worked.” before 90,185 fans at the Rose Bowl). After that, I became GETTYVIA IMAGES GOSSAGE/NBAE BARRY NBAE 2018 © SPREAD: PREVIOUS IMAGES ACTION BY SUPPLIED PICTURE PFAFFENBACH/REUTERS. KAI SPORTS MEDIA COVERAGE hungry for more.

18 nieman reports winter 2019 nieman reports winter 2019 19 FOCUS ON LESSER-KNOWN Still, women are often behind the most different, STORIES AND TELL BACKSTORIES unanticipated perspectives. Look at what happened Outside magazine’s regular online feature the “Badass when marathoner Lindsay Crouse, who produces Women Chronicles” started with a casual brainstorming OpDocs at The New York Times and occasionally con- conversation at the magazine’s headquarters in Santa Fe, tributes to the paper’s sports section, took a closer look New Mexico. Digital editorial director Axie Navas was at the results from the 2018 Boston Marathon. She ob- talking with associate editor Molly Mirhashem about the served that women finished at higher rates than men magazine’s coverage of well-known, monumental firsts, in terrible conditions, including freezing temperatures, such as Edmund Hillary, the first man to summit Everest. rain, and 30-mile-per-hour headwinds. Crouse wrote It’s exactly the kind of conversation you’d expect at a Times opinion piece entitled “Why Men Quit and Outside Magazine. But the conversation didn’t stop with Women Don’t.” And she says, “Part of why I even thought Hillary and male firsts. The editors began thinking about of this in the first place was because I’m a woman. So, Junko Tabei, the first woman to summit Everest. “Her I think you need more women in the space seeing the story is much less known,” says Navas. “Out of that came ways women succeed.” this idea: There are a lot of records that we just haven’t Having women in brainstorming and decision-mak- talked about that are insanely impressive and really good ing positions makes an undeniable difference when it stories that we’ve never covered.” And those stories of- comes to finding and prioritizing more diverse and more ten belong to women. inclusive narratives. “We have some really strong editors The first installation of the “Badass Women who happen to be women,” says Navas. “They’re often Chronicles” appeared online in October 2017. Since thinking about different parts of the sports world that we then, the chronicles have profiled Victorian era champi- might not be covering and they’re bringing in new writers on cyclist Tillie Anderson and swimmer Gertrude Ederle, who we might not have found.” who, in 1926, became the first woman to cross the English When it comes to the value of women in decision- Channel—doing so two hours faster than all the men be- making positions, Alison Overholt, editor-in-chief of fore her. And there are plenty more lesser-known stories ESPN The Magazine and espnW, echoes those points waiting to be discovered, plenty more female pioneers and says, “It’s crucial. It matters tremendously because from the past and elite female athletes from today with you will notice and you will tease out different ideas and unique histories that deserve more attention. you will amplify different voices and open the door for “When you know the backstories of players, of teams, different people.” of leagues, and those stories are told, people are more likely to latch on,” says Bird. “I just don’t know that our CHANGE THE CULTURE IN SPORTS DEPARTMENTS stories are told. I think our lives are these big mysteries More women assigning, writing, editing, and producing and you can see it in all the misconceptions that are out sports stories doesn’t automatically translate to more there about who we are, what we do, what we ask for, what women’s stories. Consider The Washington Post’s sports we don’t ask for, how much money we make, how much staff. It recently boasted four women covering the four Green Bay Packers. He’s been on the Lynx beat since The New York territory when a media outlet calls itself the “worldwide money we don’t make, everything across the board.” major Washington D.C. men’s pro sports teams. That 2013 and says, “I cover the Lynx the way I would cover Times faced leader in sports.” Like inconsistent coverage, mysteries and miscon- represents progress and gender bias at the same time. the Timberwolves or the way I would cover the Vikings.” criticism for Yet when you take a deep dive into the site, it appears ceptions make it hard for women’s sports to build a Most sports journalists, male and female, want to cov- During the WNBA season, Lynx stories appear almost focusing on there’s something for everyone. Here’s a sampling: a long- Katelyn Tuohy’s passionate, loyal following. er men’s sports. Why? “Because that’s what the culture daily, Lynx players and coach Cheryl Reeve find them- gender rather form feature on a young Nepalese golfer with pro aspira- values,” says Cooky, who teaches courses on feminism selves the focus of lengthy profiles, and columnists at- than her record- tions, multiple perspectives on the controversies at the BRING IN MORE WOMEN AND and sports in American culture at Purdue. “That’s where tend Lynx home games fairly regularly. breaking U.S. Open involving Serena Williams and Alize Cornet, ENCOURAGE MALE ALLIES the status is. That’s where the opportunity for career Youngblood ranks the Lynx “at or near the top” of success. Here, a personal essay by Olympic gold medalist Michelle Men far outnumber women in sports media. The 2018 growth is.” Meanwhile, the bylines for women’s sports the beats he’s covered because of the team’s success and the high school Carter on lessons learned from shot putting, a slideshow Associated Press Sports Editors (APSE) Racial and stories often belong to junior reporters, part-timers, accessibility. “It’s a pleasure to cover the Lynx,” he says. track phenom featuring the top-12 players in girls high school basket- competes in New Gender Report Card found that, at major newspapers and or interns. Young journalists assigned to women’s sports “It’s fun because as a writer, if you have ideas, they’ll ball, and a profile of a 73-year-old orienteering legend. York’s Section websites in the U.S. and Canada, 90 percent of sports edi- teams typically view it as a first step toward bigger and work with you to do them rather than fight you.” More 1 track and field “We talk a lot about the value of storytelling,” says tors are male and 85 percent are white. In 2015, a report by better opportunities, particularly at large, traditional journalists, editors, and producers need to appreciate championships editor-in-chief Overholt. “We talk about opening up the the Women’s Media Center stated that female journalists media outlets. the opportunities that come with covering women’s in May 2018 stories of women athletes and women’s sports to existing produced only 10.2 percent of sports coverage. By contrast, at the Star Tribune, Lynx beat writer sports and take advantage of them. If they do, it could fans and also to the folks who may not have known, until More effort needs to be invested in finding, hiring, Youngblood is a veteran sports reporter who’s been establish new paths for career advancement and set the moment they read a story, that they could become and developing talented women because when women in the business for 28 years and covered three of the more significant changes in motion. fans of women’s sports. What we’re now really seeing is create content the conversation around sports changes four major men’s professional teams in Minnesota— an emphasis on taking that women-centric storytelling in unexpected ways. Yet the responsibility for more and the Timberwolves, Vikings, and Wild—as well as the PRIORITIZE STORYTELLING and having it go everywhere at ESPN.” better women’s sports coverage shouldn’t rest entirely Since launching in 2010, espnW has become the most The long-form piece on Nepalese golfer Pratima with women. Male allies need to raise their voices, too, prominent platform dedicated to women’s sports and Sherpa originated on espnW, then it was broadcast as whether it’s academics who study women’s sports or female athletes. The number of unique monthly visi- part of the “SC Featured” documentary series. Coverage journalists who champion great stories about female ath- HAVING WOMEN tors to espnW ranges from three to five million, though of the WNBA’s 20th anniversary started on espnW, then letes or others who choose to focus on women’s sports, IN DECISION-MAKING you often have to scroll way down the ESPN homepage expanded into a package for ESPN The Magazine. Stories like Aaron Barzilai, the former director of basketball ana- to find espnW-branded content. There’s also frequent travel in the reverse direction, too. The Undefeated’s lytics for the Philadelphia 76ers who turned his attention POSITIONS MAKES AN criticism that ESPN and, by association, espnW could article about a young, black, female tennis player fighting to women’s basketball and founded Her Hoop Stats. UNDENIABLE DIFFERENCE TIMES/REDUX YORK NEW ANSELM/THE BRYAN do more for women’s sports. That comes with the racist trolls found its way onto the espnW site.

20 nieman reports winter 2019 nieman reports winter 2019 21 DELIVER KNOWLEDGEABLE COVERAGE At NPR’s hour-long weekend sports show “Only Canadian women’s soccer, and NCAA women’s compe- Lynx coach and general manager Cheryl Reeve wants A Game,” senior producer Karen Given and her staff judge IN WOMEN’S SPORTS, titions. Meanwhile, The Athletic is beginning to invest reporters to dive into the complexities of the WNBA and pitches on whether they present a compelling narrative. STATS BEYOND THE BASICS more in women’s sports coverage because of critics and be critical. “That’s when you know you’ve made it,” she I contribute to the program and, during story meetings, subscriber feedback. Demand for more Lynx coverage says, “when they are covering you the same as the men have seen this in action. The initial conversation about CAN BE HARD TO FIND prompted The Athletic to assign two writers to cover and they are critical—critical of me, critical of a player.” pitches is gender-blind, not gender-driven. Sometimes the team. Subscribers also wanted more stories on the But it takes knowledge of women’s sports to understand that leads to an entire show of stories about women. Giving female athletes more of a voice helps avoid U.S. women’s soccer team. Now, the site has two writers its complexities, offer legitimate criticism, and tell great Sometimes athletes tell their own stories without some of the issues that often plague women’s sports cov- focusing on that team for the soccer vertical. stories. “The only way you can do that is to be present narration. “One of the things that non-narrated stories erage. That’s the all-too-common focus on femininity, As The Athletic’s media reporter, Deitsch finds hope more than once a week,” says Reeve. “You have to watch allow you to do,” says Given, “is let people define the attractiveness, and biology. for the future of women’s sports coverage in additions to other games. You have to know the upcoming opponent. impact of struggles on their own life, rather than have In June, The New York Times faced criticism for the the sports media landscape like Her Hoop Stats and “Burn You have to understand matchups. You have to under- reporters define it for them.” That’s especially important article “America’s Next Great Running Hope, and One It All Down.” They give a glimpse of what could encourage stand how we play.” The same logic applies to men’s for female athletes because, as Given adds, “oftentimes of the Cruelest Twists in Youth Sports.” It profiled high disruptive innovation in women’s sports coverage. sports. The difference: The information needed for deep, women’s sports coverage focuses on the fact that it’s school phenom Katelyn Tuohy, and “one of the cruel- At the moment, it might be hard to imagine a feminist granular knowledge of women’s sports is a lot harder to about women and not the fact that it’s about sports. est twists” was the fact that “so many gifted teenage podcast moving from its niche with nearly 3,200 weekly come by than the same information about men’s sports. When you let people describe their own lives, gender female distance runners fizzle out by their early 20s.” downloads to a larger audience. But after the U.S. Open And that means it often requires more time and more might be an important factor to them or it might not be.” That happens because young women’s bodies change women’s final, when discussions about Serena Williams dedication to follow and to cover women’s sports. Boxing champion Heather Hardy told her story to dramatically during their teenage years. So, you can see and sexism dominated the news cycle and after the Take statistics. They put players in historical con- “Only a Game” in her own words. The 10-minute piece the problem with describing the natural maturation of Cristiano Ronaldo rape case made international head- text. They encourage the kind of debate that fuels sports hits on familiar, arguably cliché, themes like overcoming the female body, one that often involves filling out and lines, it’s clear there is a larger audience for the kind of passion. They also reveal the trends and anomalies that economic adversity, fighting for equality, and balancing gaining weight, as a cruel twist. But there’s also this: conversations and unique perspectives found consistent- inspire a diverse array of stories. The more statistics motherhood with an athletic career. But hearing Hardy Recognition of Tuohy’s astounding, record-breaking ly on “Burn It All Down.” Each podcast features an inter- available, the more knowledgeable reporters and fans describe her life story makes it feel different and more success came with a sense of foreboding because of view with a female sports reporter or prominent female become. The more knowledgeable, the more engaged. intimate. Given loves how “it’s a story about a person her gender. sports figure, as well as the “Badass Woman of the Week.” It’s been that way for decades in men’s sports. But in who has been discriminated against, but who has never That’s the real cruel twist. Too many profiles of female And, of course, there’s the “Burn Pile” segment. That’s women’s sports, statistics that go beyond the basics can been a victim.” It’s also a reminder of how much lan- athletes contort success into something that comes with the point in each show when, as the co-hosts say, they vir- be hard to find. It’s a problem the website Her Hoop Boxing champion guage and storytelling style matter when covering wom- qualifiers, whether it’s the implication that it might not tually “pile up all the things we hated this week in sports Stats hopes to solve for women’s college basketball. Heather Hardy en’s sports and female athletes. last or, most commonly, the comparison to male athletes and set them aflame.” The burn pile typically draws at- Founded in December 2017 by Aaron Barzilai, former di- (left), shown Describing her first fight, a kickboxing match, Hardy in the same sport. tention to discrimination, inequality, and bad behavior rector of analytics for the Philadelphia 76ers, Her Hoop here fighting says, “Here I am the shyest girl in the world. Like I’m the in the sports world. Stats “aims to provide consistent, reliable, and easy-to- Mexico’s Paola girl who will walk into a room and sit by myself. But for MOVING FORWARD “I certainly hope the podcast is disruptive,” says co- access data about women’s basketball” and “help grow Torres during an whatever reason, walking through that crowd of 2,000 To create an environment where women’s sports and host Shireen Ahmed. “Sports media definitely needs April 2018 match, women’s sports coverage are valued, reporters, editors, the women’s game by providing effective new tools to told her story— people with the spotlights and the radio on and standing to be disrupted.” Ahmed, a Toronto-based freelance better understand it.” In August, Basketball Reference in her own in the ring and beating this girl up so bad, I felt like a players, coaches, academics, and others need to chal- writer and sports activist, says the podcast started be-

introduced a database for the WNBA, allowing reporters words—to NPR’s million puzzle pieces came together and just told me, PRESS ASSOCIATED II/THE FRANKLIN FRANK lenge the sometimes blatantly sexist, sometimes igno- cause the co-hosts were disappointed with the sports and fans to search the entire history of the league for “Only a Game” ‘This is what you’re here for. This is your life.’” rantly biased culture that persists in sports media. It can coverage they consumed. “We couldn’t help but look player stats. It’s progress, though the site has 15 search- be done though publishing great stories about women, at sports with a critical lens,” says Ahmed. “What that able databases for the NBA. through raising awareness on social media, through hir- means is the systems of racism, misogyny, homophobia, ing more women, through making an unapologetically xenophobia that exist in sports, we want to burn them GIVE WOMEN IN SPORTS MORE OF A VOICE feminist sports podcast, through supporting new web- down.” Ahmed also wants to “change the face of what Better quality coverage would look a lot like the cover- sites that give platforms to women’s sports and female sports media can look like.” She’s a woman of color and age male athletes get. That means not only a focus on journalists, through publicly calling out news organi- Muslim and says, “I don’t look like I would be a sports the athleticism and accomplishments of female athletes, zations on their lack of diversity, through producing writer. I don’t look like I take in sports with a critical but also a willingness to dive into the complicated, con- academic studies that highlight gender inequality, and lens. But I am and I do.” The podcast gives her an op- versation-worthy narratives in women’s sports. That’s through prominently featuring women’s sports coverage. portunity to broadcast that. what comes through when the co-hosts of the feminist There need to be more days like May 18 in the So, what does the future of women’s sports coverage sports podcast “Burn It All Down” start talking. “The Minneapolis Star Tribune and September 7 in The Seattle look like? Maybe it will look a lot like October 17 when first thing is to not be afraid of complexity,” says co-host Times when women’s sports not only get extensive cover- four of the top 10 stories on the Associated Press sports and ThinkProgress sports reporter Lindsay Gibbs. With age, but get put front and center because they deserve to app featured women in sports. That happened even with female athletes, Gibbs finds too often they’re boxed into be there. By devoting prime real estate to women’s sports, the MLB playoffs nearing the World Series and the NBA an inspirational storyline, or portrayed as either a perfect the Star Tribune and The Seattle Times challenge the regular season starting. Given its global reach and its person or a villain. “The truth is that like most male ath- bottom-line, metrics-driven thinking that leads editors business model, the AP and its stories exert more in- letes, most women are somewhere in between, even the to prioritize men’s coverage as the safest bet. fluence in the sports media world than a big city paper great ones,” says Gibbs. As many legacy news organizations narrow their covering a successful WNBA team. How should journalists find and tell stories about focus to men’s pro sports because of budget and staff Still, it takes all kinds of outlets, all kinds of plat- women’s sports? Start by framing ideas and asking ques- cuts, it presents an opportunity for female-focused forms, all kinds of advocates to improve coverage. It takes tions in ways that aren’t gender-driven. If you take a sports websites and sports media startups. Take outlets like the “Burn It All Down” podcast, platforms checklist approach to stories about female athletes, then EqualizerSoccer.com. The website does impressive like Her Hoop Stats, and advocates like Cheryl Reeve to it will likely lead down a path cluttered with women’s work covering women’s soccer in North America. It of- show what women’s sports coverage can be and what sports narratives that fall into clichéd categories about fers news stories, analysis, and podcasts on the National women in sports can do. Above all, it takes a certain kind overcoming sexism or coming back from pregnancy. TKTKTKKTKTTK Women’s Soccer League, U.S. women’s national team, of journalistic courage and commitment. �

22 nieman reports winter 2019 nieman reports winter 2019 23 The paradox of journalism today: Coverage is often exceptional, even as newsrooms and revenues shrink by julia keller the Miami Herald, The Charlotte Observer, New York Times. Newly published books truly effective, long-term funding model— and 27 other daily newspapers, notified em- by editors who led key newsrooms, such the means by which the marvels will be paid ployees that it will be offering 10 percent as “Merchants of Truth: The Business of for—remains elusive. What Virginia Woolf of its workforce voluntary buyouts. (You News and the Fight for Facts” by former knew back in 1928 is still true in 2019: “A are free to add your own quotation marks Times editor Jill Abramson and “Breaking woman must have money and a room of her around the word “voluntary.”) News: The Remaking of Journalism and own if she is to write fiction … The lamp James Warren, executive editor of Why It Matters Now” by former Guardian in the spine does not light on beef and NewsGuard, a startup that assesses the ve- editor Alan Rusbridger, have piled on the prunes.” Change the woman to women and racity of news sites, and former managing gloom like dirt on a coffin. In an otherwise men, the fiction to fact, and the beef and editor of the Chicago Tribune, is also con- thoughtful and incisive essay in Tablet prunes to ramen noodles and Clif bars, and cerned about the loss of hometown cover- magazine about journalism’s troubles that the lesson still adheres: Writers need suste- age. “You have to think local, local, local,” serves as a review of the Abramson book, nance. Organizations need capital. he says. “All the great national coverage by Sean Cooper cracks the case in his very first Thus for every cheery report of an inno- The New York Times and The Washington sentence, with a self-assurance that would vative new wrinkle such as ProPublica or Post aside, what about state capitals and do Hercule Poirot proud: “The sensation- Emerson Collective or the giddy rise of pod- both state and local government agencies? al implosion of the 20th-century American casts, and for every billionaire willing to pony What’s tragic is that the once fairly system- press was precipitated by a combination up to save a newspaper, there is a scowling atic coverage on a local level has quietly of hubris and negligence.” There you go. naysayer with a pen and a clipboard stand- disappeared and nobody is yelling about it.” Mystery solved! ing close by, checking off the names of media Around the world and around the cor- None of these theories tells the whole outlets that have gone bust or downsized so ner, then, the press is flailing. It is burdened story. For one thing, the corpse won’t stay dramatically that the company directory can by a rickety business model whose obso- dead: Again and again, just when the dire now be expressed as a haiku. lescence seems inevitable in the wake of reports from journalism’s front lines seem The juxtaposition of humiliation and tri- technological disruptions. It is bludgeoned to be reaching critical mass, something umph can be jarring. And so even as Trump by the constant rhetorical assaults of wonderful happens. Up springs a story or tweets his all-caps smackdowns, and even President Trump, whose anti-media tweets a series or a profile or a podcast that aston- as more and more journalists find them- and taunts have sanctioned the notion that ishes, that sparkles, that upends what peo- selves reliant upon wealthy benefactors like journalists are jealous, sneaky, agenda-driv- ple thought they knew. We live in a golden bowing sonneteers of the Elizabethan age, en purveyors of something called “fake age of nonfiction storytelling, an era when there is this: Time’s 2018 Person of the Year news.” And—in what is perhaps the cruel- the depth, variety, eloquence, and relevance was a journalist—amalgam of the brave and n an essay first published in 1999 But saving the world apparently wasn’t A man holds up a T-shirt ridiculing the est blow of all—many polls indicate that the of the work being created has rarely if ever eloquent people, some of whom gave their that graces his collection “Things enough. Journalism finds itself in deep trou- news media before a Trump rally in very people journalism is intended to serve been surpassed. lives, as Karl Vick put it in the cover sto- That Matter” (2013), the late Charles ble these days. It faces a profound reckon- Rochester, Minnesota in October 2018 aren’t all that crazy about it, anyway. Which brings us back to the central ry, to “dare to describe what’s going on in Krauthammer answered a question ing, a hinge point of existential significance. The problem with trying to solve the paradox of contemporary journalism: The front of them,” including Saudi writer Jamal posed by Time magazine: Who was “I fear for our profession. It’s standing mystery of who killed—or at least gravely product, in the main, is superb. Word-based Khashoggi, murdered for his columns that the most important person in the on wobbly legs,” declares Alex Kotlowitz, wounded—American journalism is this: wonders abound. Scintillating stories pro- called out his homeland’s leadership for its twentieth century? Time selected an author and journalist who teaches at Everybody already knows the answer. Like liferate. New methods of storytelling and oppressive ways, and the five employees of Albert Einstein; Krauthammer insist- Northwestern University’s Medill School of a mediocre whodunit, the villain is obvious, pioneering partnerships between for-profit People line the streets in Annapolis, ed upon Winston Churchill. “Without Journalism. “I don’t know how a democracy the weapon a no-brainer. The true culprit? and nonprofit media organizations are in- Maryland in June 2018 to honor the five Churchill,” he wrote, “the world today survives without a robust press.” Why, it must be Mark Zuckerberg, found- creasing. And yet this excellence comes as a staffers killed at The Capital Gazette would be unrecognizable—dark, im- On a single recent day—January 23— er of Facebook, or one of those smart guys poverished, tortured.” more than a thousand media jobs in the over at Google, who pulled off a daring day- IIf we change the question, asking in- United States were eliminated when or- light heist of the advertising dollars that stead what was the most important profes- ganizations such as BuzzFeed, Yahoo, formerly supported newsgathering orga- sion in the last century, a good case could HuffPost, and Gannett announced deep nizations, or Craig Newmark, founder of be made for journalism. Without it, large staff cuts. Earlier, websites such as Mic and Craigslist, who purloined all of those love- swaths of the world similarly might have Mashable, once deemed promising, were, in ly, lucrative classified ads from newspapers. remained “dark, impoverished, tortured,” effect, sold for parts. Layoffs have already Journalism Isn’t that right? Or perhaps the genuine bad because few people would have been aware roiled digital media companies Refinery29 finds itself guys are Shane Smith and Jonah Peretti, re- of the nature and depth of the atrocities and Vox. And those are national platforms; spective kingpins of Vice and BuzzFeed, the therein. You can’t fix what you can’t find. the loss is even more acute at the local level, in deep trouble smug, upstart media mavens who dangle Indeed, we have only to look at places today where approximately 20 percent of smaller these days. shiny content before readers’ eyes—think where journalists must risk their lives to do U.S. newspapers have vanished since 2004, of those bright, jangly mobiles that doting their jobs—places such as Central Europe, according to Jeremy Littau in a recent es- It faces parents suspend above a baby’s crib—hav- described elsewhere in this issue, and say in Slate. “If you think there’s corruption a profound ing realized that our attention spans have Mexico, Myanmar, the Philippines, Russia, in Washington, D.C.,” Littau warned in his shrunk to a nub. Turkey, and too many others—to appreci- piece, “what’s happening at City Hall is reckoning, The detective work continues. Essays ate anew what an incalculable difference often worse—and in more and more plac- a hinge point exploring the reasons for journalism’s de- the press made in the twentieth century, re- es, there’s no longer anyone paid to root of existential mise have begun tumbling out with some porting on wars, famines, genocide, and the it out.” As if to prove Littau’s point, on regularity of late from august cultural ar-

tyrants who green-lighted them. February 1, McClatchy Company, owner of significance PRESS ASSOCIATED MONE/THE JIM IMAGES WILSON/GETTY MARK biters such as The New Yorker and The

26 nieman reports winter 2019 nieman reports winter 2019 27 The Capital in Annapolis, Maryland, killed The problem day of delivering in the rain, I had a low mo- very positive,” he says. “But what happens by a reader who stormed the newspaper’s ment, dwelling on how far I’d come down in when these billionaires lose interest? Or office with a grudge and a gun. with trying the world. Then I snapped out of it. I haven’t when they are gone and their heirs do not Time’s roll call of noble journalists is to solve the come down in the world. What’s come down have that interest?” inspiring. However: Not to be the spider in the world is the business model that sus- Among the new generation of media pa- on the valentine, but the median wage for problem of who tained Time Inc. for decades. I’m pretty trons are Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who a newspaper reporter in 2017, according to killed—or at much the same writer, the same guy.” bought The Washington Post in 2013, and the Pew Research Center, was $34,000. As charming and affable as Murphy’s Patrick Soon-Shiong, the billionaire surgeon As paradoxes go, it’s a perverse one. least gravely essay is, there’s a note of sadness tucked and biotech entrepreneur who purchased Journalism—the product itself, the words wounded— in there, too—not for him, but for us. He the Los Angeles Times and a handful of oth- and the pictures and the sounds—is thriv- might be a crackerjack delivery person, but er California papers in June of 2018. Laurene ing, in many cases. But journalists are digging American he’s an even better writer. I’d rather read Powell Jobs, widow of Apple impresario between the couch cushions for nickels and journalism is his take on Urban Meyer, the recently re- Steve Jobs, founded Emerson Collective as quarters for bus fare to get to work. (If they tired head football coach at my alma mater, a rubric under which she buys media com- still have work, that is.) And news organiza- this: Everybody Ohio State, than have him ring my doorbell panies. Her portfolio thus far includes a ma- tions are struggling to remain solvent. At the already knows and drop off that copy of “The Anatomy of jority stake in The Atlantic, and investments end of 2015, when Rusbridger left the editor’s the answer Melancholy” I just ordered. Meyer says he in a variety of documentary production com- chair at The Guardian, the media world faced won’t ever coach again but I don’t believe panies and nonprofit media entities such as a moment of “great journalistic achievement him, and neither does anybody else, and we ProPublica and The Marshall Project. and empty coffers,” according to James need a good reporter—we need Murphy— Indeed, some of the best journalism pro- Meek in his review of Rusbridger’s book in to give us the skinny. duced today comes from just such partner- the London Review of Books, a succinct de- The humbling of the Time Inc. empire ships, just such cobbled-together projects for scription that sadly is still relevant today: was unfortunate, but not every large, im- which participants pool creativity and initia- The product is superior, but the reward for portant media company has suffered the tive and resources. The New York Times of- producing it is nothing to write home about. before,” says Katherine Mangu-Ward, editor Members of the Arab-Turkish Media same fate, thanks to the largesse of wealthy ten teams up with the PBS program Frontline It is the spectacle of those empty coffers of Reason magazine, in an interview. Association and supporters demand individuals—a bit of a mixed blessing, and ProPublica. National Public Radio, too, that haunts NewsGuard’s Warren: “The pri- In a refreshingly contrarian op-ed pub- justice for slain Saudi journalist Jamal Warren believes. has been known to join forces with Frontline. Khashoggi during funeral prayers in mary question remains the economic one— lished in the November 18, 2018 edition Istanbul in November 2018 “We have boutique journalism on niche The nonprofit model—aided by generous how do you support quality journalism if the of The New York Times, Mangu-Ward subjects that is wonderfully supported by Trump supporters engage with CNN primary means of revenue, advertising, is called the recent dustup between Trump’s The Weekly Standard, ceased publication wealthy individual patrons who truly care journalist Jim Acosta at a rally continuing to go to Facebook and Google? press-pummeling White House and CNN in late 2018, but it was, in effect, swiftly re- about journalism. Those efforts have been in Fort Myers, Florida in October 2018 It is dubious whether nonprofit models will reporter Jim Acosta a minor sideshow, not born as The Bulwark, a site where you can be sustainable on any widespread basis and a Maginot Line for freedom of expression. find the work of the Standard’s top writers it is very unclear whether people will pay for “Definitely, there is a shaking-out in jour- and editors. Not since eighteenth-century quality content. nalism,” she concedes in the same conver- London, perhaps, when newspapers and “What we don’t know,” continues Warren, sation. “There’s a lot of fuss made about journals came and went with the speed of a who, among his other challenges, had the damage to crucial institutions. But institu- bon mot tossed off by Samuel Johnson, could headache of being my boss at the Tribune, “is tions evolve. At this moment, I don’t fear publications fizzle and revive like this, with- if some of the ‘hot’ digital startups like Vox, that the press will cease to exist somehow out a lot of fuss and folderol, just an intense Vice, BuzzFeed, or the Huffington Post will in its current form.” passion for words and ideas. be around in three or four years.” Jack Shafer, veteran press gadfly and Other sorts of transformations are less According to the Bureau of Labor senior media writer for Politico, also takes bracing than they are bittersweet. A wistful Statistics’ Occupational Employment issue with the angst-ridden narrative that illustration of the new world order in me- Statistics, cited by the Pew Research Center, emanates from many media-watchers: dia came in a December 25, 2018 essay on jobs at newspapers—the slots for writers “What the sky-is-falling types never ac- TheAtlantic.com by Austin Murphy, 57, who and editors and photographers—fell 15 per- knowledge is that the opportunity cost of spent more than half his life—33 years— cent between 2014 and 2017. Since 2004, doing quality journalism has never been as a staff writer for Sports Illustrated. I they have dropped 45 percent. lower,” he says in an interview. “I would remember his work well: the revelatory It’s hard to fault media bosses for the staff rather be a reader in 2019 than in any year profiles of athletes, the knowledgeable ac- diaspora. They are, after all, like McDonald’s you could choose.” counts of single crucial games. There was managers: When the customers aren’t In many ways, it is indeed a sweet time a special quality to his prose, a freshness, thronging the counter, you have to send the for storytellers. Reporters can do their work a crisp lucidity. As I read his stories, I was hamburger-makers home. Estimated daily anywhere. Records can be accessed with an always sure that if I ever met him, he’d have circulation for U.S. newspapers declined 11 ease undreamt of by an earlier generation a twinkle in his eye. percent between 2016 and 2017. forced to hang out amidst musty archives These days, Murphy is twinkling not for But not everyone agrees that journalism stored in courthouse basements, paging SI but for Amazon: He delivers packages in is on its last legs. through dusty page after dusty page, in- the vicinity of his California home for the “I am congenitally optimistic, so take what haling sour lungfuls of atomized mouse online Ozymandias. His essay, though, is not I say with a grain of salt—but I’m not con- droppings. There is, moreover, a spright- a plea for pity. It’s a lesson in perspective: vinced that the things we are experiencing are ly nimbleness to the contemporary me- “Lurching west in stop-and-go traffic on different in kind from what we’ve survived dia world. One of my favorite magazines, I-80 that morning, bound for Berkeley and a PRESS ASSOCIATED GUREL/THE EMRAH BERMAN/NOOR/REDUX NINA OPPOSITE:

28 nieman reports winter 2019 nieman reports winter 2019 29 donations from civic-minded benefactors—is journalists: “Many have become crazed luna- not just advertising anymore. There’s a con- a dynamic one, enabling the rise of online-on- tics who have given up the TRUTH! … They tinued search for revenue streams outside of ly news organizations such as The Texas use non-existent sources & write stories that the traditional to sustain the journalism that Tribune, founded in 2009, and MinnPost, are total fiction … The Fake News Media in we know is important. You have to be very founded in 2007, which covers Minnesota. our Country is the real Opposition Party. It aggressive about that.” But it won’t be easy, Mangu-Ward’s Reason, like Mother Jones, is truly the Enemy of the People!” he acknowledges. “Right now, we’re in this functions as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Might this playground invective do last- long gray period.” But for many small local news organiza- ing damage—not only to the press but also In “The Blue of Distance,” a luminous tions, print and broadcast, the kind stocked to the nation? Or will it eventually come to essay from her collection “A Field Guide to with scrappy, intrepid reporters who keep a seem like the pitiful ravings of a desperate, Getting Lost” (2005), Rebecca Solnit de- close eye on, say, how local tax dollars are flailing man as the walls close in around scribes the process by which chrysalises turn spent and what local elected officials are him—a sort of Lear Lite? into butterflies: “The process of transfor- up to, the financial situation continues to “At this point,” says Robert Schmuhl, mation consists mostly of decay and then of be dismal. In mid-January, for instance, the emeritus professor of American studies and this crisis when emergence from what came East Bay Express, a plucky alternative paper journalism at Notre Dame and the author of before must be total and abrupt. known for its investigations and arts cover- several books and essays about the presiden- “The strange resonant word instar de- age in the Oakland, California area for four cy, “we don’t know whether Donald Trump is scribes the stage between two successive decades, announced that it was laying off an anomaly or an augury.” molts, for as it grows, a caterpillar … splits most of its staff. In his forthcoming book, “The Glory and its skin again and again, each stage an in- Help has come from programs such the Burden: The American Presidency From star,” she continues. “It remains a caterpillar as Report for America, a nonprofit en- FDR to Trump,” Schmuhl uses a chapter to as it goes through these molts, but no longer deavor that sends reporters into plac- explore the historically fraught relation- one in the same skin. There are rituals mark- es where press coverage has slacked off, ship between the country’s CEOs and their ing such splits, graduations, indoctrinations, and that bills itself as a combination of bothersome Boswells. “Presidents since ceremonies of change, though most changes “AmeriCorps, Teach for America, the Peace Washington have complained—sometimes proceed without such clear and encouraging Corps and the nation’s best nonprofit news in salty and unrestrained terms—about recognition. Instar implies something both organizations.” A similar effort is underway news coverage,” he points out. “Much of the celestial and ingrown, something heavenly in Britain, where an entity called the Local time, though, they expressed that criticism and disastrous, and perhaps change is com- News Partnership recently was launched. behind closed doors.” It’s different now, as monly like that, a buried star, oscillating be- There, citizens pay a license fee that funds other sources of power have become avail- tween near and far.” the BBC. Beginning last year, part of that able. Hannibal had his elephants—and Journalism’s fate is poised somewhere be- fee goes to newspapers in small towns, en- Trump has his Twitter account. tween “heavenly and disastrous,” in Solnit’s abling them to hire more reporters. “He’s using dangerous language,” phrase, as its practitioners grapple with chal- But is tin-cup journalism—which has warns Jacqui Banaszynski, emeritus pro- lenges unique to the present moment—the turned a once-dignified profession into a fessor at the University of Missouri’s petty but ultimately perishable insults doled permanent GoFundMe page—really the an- School of Journalism and editor of Nieman out by @realDonaldTrump—and other chal- swer? If a media organization can’t make it as Storyboard. “The same words are used in lenges that are as old as the first abacus: mak- a bona fide business, does it deserve to sur- countries with authoritarian regimes.” ing the arithmetic work. Right now, it doesn’t. vive? How long is long enough to subsidize a Mangu-Ward, however, continues to Not even for the all-digital media organiza- faltering news operation? be skeptical of the notion that contempo- tions, once touted as the hip, savvy saviors of Shafer, whose Politico columns reveal an rary journalism can be summarized as a Journalists and supporters display signs, point. There is such a thing as fake news. Admittedly, that’s not what Trump real- the news business. affinity for puncturing journalistic pomposity, cage match between Trump and, say, CNN. including one depicting President Rodrigo In late 2018, Der Spiegel reporter Claas ly means by “fake news.” He means stories Yet we muddle on through the darkness. wonders the same thing. “In my own self-in- “We’ve had a lot of practice runs at full- Duterte as a clown, during a protest Relotius, a seven-year veteran of the mag- that he doesn’t like. Yet the fact that news Or perhaps we muddle on because of the advocating freedom of the press in terest, I’d like to see more and better local fledged hysteria about how Trump’s tweets Manila, the Philippines in January 2018 azine based in Hamburg, Germany, con- organizations have, by and large, always darkness; you don’t know what you truly coverage,” he says. “But I wonder why it is will be the end of the press as we know it,” fessed to having made up dozens of stories. been willing to admit their mistakes—quick- value until you are forced to contemplate that readers don’t seem to want to pay for it.” she says. Such anxiety is “part of the cul- As Ulrich Fichtner stated in a December 20, ly, publicly, and thoroughly—is admirable, its absence. The positive news is that su- Sounding like a contemporary version of ture wars. Only people on the left are ask- 2018 Der Spiegel report on the epic fraud: and furthermore distinguishes them from perb journalistic work is still being creat- that eloquent misanthrope H.L. Mencken, ing about the future of journalism. People The positive “Inventions. Lies. Quotes, places, scenes, their chief antagonist. ed—it’s right there at our fingertips every Shafer adds, “We often blame newspaper ed- on the right don’t ask that. The left sees the news is that characters: All fake.” Previous fabulists have So as the tabula rasa of 2019 looms be- minute, delivered via page, screen, and itors for the shoddiness of the paper. But we press as part of their team. So they’re wor- become quasi-household names: Jayson fore us—whither journalism? earbud—in the midst of this catastrophic let readers off the hook. Is there a great reader ried about members of their team.” superb Blair, Stephen Glass, Patricia Smith, Janet Will we continue to see creative and in- revolution in how media is produced, fi- demand to know what happened at City Hall Owen Youngman, who has held the journalistic Cooke. The publications they besmirched vestigative riches delivered by an evolving nanced, distributed, and accessed. Imagine or at the sewer commission meeting? By and Knight Chair in Digital Media Strategy at with their serial fibs are, respectively, The business model? (“Evolving” is a polite eu- how bleak it would be to have the opposite large, the answer is no. But no one likes to Northwestern since 2009, also is reluctant work is still New York Times, The New Republic, The phemism for “nobody knows what the hell problem: a sound economic model but a shame the reader, because it sounds elitist.” to regard Trump’s tweets, as unfair and juve- being created Boston Globe, and The Washington Post. to do and so everybody’s trying everything crisis of content. Rich, thriving media or- Matters are certainly not helped, of nile as they might be, as a sui generis assault (For a poignant but clear-eyed essay about under the sun.”) ganizations—and meh stories. The trick course, when the most powerful person on media. “I read Robert Caro and it doesn’t in the midst what it’s like to find out that a journalistic Jim Kirk, former editor of the Los lies in finding a large enough audience for in the world continues to pull out his digi- seem like LBJ liked the press all that much, of this colleague has been making it all up, read Angeles Times and the Chicago Sun-Times these literary miracles, and in something tal pea shooter and let fly. Typical was this either,” he says. “How many mayors of New catastrophic the 2014 piece by Hanna Rosin on the Glass who now runs Crain’s Chicago Business, more prosaic still: paying the bills. It’s a flurry of tweets on January 7, 2019, in which York were happy with Jimmy Breslin?” case, “Hello, My Name is Stephen Glass, and says that he is optimistic that the funding scary time, but it’s also an exhilarating one.

President Trump offered a familiar critique of Undeniably, Trump sometimes has a revolution IMAGES ALJIBE/AFP/GETTY TED I’m Sorry,” published in The New Republic.) conundrum will eventually be solved: “It’s Journalists, welcome to your instar. �

30 nieman reports winter 2019 nieman reports winter 2019 31 journalism under pressure THE FREE PRESS UNDER THREAT IN CENTRAL EUROPE

Despite financial challenges and government pressure, Central European independent newsrooms are finding ways to keep reporting by lenka kabrhelova n february 26, 20 18, Slovak investigative journalist oversees all media output and has powers Marek Vagovič rushed through the morning traffic of to sanction organizations for breaking the Slovakia and its Bratislava. Early that morning his boss, Peter Bárdy, rules, which include providing “balanced” neighbors—the Czech editor in chief of online news portal Aktuality.sk, sum- news content. The council members are Republic, Poland, and moned him to the office for an urgent meeting. He named by the parliament, where Orbán’s didn’t explain why. party has a supermajority. It also controls Hungary—have seen Sitting in his car, parked in front of the office complex, the public media, where government an- worrying trends in Vagovič received a text from a friend. A young couple was ti-immigrant and anti-E.U. policies have reportedly murdered in Vel’ká Mača, a small town about been given increasingly more space, unchal- journalism for years 40 miles from Bratislava. Vagovič, a veteran reporter who lenged by critics. has dedicated the last two decades to untangling stories Private media, often struggling finan- of corruption and blurred lines between business and politics in cially, have been bought up by new owners. OSlovakia, quickly figured out that one of the victims was a member Formerly independent outlets critical of the of his investigative team, 27-year-old Ján Kuciak. government, such as commercial television Direkt36 is one of the few media outlets “I was paralyzed,” recalls Vagovič, who had recruited Kuciak to channel TV2, changed coverage to almost in Hungary attempting to hold the govern- Aktuality two years before. exclusively positive. Origo, once the most- ment accountable. The startup publishes Ján Kuciak was a rising star of the investigative team. He was read news portal in Hungary, known for its investigative stories on corruption and ties shot dead at home, together with his fiancée Martina Kušnírová, investigative stories, now rails against mi- between Orbán’s family and influential just a few days before Aktuality had planned to run his year-long gration and anti-Hungarian conspiracies, businessmen. It is also part of international investigation about the activities of Italian criminal organization favorite government talking points. investigations, such as the Panama Papers. ’Ndrangheta in Slovakia. The piece raised questions about high-level TV2 and Origo are among the top 10 pub- In 2016 Direkt36 published a series of arti- political corruption in Slovakia, suggesting links between the lo- lishers receiving government advertising, cles about the hidden assets of Hungarian cal mafia and senior politicians of the Slovak governing party Smer according to investigative website Atlatszo. parliament members and other political of- (Direction/Social Democracy). Over the last eight years, the Hungarian gov- ficials. Recently it delved into circumstances Now, months after the initial shock, sitting in a conference room ernment has spent almost $250 million on around the fall of Lájos Simicska. adjacent to Aktuality’s newsroom, Vagovič is still coming to terms advertising and communication campaigns, In a highly polarized environment, trust with what happened: “Such a thing affects you until the end of your A man holds up the final edition of Népszabadság at a 2016 mostly sending anti-immigration and an- in news in Hungary is low, at only 29 per- life. All of us will forever think about what we could have done dif- demonstration in support of the paper in Budapest, Hungary HUNGARY ti-E.U. messages, the portal claims. cent, according to the 2018 Digital News ferently, how we could have boosted security.” PREVIOUS SPREAD: Currently ranked “partly free” by Freedom In November of last year, the owners Report by the Reuters Institute for the Study rd Kuciak’s bosses had offered to take measures to ensure his safety A memorial for Ján Kuciak, the Slovak journalist murdered in House’s press freedom index and 73 in of the majority of pro-government me- of Journalism. Recent changes in media, before publishing the explosive article. But, according to Vagovič, February 2018, in front of the Aktuality.sk office in Bratislava the Reporters Without Borders 2018 press dia in Hungary formed a conglomerate, along with new labor legislation, sparked a the young journalist had declined: “He thought that there was no freedom list (down from 23 rd in 2008), the Central European Press and Media fresh wave of discontent among the public. special threat, that we lived in a civilized country and something like media owners fled the sector and, in the case of foreign owners, left Hungary has experienced the steepest fall Foundation, which will run more than 470 In December 2018 thousands of Hungarians that wouldn’t happen. Well, we all were wrong.” the region as a whole, according to Václav Štětka, researcher and of all Central European countries. “It’s de- outlets across the country as a nonprofit. protested at the state television headquar- Kuciak’s murder was the first killing of a journalist in Slovakia lecturer in Communication and Media Studies at Loughborough teriorating at a very fast pace,” says Márton The conglomerate covers newspapers, TV ters and demanded independent public me- in its modern history. And it left the country shaken, along with University in the U.K. The ownership vacuum was quickly filled by Gergely, an editor at Hungary’s current af- channels, radio stations, online portals, and dia and government accountability. the rest of Central Europe. Slovakia and its neighbors—the Czech the only people with money at the time: rich businessmen who had fairs weekly HVG. local papers. It is led by Orbán loyalists. With only 8 percent of consumers willing Republic, Poland, and Hungary—have seen worrying trends in jour- amassed wealth in the 1990s during the messy transformation from Until three years ago, Gergely was dep- “The government created its own media to pay for content, though, small nonprofit nalism for years. Communist to market economies. Often, those were people with uty editor in chief of Hungary’s once most ecosystem,” says András Pethő, senior edi- startups, such as Direkt36, have to be in- In May 2017, Czech President Miloš Zeman called for journalists close ties to senior politicians. read—and now defunct—broadsheet, tor and co-founder of Direkt36, a nonprofit ventive in attempts to approach their audi- to be “liquidated” while standing next to Russian President Vladimir In Hungary, for example, oligarch Lájos Simicska, a longtime Népszabadság (“People’s Freedom”), a investigative news platform he and former ence. “We have a pretty good reach. But it’s Putin. In November 2016, former Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico friend of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, created a vast left-leaning daily founded as a Communist colleagues from Origo founded after becom- getting more and more difficult. There are denounced journalists as “dirty anti-Slovak prostitutes.” In January media empire credited with paving the way with its positive cover- party organ during the 1956 Hungarian up- ing disillusioned by the political pressures fewer and fewer outlets who could pick up 2016, Poland’s conservative government introduced a new media age for Orbán’s election victory in 2010. In 2015, after a public fight rising against the regime. The paper, which on the news portal. By the spring of 2018, in our stories and bring them to their audience, bill that effectively secured its control over state broadcasters. between the two men, Simicska’s media started publishing critical was privatized in 1990 and became the coun- time for the parliamentary elections, “you which is obviously a problem,” says Pethő. Months later, mass protests forced the same government to scrap stories about the government, and the influential businessman de- try’s number one political daily, was abruptly could see that they were not producing jour- Pethő believes Direkt36’s business another proposal attempting to limit the number of reporters al- cided to support the Hungarian opposition. Three years later, after closed by its new owners in 2016. Financial nalism. They were pushing the agenda of the model—which is based on grants, private lowed to cover the Polish parliament. In addition to Poland, there another Orbán election victory, Simicska sold all of his assets, and losses were cited as the reason at the time, government. It was all about George Soros, donations, and, increasingly, on crowd- have been government attempts to control public media in Hungary his media group returned to the pro-government camp. although employees were convinced that migrants, attacking the opposition. Even the funding—is sustainable. “We try to offer and Slovakia, and the “oligarchization”—acquisitions by wealthy Close ties between business and politics play an important role the daily was shut down because of articles language was very similar to the language of something in return, in the form of exclu- businessmen—of leading media houses throughout the region. in the ability of governments to control media. Market size also critical of right-wing Prime Minister Viktor the politicians.” Soros, an American billion- sive content,” he says. “We are trying to “The traditionally safe environment for journalists in Europe has plays a role. Poland is a market of almost 40 million people, while Orbán. The paper was shut down just days aire investor of Hungarian origin, is targeted build a community. We have a special begun to deteriorate,” concluded Reporters Without Borders (RSF) the Czech Republic and Hungary have populations of 10 million and after it had broken stories of alleged corrup- by Orbán’s nationalist government for sup- newsletter for our supporters. We publish in its 2018 annual report. Slovakia only 5 million. The markets are distinct in structure, as well. tion involving senior government officials. porting refugees and philanthropic projects. e-books, organize events and workshops.” These trends—the ascent of populist leaders, rise of isolationism, There are strong public media outlets in the Czech Republic, but The story of Népszabadság’s closure is, In April 2018, shortly after the parlia- Since 2015 about 3,000 people have do- nationalistic rhetoric, right-wing extremism, hatred toward minori- traditionally much weaker public media outlets in Poland, Slovakia, according to experts, one example of how mentary elections, the British paper The nated to Direkt36, according to Pethő, and ties, and attacks against the press—are the same around the world, and Hungary. Historically, Poland has had a strong print media; the since 2010 Orbán and his Fidesz party has Guardian spoke to several employees of the almost half of the startup’s expenses were be it Manila, Washington, or Budapest. In Central Europe, a massive other countries, not so much. Across the four countries the level of slowly taken Hungarian media under almost state-funded MTVA network, who admitted covered through crowdfunding. “I’m afraid change in media ownership after the financial crisis of 2008-2009 was domestic and foreign investment varies. total governmental control. One of the first amplifying government messaging and even that if we’re going to talk again in four years, an important catalyst in bringing about these threats to the free press. What follows is a consideration of the challenges and opportu- measures of Orbán’s government was to set airing false stories in order to push through the situation will be even worse,” he says.

Against the backdrop of the crisis and collapsing business models, nities for the free press in each of the four countries. PRESS ASSOCIATED THE VIA BALOGH/MTI ZOLTAN VLADIMIRIMAGES SPREAD: PREVIOUS SIMICEK/AFP/GETTY up a special body, the Media Council, which the government’s anti-immigrant agenda. “There is no nicer way to put it.”

34 nieman reports winter 2019 nieman reports winter 2019 35 about Kuciak and his stories. Kuciak’s murder has SLOVAKIA Denník N, one of the most successful Some 120 miles northwest of Budapest, in media startups in Slovakia and perhaps in led to an otherwise the Slovak capital Bratislava, the mood is not all of Central Europe, has also seen a steady unlikely situation: much brighter. increase of public support. It was founded in Beata Balogová, editor in chief of SME, 2014 after almost two dozen journalists—in- close cooperation the main broadsheet in Slovakia, is increas- cluding editor Matúš Kostolný—left the most among competitors ingly worried about the spillover effect. important Slovak broadsheet, SME, in a pro- “Developments in Hungary are so concern- test over powerful investment group Penta’s ing and serve as such an inspiration to politi- entry into the ownership structure. Penta cians in other countries,” says Balogová, who was involved in several political scandals, years contributed to restoring public trust in also serves as a vice-chair of the International including the so-called “Gorilla Scandal” in the public media.” Press Institute, an organization promoting 2012, which alleged widespread bribery of “Our concern was first sparked when ex- press freedom and the improvement of jour- officials in return for winning lucrative pub- perienced journalists leading the news were nalism standards across the world. lic-procurement and privatization contracts. replaced by former government spokespeo- The murder of Ján Kuciak has led to an Denník N’s success is also due to the fact ple who were clearly in a conflict of inter- otherwise unlikely situation: close cooper- that it put its stories behind a paywall right est,” says Matúš Dávid, a former foreign desk ation among competitors. Leading papers, from the start. “People got used to paying for editor who spent five years in RTVS televi- portals, and TV channels—Aktuality, Trend, content,” says Kostolný, who is now Denník sion broadcasting. In January 2018, RTVS Denník N, SME, public TV and commercial N’s editor in chief. Over the past four years, management decided to shut down the only channels Markíza and JOJ—joined efforts at least 100,000 users bought subscriptions. investigative program it had. The open let- and shared their reporting on the case. Kostolný is convinced that the mental barrier ter signed by 60 RTVS journalists described In March 2018, mass anti-corruption pro- of having to pay for online journalism is grad- an atmosphere of fear and voiced concern tests brought down the government of Robert ually cracking. He considers the subscription over attempts to push a political agenda in Fico, prime minister and head of the political model an important condition for keeping the news. RTVS management defended its party Smer, who had been criticized for culti- media independent: “If we want to convince decisions and promised to revive the inves- Institute of Independent Journalism, but also A sign at a 2018 rally in Prague protesting vating a culture of corruption, cronyism, and people that they should make a long-term in- tigative show. But concerns linger. CZECH REPUBLIC won financial support from its prospective au- Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš reads, clientelism. By September 2018, the Slovak vestment in us, we need to be skillful and able “No one stood above my desk to direct In the Czech Republic, media ownership con- dience. Before it published a single story, Deník “Enough lies, resign and it will be better” police had confirmed that Kuciak’s journal- to produce good journalism.” me what to say. But that’s not the point,” says centration has had a negative effect, though N raised over $300,000 in a crowdfunding ism was the reason the couple was shot. Four Public broadcasting may be the next bat- Dávid. Loss of independence, he says, can be it also has been linked to a record number of campaign and registered 5,000 subscribers. a respected current affairs show on Czech TV people were arrested and charged with “pre- tlefield. RTVS, Slovakia’s public radio and TV achieved in other ways: using false equiva- media startups in all segments of the market. It plans to reach 20,000 subscribers and be- left the public broadcaster after one of the meditated murder and other crimes.” broadcaster, is increasingly conforming to lency of opinion in news pieces, combining In 2013, Andrej Babiš, a billionaire busi- come profitable within four years. The news show’s top presenters was removed from the Slovakia, too, has experienced a decline the government, according to observers and facts with speculation, inviting in the role nessman who was appointed prime minis- site, which also started selling print copies in program. Rozkošný and his co-workers sus- of public trust in media in recent years. To its former journalists. In May 2018, several of trusted experts analysts who are known ter after he and his party won the general January, is seen as a test of the Czech audi- pected that political pressure on TV manage- many in the country, however, the murder leading reporters and editors were forced to for disseminating Russian propaganda or elections in 2017, obtained control over the ence’s willingness to pay for content; many of ment was behind the maneuver, although the highlighted the importance of independent leave or left the company in protest against spreading conspiracy theories. “All we tried second biggest paper in the country, Mladá the online stories are behind a paywall. organization’s editorial leadership denied it. journalism. “Already before the murder, in- alleged management misconduct. That is to tell them that it’s not possible to balance fronta DNES, news portal iDNES.cz (with 4 In 2018 Seznam.cz, the longtime number The journalists who left the program founded vestigations of our team and especially Ján same month, dozens of Slovak journalists the truth with lies.” million monthly users), and another broad- one Czech news site, launched its own TV DVTV. It quickly became successful and now Kuciak’s pieces were well regarded. But after published an open letter raising concerns sheet, Lidové noviny. Four months after his news channel, Seznam Zprávy. In November supplies videotaped interviews, live debates, his death the interest spiked sharply,” says over the leadership: “The new management Matúš Kostolný, editor in chief of Denník purchase of the MAFRA publishing house, 2018, Seznam ran a story about Babiš’s son, comments, and reports to Aktualne.cz, one of Vagovič of Aktuality.sk, part of Ringier Axel of RTVS is bullying, pressuring, and firing N. Previously editor of the daily SME, Babiš, running on an anti-corruption plat- Andrej Jr., who claimed he was forced to travel the largest Czech online portals. Springer publishing house. “People trust us its longtime journalists, who in the last few he resigned to protest new ownership form, won a seat in the Czech parliament. to Crimea in an attempt to avoid police ques- Tough questions combined with rich pre- much more now. It’s been apparent from the His political party joined the government tioning connected to his father’s business senting skills earned DVTV frequent criticism numbers [of read articles], engagement, reac- coalition, and Babiš himself became finance activities. The story sparked a debate about from politicians, notably from Babiš, who re- tions to our texts.” minister. Today, Babiš, through his compa- journalism and ethics. Critics questioned the fuses to give it interviews or answer questions His investigative unit felt a direct impact: nies, owns two dozen publications, a na- Seznam reporters’ decision to use a hidden from its journalists during press conferences. What used to be a team of three reporters is tional radio station, and a couple of small camera and a slightly sensational tone in the The style is welcomed by the audiences, now a group of 10 writers publishing a new television stations. piece. The debate pointed also to another is- though. In 2015 the startup raised almost piece every day. The news portal continues to Babiš is just one of a number of Czech sue in journalism: increased polarization. $100,000 within a single month. publish stories of developments in the police businessmen who are new owners of import- “There is less and less classic news report- Czech public media face criticism for ef- investigation of Kuciak’s murder. According ant media outlets, all of whom deny seeking ing,” says Pavla Holcová, editor of the Czech forts to distribute air time equally to all po- to Reuters’ Digital News Report, Aktuality. influence through their assets. In 2017, a Centre for Investigative Journalism. “Czech litical parties, including fringe and extremist sk was in 2018 the second most used online leaked tape suggested otherwise. In the re- journalism is dominated by commentary. The voices, and confusing objectivity with a false news source in Slovakia. It has more than cording, Babiš discussed coverage of his op- question is, why is it happening? Sometimes it equivalence. “Public TV and radio are today 2 million monthly users. Since September ponents with a journalist from his own paper. feels like in the tense competition, journalists the crucial sphere where the fight over the the portal introduced a “soft version” of a The question for the new Czech outlets is, think that their stories need to be more polar- future of media in Central Europe is going paywall; while the content remains free, its how financially sustainable will they be? Deník ized to catch the attention of the audience.” on,” says Jacques Rupnik, professor of polit- readers can contribute about $5 monthly N, a Czech version of the successful Slovak While Czech public media remain among ical science at Sciences Po in France. “Public to support the investigative team. The sub- outlet Denník N, launched in October 2018. the most trusted outlets in the country, they media is supposed to guarantee the public scribers are offered various benefits, such as a According to editor in chief Pavel Tomášek, face challenges, too. In 2014, Jan Rozkošný debate, but suddenly they are under the pres- newly published and highly anticipated book CERNY/REUTERS W. DAVID TIMES/REDUX YORK NEW STILLER/THE AKOS OPPOSITE: the team got an initial investment from the and three other members of a team producing sure of powerful forces.”

36 nieman reports winter 2019 nieman reports winter 2019 37 in the south of the country, law enforcement POLAND showed up at the house of the cameraman In early December 2018, Gazeta Wyborcza, and Polish authorities charged him with pro- Poland’s most widely circulated broadsheet, moting Nazi propaganda. published a list of 19 lawsuits. All of them, TVN remains the most widely watched the paper explained, have been brought in independent TV channel, at a time when recent years against it by the governing par- all television outlets in the country report ty, PiS (Law and Justice), and institutions it an annual loss of viewers, according to the controls. The paper faced lawsuits from the 2018 Digital News Report from the Reuters Justice Department, from Polish public tele- Institute for the Study of Journalism. vision broadcaster TVP, and from the gov- Journalists from TVN’s news station erning party and its members, all disputing TVN24 infiltrated the neo-Nazi group and critical articles that raised questions about worked undercover. Their video footage how Polish taxpayers’ money was spent, showed members dressed in Nazi uniforms, among other issues. gathering to celebrate Adolf Hitler’s birth- Roman Imielski, national editor at day with a cake decorated with a swasti- Gazeta Wyborcza, says: “They want to force ka and the colors of the Third Reich. The us to self-censor. The second problem is documentary triggered a discussion about money. We must hire lawyers; we must de- the rise of Polish far-right groups and the fend ourselves in the courts.” response of the current right-wing govern- Since taking over the government in ment, which critics blame for overlooking 2015, the PiS party has introduced measures the problem. TVN’s management insists to consolidate the media. National TV and the piece was created “in accordance with radio broadcasters, TVP and Polskie Radio, the standards of investigative journalism” and Polish press agency PAP are practically and said it would consider treatment of controlled by the state. More than 200 jour- their cameraman by Polish prosecutors nalists were forced to leave or were fired, as intimidation. It’s not the channel’s and government spokespeople or individu- first run-in with authorities under the PiS als with close ties to the ruling party were government. In 2017 TVN was ordered to put in charge. “The focus was always on tele- pay a fine of $415,000 for its coverage of vision, because it has the highest reach and, December 2016 anti-government protests, they believe, the highest influence on the which the Polish media regulator found voters, especially those who voted for the “promoting illegal activities and encourag- populist nationalist government,” explains ing behavior that threatens security.” The Grzegorz Piechota, a senior visiting research fine was later silently withdrawn, after the fellow at the Reuters Institute for the Study U.S. government raised concerns on behalf for Journalism. of the American owners of TVN. Today, the Polish government also tar- In response, news startups are emerging gets private media. “They step up both direct in Poland, too. Outlets including Outriders, intimidation and financial pressure. State- VSquare, and NewsMavens are exploring a owned institutions and companies that do variety of funding models, from subscrip- business with the government are reluc- tions, crowdfunding, and advertising to tant to advertise in media that the govern- grants and alternative revenue sources, female journalists’ eyes. Women recom- a section titled “Truth or lie,” OKO.press Wyborcza aren’t immune. The paper is Holding a sign reading “stop hate,” a mend stories they consider newsworthy, in monitors statements by politicians and ment sees as an opposition,” says Piechota. such as offering writing services to non- woman is among hundreds gathered in being boycotted by government and PiS Companies like Gazeta Wyborcza, Agora profit organizations. Outriders, an online front of state-owned TVP’s headquarters an attempt to break through the limits of state and church officials, and provides politicians, says Imielski, and often has to publishing house, commercial TV channel magazine published in Polish and English, in Warsaw, Poland in January, protesting European newsrooms—where, according facts, background, and context. It pub- resort to legal action when authorities re- TVN, and Ringier Axel Springer publishing is dedicated to international affairs. Its what they consider biased broadcasting to the website, women hold only 27 percent lishes original investigative stories as well, fuse to provide information. house (owner of the Polish Newsweek) have ambition is to offer its readers deeper of top management jobs. focused on politics, the environment, and “It is like a wall between the government suffered a loss of advertising. context surrounding global affairs and im- Sites that were started mostly as email the church. It chronicles the behavior of law and our readers. We sell around 100,000 The PiS campaign against foreign-owned prove journalism through a debate led by a platforms and news aggregators, such as enforcement during public protests and an- print copies a day, but on the internet we media recently prompted a diplomatic network of international reporters and In Poland, Onet and Wirtualna Polska, are stepping ti-government demonstrations. have more than 6 million users. And our spat with the U.S. ambassador in Warsaw writers. VSquare is a platform uniting inves- it is small news up their original journalism efforts. OKO. According to Piechota, it is small news readers don’t have a chance to read inter- Georgette Mosbacher. In a private letter to tigative media from the Visegrad region— press, a fact-checking and investigative site, organizations, such as OKO.press, that are views with the most important people in the Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and organizations launched in 2016 with initial funding from most vulnerable to growing hostility from country,” Imielski says. the ambassador voiced concerns over attacks Hungary. Since 2017 the site has been pub- that are most Agora, the publisher of Gazeta Wyborcza, authorities: “It’s like a reminder for journal- Nationalism, right-wing populism, and against private television channel TVN. The lishing stories about Central European and Polityka, the largest liberal weekly in ists that they need to be much more care- hostility toward the press are contribut- company, which is owned by American me- countries, often created in cross-border vulnerable Poland, is self-sustaining. The bulk of the ful than they used to be, because the police ing to a growing polarization in Poland dia group Discovery, remains one of the collaboration. NewsMavens positions it- to growing roughly $50,000 monthly budget comes are behaving much bolder than before.” and across Central Europe, just as in other few independent sources of news in the self as an alternative to both traditional hostility from private donations of OKO’s readers; The expense of legal advice is particularly parts of the world. “This is like a civil war; Polish TV world. After TVN broadcast an and new media—it presents the latest news the rest is a combination of revenue from challenging for cash-strapped media start- of course, without a weapon,” says Imielski. investigative piece about a neo-Nazi gathering from Europe as seen exclusively through from authorities GETTYVIA IMAGES ARRIENS/NURPHOTO JAAP grants and crowdfunding campaigns. In ups. Even bigger publications like Gazeta “But language is a weapon, too.” �

38 nieman reports winter 2019 nieman reports winter 2019 39 nieman watchdog “IT’S NOT JUST ABOUT REAL ESTATE ANYMORE”

How newsrooms are tackling the complex issues that contribute to and result from the growing housing affordability problem by susan stellin

nieman reports winter 2019 41 developers of low-income housing, unfair “Unsheltered”—about tenants in rent-reg- property tax assessments, discrimination, ulated apartments being pushed out of foreclosure auctions, homelessness, and their homes by aggressive landlords—Kim illegal or unethical evictions. Investigative Barker says finding people willing to share reporters are digging into data, filing FOIA their stories took a lot of research, negoti- requests, and knocking on doors to find ation, and time: “I didn’t want to start with residents willing to speak on the record, a worst-case scenario. You want to write producing work that has prompted policy about how the system handles an average changes in some cities. case and to find an average case you have to Herbert identifies two options he pick through a lot of data.” believes warrant more media scrutiny: Barker and her colleagues were able to increased housing assistance for lower-in- get five years of New York City housing court come households and more development data—more than a million cases—but those of high-density housing, both policies he records did not indicate how each case was acknowledges are controversial. resolved so the team had to build a spread- One hurdle for journalists is understand- sheet themselves. ing and explaining the intricacies of a com- The focus of the series was how weak- plicated market, similar to analyzing how ened housing laws and a lack of oversight inflated housing prices contributed to the have allowed landlords (often, corporations it is fair to say that the housing beat has financial collapse. “It is hard to get at the or investors) to harass tenants into leaving not traditionally been considered a plum truth when you have such a large complex rent-regulated apartments. Those tactics assignment among reporters. In fact, many system,” Herbert says. might include scheduling noisy, off-hours media outlets do not have a team dedicated Laura Sullivan, an investigative reporter construction, making dubious renovation to housing issues—except for real estate for NPR and Frontline, took on the chal- claims in order to push apartments into the reporters, who typically focus on the mar- lenge of explaining that complexity for the free market, or filing eviction suits based on ket for buying or selling a home. While the film “Poverty, Politics, and Profit,” which fraudulent accusations of lease violations. collapse of the housing bubble dominated examined how two key federal programs fail But out of fear of reprisals or landing on a headlines a decade ago, stories about fore- to meet the need for affordable housing in tenant blacklist, renters can be reluctant to closures faded as the economy recovered the U.S. Working with producer Rick Young discuss their cases on the record. and construction of luxury condominiums and co-producers Emma Schwartz and “You’re talking about having somebody resumed, particularly in cities where many Fritz Kramer, Sullivan followed three wom- Asked what it was like to have that con- series, “The Tax Divide,” published by the Aaron Ervin is a resident of one of talk publicly about their landlord which is a journalists work. en attempting to use Section 8 vouchers versation on camera, Sullivan says, “I was Chicago Tribune and ProPublica Illinois. Seattle’s peer-run tent cities that really difficult thing to do,” Barker said. “I’m But the cranes hovering over the skyline to find a place to live in Dallas. The vouchers grateful to her for explaining the problem and Based on a two-year investigation that in- have ties to social welfare programs very honest about what will happen—I say overshadowed a different storyline that was cover the difference between what renters being honest about it. I think it was eye-open- volved analyzing more than 100 million PREVIOUS SPREAD: your name is going to be out there. I don’t let developing, pushing housing back onto the can afford to pay and the monthly rent, but ing because she was expressing what other computer records, the series documented Nine-year-old Jack and his people approve or change their quotes, but front page. only one in four people in need of assis- people feel and the more you can air that and the unfair property tax assessment system temporarily homeless family were I go through the parts that involve them. I do During the past couple of years, housing tance get them—and many landlords won’t get it out in the open the better.” in Cook County, Illinois, which overvalued profiled by The Seattle Times that with landlords, too. They need to know affordability has increasingly been recog- accept them. The film also explores the history of the homes of poor residents and underval- even more unfair. Grotto anticipated some exactly what I’m going to say about them nized as a crisis affecting communities Sullivan sensitively explores the fraught the Fair Housing Act and investigates why ued higher-priced homes. pushback from the assessor’s office—but not because I want to know if I’m wrong.” throughout the United States. From high- racial and class divide that underlies some the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit costs “When I first went to my boss, he said, the press conference that was held to attack To illustrate the loss of rent-regulated tech hubs like Seattle and San Francisco resistance to this program, interviewing one the U.S. Treasury more, annually (about ‘So we’re going to basically say people aren’t his work. Ultimately, an independent study apartments, the series included a graphic to Midwestern markets like Chicago and stay-at-home mom, Nicole Humphrey, who $8 billion), with fewer units getting built. paying enough in property taxes?’” Grotto commissioned by Cook County corroborat- of a building in Upper Manhattan that had Detroit, people are getting priced out of explains why she does not want voucher Sullivan interviews developers who plead- recalls, recognizing that the paper’s read- ed Grotto’s findings, and assessor Joseph 66 regulated units in 1996, 19 of which were their homes. Stories about evictions and holders as neighbors. “The lifestyle I feel like ed guilty to corruption related to this pro- ers were more likely to live in undervalued Berrios lost his bid for re-election in 2018. free market apartments by 2018—renting for rents that are out of reach now profile peo- that goes with Section 8 is usually working gram, but also addresses the fundamental homes. “I said the issue isn’t how much do Although the political and statistical an average of $3,875 a month. ple earning a wide range of incomes, and single moms or people who are struggling to challenge of building housing for workers we pay in property taxes—the issue is how threads might’ve put off some readers, the Some readers posted comments suggest- housing insecurity is more broadly under- keep their heads above water,” Humphrey earning less than $20,000 a year. “You is that burden distributed among people series included an interactive tool so local ing that people who can’t afford New York stood as impacting those forced to move in says. “And it’s not—I feel so bad saying can’t work at a fast food restaurant and live and is it fair.” residents could find out if homes in their City should move elsewhere, pointing out with friends or relatives as well as individu- that. It’s just not people who are the same in America, period,” Sullivan says. “There Grotto ended up partnering with area were over- or under-valued, as well as that “Trying to get through housing court to als sleeping on the street. class as us.” was a time when you could.” Christopher Berry, a professor at the Uni- multimedia clips explaining things like how evict a deadbeat tenant in a timely manner “The issue of housing affordabili- In order to get a more well-off audience versity of Chicago’s Harris School of Public property taxes are calculated, and videos is virtually impossible,” and asking, “Where’s ty has moved up the income level,” says to stick with a complex narrative—rather Policy—even co-teaching a graduate-level featuring homeowners struggling to pay ex- the story of empty nesters with vacation Christopher Herbert, managing director than tuning out due to sympathy fatigue— class to students who helped with research cessive bills. homes in Florida maintaining their rent con- of the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Sullivan thinks it’s important to build in for part of the series. “I’m a firm believer “Housing stories are tough,” Grotto says. trolled pied et Terre [sic] so they can come Harvard University. “Suddenly it’s not just a THE HOUSING BEAT what she called “an accountability piece. If that collaboration is key,” Grotto says. “The “There are a lot of technical aspects and a lot see Hamilton on Broadway?” problem for the poor. It’s a problem for the you go in and just describe how difficult it is idea that we’re going to do it all ourselves is of financial details and it takes time to dig “We were shocked by some of the com- middle class, too.” HAS NOT BEEN to either find housing or afford housing you sort of an old way of thinking.” through that stuff. At the same time, there ments,” Barker says. “My editor was just like, News organizations have responded by CONSIDERED A lose a lot of people. It seems like one more The series revealed serious problems with are few things that are more important in ‘When did people become so mean?’” tackling topics that both contribute to and sad, impossible thing to fix.” Cook County’s model for determining prop- individuals’ lives than their homes so I think As with many topics in the current politi- result from the growing affordability prob- PLUM ASSIGNMENT Holding powerful people accountable was erty tax assessments, as well as issues with there’s a lot of great storytelling to be done.” cal climate, stories about affordable housing lem, including corruption and fraud among AMONG REPORTERS also a key theme in Jason Grotto’s four-part TIMES SEATTLE SCHULTZ/THE ERIKA SPREAD: PREVIOUS STAPLETON/REUTERS SHANNON the appeals process that made the system For The New York Times series can prompt a range of reactions—some

42 nieman reports winter 2019 nieman reports winter 2019 43 thoughtful, some vitriolic—heightening major cuts to the Department of Housing member plans to move in. “We thought journalists’ ethical responsibility to consider and Urban Development’s budget dating surely the city must require some type of doc- who they choose to profile and anticipate back to the Reagan administration, more umentation,” Shaban says. “To their credit, how those sources will be viewed. Another people entering the rental market because of HOLDING the city didn’t try to hide it. Basically they New York Times article, about the demoli- foreclosures, millennials delaying homeown- said we don’t check at all.” tion of a public housing complex in Chicago, ership due to student debt, and stagnating POWERFUL PEOPLE So Shaban, Bott, and their team built a featured a woman with 13 children, a fact wages as rents rose. ACCOUNTABLE database using the eviction records, mapped that for some commenters overshadowed However, she’d like to see better access to out effi cient routes for their door-to-door almost every other aspect of the story. timely housing data, noting that her organi- WAS A KEY THEME reporting, and went to more than 300 That response points to an issue that fre- zation relies on sources that can be years be- IN “THE TAX DIVIDE” homes over six months. They discovered quently comes up in comment sections and hind what’s happening in local communities, that in one in four cases where they were social media posts: how much individuals and also more stories that debate solu- Kriston Capps, who writes about housing, able to confi rm who was living there, the are responsible for their own housing woes. tions. “We put out solutions every chance architecture, and politics for The Atlantic owner or a relative had not moved in. “A lot of people attribute the problem we get,” Yentel says, expressing frustration site CityLab, covers federal and state hous- Ultimately, they got more than 100 re- to personal responsibility rather than the with media coverage that doesn’t explore ing policy as part of his beat, which has sponses—some landlords who had indeed systemic challenges that exist,” says Diane how problems could be fixed. “Sometimes included reporting on HUD’s budget, the moved in, some people who didn’t want to Yentel, president and CEO of the National I’ll be on a radio show and we’ll spend 10 impact of lending practices on housing talk, and some tenants who were surprised Low Income Housing Coalition, which is try- minutes talking about the problem and then segregation in St. Louis and Jacksonville, to find out that they were being over- ing to shift public opinion about affordable the segment is over. Change will only hap- and how tax law changes may affect home charged. Although the law allows owners housing and the hurdles low-wage workers pen when we recognize and talk about and values in places like Connecticut. “That’s to fi nd a new tenant if their plans change face. “Often you see a lot of outright racist educate people about solutions.” kind of our sweet spot: finding those local and they don’t occupy the home, they are or very racially tinged comments that get at That can be tricky territory for journalists, stories that have some national relevance,” not allowed to raise the rent to market our very complicated racial history.” who may feel that ethical guidelines about he says, recognizing that shrinking local prices, which have skyrocketed with San Her organization publishes an annual objectivity compel them to refrain from media means there are fewer reporters Francisco’s technology boom. report called Out of Reach, which calculates weighing in on solutions or to give equal attending meetings where zoning regula- The 10-part series includes a map that how many hours someone making minimum weight to both sides of a debate. So an article tions and development proposals get dis- allows viewers to see if their address was sub- wage would have to work in order to afford about a proposal to build affordable housing cussed. “Housing is a beat in every place, ject to an owner move-in eviction, along with a two-bedroom home at a fair market rent. in a higher-income neighborhood would typ- but not every place can afford to have that instructions on how to fi le a rent reduction This year, that report was searchable by zip ically include quotes from supporters and beat writer.” request. After the series aired, the city tight- code, making it easier for reporters to analyze opponents, without favoring either group. He also focuses on the ways housing ened up oversight of these types of evictions, the data down to the local level. But as audiences gravitate toward media overlaps with other social issues, such as ed- and increased the penalty for landlords who “Out of Reach this year got 1,100 media outlets that reflect their own views, some ucation, economic opportunity, and health. abuse the system. stories in its first month of publication, which readers want reporters to include more in- For instance, an article about the healthcare However, Shaban emphasizes, “This was is the same as we got last year in six months,” sight and perspective in their stories. Others provider Kaiser Permanente’s $200 million not a story about tenants vs. landlords—this Yentel says. She views that as a sign of in- appreciate reporting that offers enough investment in addressing homelessness and was a story about fraud. We got feedback creased media coverage of the housing crisis, context and expertise for them to make up building affordable housing highlighted the from some landlords saying thank you for but also a result of providing relevant data to their own minds about an issue, rather than intersectional approach some communities doing this.” local reporters who may lack the resources to investing time in an article or segment that are trying to embrace. That multi-faceted One of the people they interviewed is crunch the numbers themselves. feels inconclusive. view also has implications for how news is Angelique Rochelle, a tutor who was pay- their series. While online videos tend to run Residents of a Seattle tent encampment One change she has seen with recent reported—moving away from the silos dic- ing $1,805 a month for a rent-controlled longer, there is still some debate about the shared their stories in The Seattle Times’s Reporter Jason Grotto found that several “Portraits of Homelessness” series coverage of the housing crisis is more of an of the homes on this Chicago block were tated by newspaper sections and support- apartment in San Francisco when she and attention span of a modern media audience, effort to explain the roots of the problem: assessed at too high a value by the county ing teams of reporters with different areas her three children were evicted so the land- despite evidence that viewers will watch an she got behind on her tax bill and ended up of expertise. But it also requires deciding lord’s mother could move in. The land- entire fi lm on their phones. owing more than $20,000 in back taxes and what topics to prioritize among the many lord rented to new higher-paying tenants Antonia Hylton, a correspondent and fees, so the city sold her house in the fore- issues housing affects. instead, but Rochelle couldn’t fi nd a large producer for “Vice News Tonight” on HBO, closure auction. Although he believes more reporters are enough apartment she could aff ord, so her did a story last December about a tax fore- “We contacted Judy and the Hagermans focusing on social equity, particularly since two older children went to live with their closure auction in the Detroit area that has before we ever knew their stories were go- the recession, he hopes real estate coverage father and she and her daughter moved to been viewed more than 700,000 times on ing to intertwine,” Hylton says. “It just so evolves into more of a watchdog role, seek- an apartment in Oakland. YouTube. The 11-minute segment chronicles happens that as we were reaching out to the ing out sources who have access to informa- In a city where a family making $117,000 how Judy Kelley lost her home because she Hagermans, they were eyeing her house.” tion and are willing to share it. “There are a a year qualifies as “low income,” these couldn’t keep up with the property taxes, How to handle that intersection was lot of public servants who really, really know kinds of evictions illustrate how housing simultaneously following Steve and Stevey one of many ethical issues Hylton wrestled this stuff and want to talk to reporters about insecurity has spread, challenging news Hagerman, the investors who paid $3,711 with, reaching out to colleagues to get ad- it,” he says. organizations to cover the impact on dif- for her home—one of more than 300 they vice on questions like whether it was OK For the NBC Bay Area series “Kicked ferent demographics and the implications bought through the auction. to buy Kelley lunch or pay for her to take Out,” investigative reporter Bigad Shaban for communities where only the wealthy or It’s a complicated narrative that over- an Uber to meet them—given that the Vice and producer Michael Bott filed a public re- lucky longtimers can live. laps with the issue Jason Grotto covered in crew was taking up hours of her time in the cords request to find out which San Francisco Since television reporters often have to Chicago. In Hill’s case, she was being taxed middle of the day. landlords had evicted rent-controlled tell a story in a 60-second segment—about on an assessment that was 10 times higher “What do we do in return to make sure tenants based on a law that allows these evic- a 250-word script—Shaban’s investigative than what she paid for her home. Earning she’s not exploited or fi nancially harmed?”

tions if the owner or in some cases a family TRIBUNE/TNS JAMES/CHICAGO ANTONIO 2017/TERRENCE TIMES SEATTLE SCHULTZ/THE ERIKA unit was fortunate to have far more time for about $2,000 a month as a social worker, Hylton asks, noting that journalists don’t

44 nieman reports winter 2019 nieman reports winter 2019 45 talk enough about these issues, especially with the Hagermans are not judgmental, housing authority—Hylton interviews them fraught for news organizations is how to photographed—often letting them choose to navigate as well … especially when there with respect to interviewing sources from giving them the opportunity to explain outside in the grass with children running cover the homeless, whose ranks have been the pictures they liked. “We gave up some are children involved.” She emphasizes backgrounds that are very different from their business model and challenge what around a playground in the background. growing as the housing crisis has spread, es- autonomy to allow for better representa- the importance of having detailed conver- their own. Steve refers to as the stereotype of “the big That affords the family the dignity of being pecially in cities along the West Coast. In tion,” she says. “The goal was for them to sations with sources up front, then check- Hylton is African-American and works bad investor.” able to talk about their situation without Seattle, officials declared homelessness a help shape their own narrative.” ing in frequently as circumstances evolve. with two producers who are also women of Media coverage of public housing and being judged for a visual setting beyond state of emergency in 2015 and since then Each person was invited to write some- “Especially with minors,” she says, “It’s color, for an outlet with an audience that can lower-income homeowners typically focuses their control. The Seattle Times has expanded its cover- thing on the images she printed, which important to really think about whether we be sensitive to depictions of class and race. on people of color, and Hylton says her race For the foreclosure piece, Hylton and age of different facets of this challenge, with were scanned and posted online as well as should add last names.” That’s why she and her team pushed for an helps her establish trust and build rapport in her team were fortunate to be able to spend support from local foundations, the Seattle exhibited at the Seattle Public Library. An Perhaps more than writers—who at least 11-minute segment, so they could present environments where sources might other- time in Detroit before they started filming, Mariners, and Starbucks. accompanying article by Beason describes get hundreds of words to explain a complex the complexities of the situation Kelley and wise be more guarded: “When I walk into a and she was familiar with the area because Erika Schultz is a staff photographer who the diverse paths that led the two dozen par- topic—photographers are challenged to many other Detroit homeowners faced. room, often they’re relieved that I look the her father grew up there. But national news has worked on many projects about hous- ticipants to these camps, which were shut change how viewers think about housing “In a six-minute piece or a two-page ar- way I look. There’s an immediate under- organizations based on the coasts have been ing insecurity, including the 2017 series down by the city shortly after their visit. insecurity, finding imagery that goes beyond ticle, it’s very hard to go line by line and say standing—not that I’m going to be their best criticized for how they’ve covered the rest of “Portraits of Homelessness.” She and re- Like Hylton, Schultz has had to confront foreclosure signs and pictures that reinforce here’s what they’re dealing with,” she says, friend, but that I see them as a person.” the country, sometimes flying in crews that porter Tyrone Beason visited tent encamp- a lot of ethical questions in her reporting, stereotypes about the homeless, particularly mentioning the challenge of living in an Another story Hylton worked on, about seek out sources who fit the stereotypes ments near Pioneer Square, asking residents like whether it was OK to buy a meal for as the affordability crisis expands. over-policed community or the lack of edu- residents losing their homes in a public they had before they landed. if they wanted to share their stories. a homeless family she profiled for a mul- “It isn’t just people who are sleeping on cational opportunities or jobs. “Often there housing complex in Cairo, Illinois, is note- That can be an issue even when report- The series was conceived as a collabo- timedia story called “Jack’s Journey,” or if streets or camping or living in RVs,” Schultz are a lot of things missing contextually that worthy for where the key interviews take ing on communities closer to home: how to ration with participants “to create a por- it would alter the course of the story if she says. “It’s people who are doubled up or are are really important. The things that viewers place. Although viewers see peeling paint find, understand, and frame a group of people trait that would be a fair representation connected them with services. “I would facing eviction, and people who are living in get frustrated about and call you out on are and evidence of broken plumbing during experiencing something many of us haven’t of themselves,” Schultz says, so she found call up my editor pretty regularly and walk temporary or emergency housing. It looks the nuances that get lost.” a brief tour of one family’s apartment— lived through ourselves. a battery-operated mobile printer and through scenarios,” Schultz says. “It’s really a lot of different ways so I think it’s really At the same time, Hylton’s interactions the result of mismanagement by the local One topic that tends to be particularly asked each person how they wanted to be challenging to navigate and it’s emotional important to document that.” �

anything close to what he “I had hundreds of emails and eventually ended up in and humiliation of the process, the hardest part for him was owed on the mortgage, he that required a thoughtful housing court facing eviction— which doesn’t always get living entirely in public, which FROM COVERING rented at a loss for years. response because they were still thinking, “I’m middle class, conveyed in eviction stories. has made him sensitive to Then, in 2017, he asked for spilling out their own stories,” with a white-collar career. “It was difficult to write photographing vulnerable THE HOUSING CRISIS time off to finally go put it on he says, noting that the I shouldn’t really be here.” and it was difficult to have people without engaging them the market. experience gave him a better But he also weaves in housing people know what happened— and asking permission first. TO LIVING IT “My editor said, ‘Let’s understanding of the risks of statistics, the history of the and it’s very much needed For a project called “The Small by susan stellin pitch a story about underwater the real estate market and what tenant advocacy movement, I think,” Williams says, Corners of Existence,” Shults houses 10 years later and it’s like to be a landlord. “In and quotes from sources adding that he hopes stories went in a different direction, one sign of the growing we can use your story,’” a lot of what I read there’s an explaining the systemic issues like his “will not only engage photographing the doorways, precariousness of the housing Dezember recalls, adding assumption that the landlord that have led to a life that, for more people but also prompt plazas, and other places he market is the willingness of that the challenge was “how is a bad person. But I’m aware many, is a lot more precarious. solutions more quickly.” used to seek shelter. Although people working in the media to do it tastefully and not of the business and the ins and “Writing about it was a Robert Shults, a freelance the black-and-white images to open up about their own have me whining about being outs of it and that helps me bit of a catharsis for me, but photographer based in Austin, evoke many themes about struggles. That may also reflect a victim.” Although he was in communicating with them.” I was also hoping to shine a shared advice from his brief urban life, Shults says, “It was an era of more transparency uncomfortable with the idea Like Dezember, Joseph light on a problem that’s not experience living on the streets actually a way for me to cope about journalists’ lives, but at first, he realized that stories Williams wanted to use his just happening among the in “A Formerly Homeless with losing my job and this fear first-person accounts about like his got overshadowed in experience to tell a broader poor,” says Williams, who Photographer On How To (And of being homeless again.” dealing with an underwater coverage of foreclosures and story: how a career setback now works for U.S. News and Not To) Photograph Homeless He now does freelance mortgage, an eviction, and the market’s recovery. “Here can lead to eviction, even World Report and is renting a People,” a Q&A for Photo work, publishing in outlets being homeless inevitably are my colleagues writing for someone who once had a room in a shared home. “It’s District News. The interview like The New York Times reinforce the broader message ‘the buyers are back’ and I’m stable, middle-class life. With also encroaching on working addresses a range of topics, and Wired, but finds himself about housing insecurity: thinking, ‘Wait, the guy who support from the Economic class and middle-income including issues of consent and wrestling with journalism This affects us, too. abandoned the house next to Hardship Reporting Project, people. One slip can happen how to portray homelessness. debates about the line between Ryan Dezember’s Wall me could be buying a house Williams wrote a story for and many of us would be on “The major flaw that I see objectivity and advocacy. Street Journal essay, “My and I’m still stuck?’” Curbed called “Evictionland,” the street and I think that is visually is primarily one of “Altering the situation as 10-Year Odyssey Through Dezember covers the which describes his trajectory not emphasized enough in superficiality,” Shults says. little as possible often means America’s Housing Crisis,” financial markets and real from renting a $2,000-a-month coverage of housing.” “Because the imagery itself not helping,” he says. “But chronicles his experience estate for The Wall Street apartment in D.C. to losing his The way he describes being is so striking and so outside having gone through this purchasing a home on Journal and now lives in job at Politico, getting evicted, escorted out of his apartment the norm presumably of the experience, it’s rare that I the Gulf Coast of Alabama Brooklyn, where there’s little and joining what he calls by sheriff’s deputies, and the photographer’s experience encounter an objective, neutral in 2005, then moving out talk of underwater mortgages, “the ranks of the homeless.” cheap black plastic bags there’s a tendency to not photograph or visual depiction of state and becoming an but he heard from many It’s a candid account of his the eviction company used dig a lot deeper.” of homelessness that I find absentee landlord. Since he readers who have been in denial as he fell behind on rent, to pack up his things, paint a A view from Waller Creek, an urban waterway in Austin; its many During the months he was affecting. It almost seems couldn’t sell the house for similar straits. dodged the property manager, vivid portrait of the shame SHULTS ROBERT tunnels often provide shelter to Austin’s homeless population homeless in 2001, he said impossible to not advocate.” �

46 nieman reports winter 2019 nieman reports winter 2019 47 nieman 1984 Dennis & Victoria Ross Andrea McCarren won her grants up to $15,000 to support examination of the opioid crisis notes Foundation in partnership with 22nd Emmy Award, from the ambitious coverage of critical in America. Remembering Chris Cousins Maurice “M.R.” Montgomery The Atlantic to recognize a National Capital Chesapeake issues related to the global In a time of toxic politics, the Maine Legislature died at the age of 79 in journalist who, in the spirit of Bay Chapter of The National economy and business. Mason 1966 Massachusetts on July 23, the late Christopher Hitchens, Academy of Television will research labor abuses and 2011 united to honor the 2007 Nieman Fellow Robert Caro is the author 2017. A native of Montana, demonstrates a commitment to Arts and Sciences, for news international supply chains. Tony Bartelme is a silver by craig welch and james m. scott of “Working: Researching, Montgomery wrote for The free expression and the pursuit reporting in 2018, as well as a award winner in the 2018 Interviewing, Writing,” a Boston Globe for many of truth. The award comes with National Gracie Award for her Guy Raz is the host of a new American Association for Even though our 2007 Nieman collection of vivid, revealing years, and was the author of a $50,000 prize. investigation of rape in the Spotify podcast series, “The the Advancement of Science fellowship year ended little recollections about his several books about nature military. McCarren recently Rewind,” which digs into the (AAAS) Kavli Science more than a decade ago, two of experiences researching and and the outdoors, including Indira Lakshmanan has left her job at WUSA9 in stories behind some of the Journalism award. He was our classmates have since died: writing his acclaimed books “Many Rivers to Cross: Of been named the executive Washington, D.C. to begin world’s most famous musical recognized in the small Associated Press photographer “The Power Broker” and Good Running Water, Native editor of the Pulitzer Center, a new role as chief content artists. The first episode, newspapers category for Anja Niedringhaus, who was “The Years of Lyndon Trout, and the Remains of which supports over 150 officer at PenFedCredit Union, featuring producer David “Scum,” his report for the murdered in her car by a police Johnson.” The book will be Wilderness” and “Jefferson enterprise reporting projects where she’ll lead a team Guetta, debuted on October 29. Charleston, S.C. Post and officer in Afghanistan in 2014; published by Penguin Random and the Gun-Men: How the on global issues. Most recently, producing stories about active Courier on the impact of and Chris Cousins, statehouse House in April. West Was Almost Lost.” Lakshmanan was the Newmark service members, veterans, Tommy Tomlinson is the destructive algae blooms. bureau chief for the Bangor Daily chair in journalism ethics and military families. author of a new book, “The News, who died in August after at the Poynter Institute. Elephant in the Room: One Fat a heart attack at just 42. 1975 1985 She is a columnist for The James Scott is the author Man’s Quest to Get Smaller in 2012 From the outside, they could Wendy Moonan is the author Vicente Verdú died in Madrid Boston Globe. of “Rampage: MacArthur, a Growing America,” published James Geary is the author of Chris Cousins with his wife, not have seemed more different. of “New York Splendor: on August 21 at the age of 75. Yamashita, and the Battle by Simon & Schuster in “Wit’s End: What Wit Is, How Jennifer, and son, Caleb, Anja had traveled the world The City’s Most Memorable He regularly wrote for El País, Geoffrey Nyarota is the author of Manila,” a history of the January. It is a candid chronicle It Works, and Why We Need during his Nieman year while Chris had spent his entire Rooms,” in which she where he also held positions as of a new book, “The Graceless battle, led by General Douglas of Tomlinson’s struggle with It,” an exploration of wittiness, life in Maine. Yet both had a investigates the city’s best director of the op-ed pages and Fall of Robert Mugabe: The End MacArthur, to liberate Manila his weight, his first steps from its role in innovation to fierce affinity for people with little power or means. private residential spaces, head of the culture section. of a Dictator’s Reign,” which from Japanese troops during toward health, and explores why puns are the highest form Chris was the youngest member of our class and the least from Brooke Astor’s elegant In 1997, he was awarded Spain’s was published by Random WWII. It was published by how he—and America as a of wit. It was published by experienced, but there was so much to learn from him. In his library to Gloria Vanderbilt’s Miguel Delibes National House ZA in August. The book W.W. Norton in October. nation—got to this point. W.W. Norton in November. work and his life, Chris had a boundless generosity. He was bedroom. It was published Prize of Journalism as well examines the factors that led always quick to volunteer to help at a Sounding, to shovel a by Rizzoli in October. as the González-Ruano Prize to the ousting of Zimbabwe’s Chris Vognar will be joining driveway, to offer a lift to the airport, or a kind word. for Journalism. He also was a president and the impact of 2009 the Houston Chronicle in 2013 When Nieman Damakant Jayshi told Chris in 2010 that he Elaine Shannon is the author painter, poet, and author. his presidency. Rosita Boland has been March to cover arts and David Abel is the filmmaker planned to quit the newspaper he helped found in Nepal without of “Hunting LeRoux: The Inside named NewsBrands Ireland’s features. Previously, he was behind a new documentary, knowing what came next, Chris encouraged him, adding, “Kudos Story of the DEA Takedown 2018 Journalist of the Year for a culture reporter at the “Lobster War: The Fight for following your heart.” of a Criminal Genius and His 1987 2006 her work at The Irish Times. Dallas Morning News. Over the World’s Richest Nieman Alagi Yorro Jallow, who ran a struggling independent Empire,” which was published Marites Danguilan Vitug Chris Cobler has been named Boland was also awarded the Fishing Grounds,” which newspaper in Gambia before coming to Cambridge, said Chris by William Morrow in February. is the author of “Rock Solid: the publisher of the Victoria Scoop of the Year award for chronicles a longstanding was the first classmate to reach out and congratulate him when The book, about the legendary How the Philippines Won Its Advocate, a daily independent her interview with the then- 2010 conflict between the U.S. and Gambians finally embraced democracy in 2017. international criminal Paul Maritime Case Against China,” newspaper in Victoria, Texas. boyfriend of Ann Lovett, a Monica Campbell is the Canada over the so-called In a time of toxic politics, with media credibility under Le Roux, has been picked up which was published in the Cobler will continue to be the 15-year-old schoolgirl who new volunteer instructor in Gray Zone, a 277-square-mile constant assault, Chris’s integrity was inescapable. About for film and television rights Philippines by Ateneo paper’s editor, a role he has had died giving birth in a field charge of the San Quentin body of contested waters that Maine’s ever-bombastic governor, always quarrelsome with the by filmmaker Michael Mann. de Manila University Press. since 2007. in 1984. At the time, Lovett’s News Journalism Guild at fishermen have long fought press, including Chris, he once wrote, “I consider myself pretty Shannon and Mann last worked death played a huge role in the San Quentin State Prison over. The film premiered at the lucky to have the opportunity to cover a governor who doesn’t together in the early 1990s Ireland’s national debate in California. The guild International Maritime Film tiptoe around all the time trying to please everyone.” Hundreds on the television mini-series 1998 2007 about women giving birth trains inmates in writing and Festival in Maine in September, attended his funeral. Two weeks after his death, all 186 members “Drug Wars: The Camarena Howard Berkes has retired, Eliza Griswold is the author outside marriage, and it was reporting for the prison’s where it was runner-up to of Maine’s legislature sponsored a “memorial sentiment” Story,” which was adapted from leaving NPR after 37 years of “Amity and Prosperity: raised often in the run-up to monthly newspaper, the the grand prize award in the honoring Chris. The Senate president stepped down from the Shannon’s 1988 investigative at the news organization. One Family and the Fracturing the country’s 2018 abortion San Quentin News, which feature film category. rostrum to talk about his own anguish at Chris’s death. book “Desperados: Latin Drug During his career there, Berkes of America,” which was referendum. Boland’s essay is distributed to prisons U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican, and Sen. Angus King, Lords, U.S. Lawmen, and the received more than three published by Farrar, Straus and collection, “Elsewhere: One throughout the state. Campbell Borja Echevarría is the an Independent who caucuses with Democrats, praised Chris in War America Can’t Win.” dozen national journalism Giroux in June. In the book, Woman, One Rucksack, One continues in her role as a managing editor of El Pais, a joint statement as a “consummate professional who embodied awards, including four Edward Griswold tells the story of Lifetime of Travel” will be senior editor and reporter Spain’s leading newspaper, a the best ideals of journalism.” R. Murrow Awards and four the energy boom’s impact published by Doubleday in May. for PRI’s “The World.” position he assumed in July. One of Nieman colleague James Scott’s fondest memories 1979 IRE Awards while a member of on a small Pennsylvania town Previously deputy managing was the summer after our Nieman year. Chris invited James Frank Van Riper’s NPR’s investigations team. and one single mother and Margie Mason is a recipient Beth Macy has penned editor at El Pais, Echevarría up for a weekend visit. Both loved fishing, so they went out photography book, “Recovered her transformation into an of a McGraw Fellowship for a new book, “Dopesick: was most recently vice to the beach, a cooler of beer and rods in hand. It was a Memory: New York and Paris unlikely activist. Griswold has Business Journalism from Dealers, Doctors, and the president and editor in chief glorious afternoon. They caught little more than a sunburn 1960-1980,” a visual meditation 2004 also been named a contributing the Craig Newmark Graduate Drug Company that Addicted of digital news at Univision. and a hangover, but had a ball, reflecting on the year we on time and place, was Masha Gessen is the winner writer to The New Yorker, School of Journalism at the America.” Published by Little, had enjoyed in Cambridge and looking ahead at the return published by Daylight Books of the 2018 Hitchens Prize, covering religion, politics, City University of New York, Brown and Company in Alexandra Garcia has joined to our newsrooms. in October. awarded annually by the and the environment. which awards journalists August, the book is an in-depth The New York Times’s team

48 nieman reports WINTERwinter 2019 2019 niemannieman reports reports winter WINTER 2019 49 nieman Jimenez was previously editor photojournalism and media Karin Pettersson is the co- Diana Marcum is the author media partners. Obermaier Maria Ramirez was a Pritzker Al Jazeera, where he created notes in chief of El Mundo in Spain. studies at the University of author of “Internet är Trasigt: of “The Tenth Island: Finding was one of two Süddeutsche Fellow at the University of and oversaw the show California, San Diego and San Silicon Valley och Demokratins Joy, Beauty, and Unexpected Zeitung journalists who Chicago Institute of Politics “Fault Lines.” Maggie Koerth-Baker is Diego City College. Kris” (“The Internet is Broken: Love in the Azores,” a memoir received the leaked documents for the fall semester. Ramirez, behind “The Weekly,” an the recipient of a 2018 Kavli Silicon Valley and the Crisis that takes place on the on which the investigation co-founder of Politibot, Lauren N. Williams has upcoming TV news show, Science Journalism Award from Wendi Thomas is one of of Democracy)” published in Azores islands in the Atlantic. is based. studied and compared eff orts joined The Atlantic as a senior where she is involved in the the American Association for the 14 local reporters and Sweden by Natur and Kultur. It was published by Little in the U.S. and in Europe to editor on the Culture desk. writing, reporting, shooting, the Advancement of Science newsrooms that have been The book has been nominated A in August. João Pina’s photography fi ght polarization, nationalism, Previously, Williams had been and editing. She has been (AAAS). She won a gold award selected to participate in the for the August Prize, Sweden’s book, “46750,” a visual and distrust in media. In a features editor at Essence with the Times since 2013. ($5,000) in the online category second year of ProPublica’s national book award. Frederik Obermaier is among account of Rio de Janeiro in December, she started since 2014. for “The Complicated Legacy Local Reporting Network, the journalists recognized with the decade leading up to the working as a strategy director Mary Beth Sheridan has a new of a Panda Who Was Really which supports investigative Jason Rezaian is the author a 2017 IRE Gannett Award 2016 Olympics, was published for eldiario.es, an online Edward Wong has assumed role at The Washington Post, Good at Sex,” her story for journalism at local and regional of “Prisoner,” a memoir of for Innovation in Watchdog in March. The title refers to newspaper in Spain. the position of diplomatic as a correspondent—based in FiveThirtyEight about a panda news organizations. Thomas’s the 544 days he was held in an Journalism for the “Paradise the number of homicides correspondent for The Mexico City—covering Mexico that has fathered 120 of the Memphis-based project, Iranian prison, published by Papers: Secrets of the Global that occurred in the city Mat Skene has joined The New York Times, reporting and Central America. Most 500-some pandas in captivity. “MLK50: Justice Through HarperCollins in January. He Elite” investigation. The award between 2007 and 2016, a New York Times as a member on foreign policy from recently the Post’s deputy Journalism” will be supported worked for The Washington was given to the International period in which violent crime of the team behind “The Washington, D.C. Previously, foreign editor, Sheridan has with ProPublica’s expertise Post at the time and still does. Consortium of Investigative surged while Brazil made Weekly,” an upcoming he was an international been at the newspaper since 2016 and collaboration with senior Journalists, Süddeutsche huge investments in sports TV news show. He is the correspondent for the paper, 2001 and previously covered Wenxin Fan is a member of reporters, and through Marcela Turati, recognized Zeitung, The New York Times, infrastructure rather than show’s executive producer. serving as Beijing bureau chief Mexico and Latin America The Wall Street Journal team reimbursements for a year’s for her coverage of human The Guardian, and 90-plus public services. Skene previously worked at from 2008-2016. for the Miami Herald and the that won a 2018 Gerald Loeb salary and benefits for each of rights and drug violence in L.A. Times. Award in the international the participating reporters. Mexico, is the recipient of the category for “China’s Fleischaker/Greene Award 2019 Knight Visiting Nieman Fellows Named Surveillance State.” Christine Willmsen has joined for Courageous International 2014 WBUR, Boston’s NPR station, Reporting. The award is Anna Fifield is the winner An Xiao Mina has penned where she will be creating and given by Western Kentucky Sarah Baird, founder Kabir Chibber, most Colette Guldimann, of the 2018 Shorenstein a new book, “Memes to leading a new investigative University’s Fleischaker/ of Shoeleather, a recently the business English lecturer at the Journalism Award, which is Movements: How the World’s reporting team. Previously, she Greene Fund for Excellence directory of local editor at Quartz, will University of Pretoria, given annually by Stanford Most Viral Media is Changing was an investigative reporter at in First Amendment Issues. reporters, will explore research the sustainability will reconceptualize the University’s Walter H. Social Protest and Power,” The Seattle Times. how to build a toolkit of specialized email legacy of South African Shorenstein Asia-Pacific which was published by Beacon that will serve freelancers working outside subscriptions as a driving force for investigative journalist Henry Nxumalo Research Center to a journalist Press in January. It examines 2018 of traditional media centers. readership and revenue in journalism. under apartheid, analyzing his U.S. work. who has produced outstanding how internet memes are agents 2017 Tristan Ahtone is the newly- reporting on critical issues of not just pop culture, but Trushar Barot has joined elected president of the affecting Asia. Fifield has of global politics, protest, and Facebook to lead and develop Native American Journalists Karima Haynes, Heather Hendershot, a Emre Kizilkaya, covered Korea and Japan for propaganda—both on- and the social network’s Integrity Association (NAJA) Board. assistant professor media professor at MIT, executive editor of The Washington Post for the off-line. Initiatives in India, a role that Ahtone, a member of the at Bowie State will examine TV coverage Hürriyet Daily News, past four years. She is now the includes working to fight fake Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma, University, will develop of the 1968 Chicago will develop a platform newspaper’s Beijing bureau Grzegorz Piechota is news and digital information, is associate editor for tribal a curriculum for high Democratic National for sustainable indepen- chief, covering China. the co-author, along with developing digital literacy affairs at High Country News. school journalists that focuses on Convention to explore what lessons can be dent journalism in Turkey where local Harvard Business School training programs, and more. cyberbullying as a media literacy issue. learned and applied to contemporary news. communities select and fund stories. Tina Pamintuan is the professor Thales S. Teixeira, Barot has worked at the BBC Nneka Nwosu Faison is new general manager of of “Unlocking the Customer in various digital roles for the the new managing editor of San Francisco’s KALW Value Chain: How Decoupling past 17 years. WCVB-TV’s newsmagazine Taylor Lorenz, a staff P.E. Moskowitz, co- John D. Sutter, a radio station, a role which Drives Consumer Disruption.” show “Chronicle.” She has writer at The Atlantic, founder of Study Hall, senior investigative she assumed in September. An exploration of the patterns Jane Elizabeth has joined The worked as a producer and will study how members a media newsletter and reporter for CNN, will Pamintuan is the founder of of disruption in industries (Raleigh) News & Observer reporter at the Boston station of Generation Z create, online support platform explore how journalists the audio journalism program and of what startups must do and The (Durham) Herald Sun since 2013. consume, and distribute for media workers, will can better tell multi- at City University of New to gain a competitive edge, as managing editor, a position news on Instagram, including a survey of research media labor relations and how generational stories, particularly those York’s Graduate School of the book was published by she assumed in August. Most Lisa Lerer has joined The Instagram-native news accounts. digital communities can grow sustainably. involving climate change. Journalism, where she was also Currency/Penguin Random recently, she was director of New York Times as a national a faculty member for more House in February. accountability journalism at politics reporter. In her new than a decade. the American Press Institute. position, which she started is now teaching in August, Lerer—a former Tara Pixley The Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard will host Announcing the new fellows, Nieman Foundation curator as a tenure-track professor Jeneé Osterheldt has joined Associated Press reporter who a group of nine reporters, editors, media entrepreneurs, and Ann Marie Lipinski said: “We’re excited about this group and 2015 of journalism at Loyola The Boston Globe as a culture covered the 2016 presidential academics as Knight Visiting Nieman Fellows during the 2019 look forward to learning from them and working with them David Jiménez has joined Marymount University in writer covering identity and election—writes the Times’s calendar year. Each will spend time at Harvard University to advance their ideas. The visiting fellows have been a great The New York Times as a Los Angeles. An independent social justice. She previously Politics newsletter. Lerer also, to work on a project designed to advance journalism in some addition to our academic-year fellowship and continue to columnist, writing for the photojournalist and editor, worked as a columnist at in November, joined CNN as a innovative way. enrich journalism through their innovative projects.” paper’s Spanish edition. Pixley has been a lecturer in The Kansas City Star. political analyst.

50 nieman reports WINTERwinter 2019 2019 niemannieman reports reports winter WINTER 2019 51 sounding all-important. The apartheid government forced non-white people to live in areas Nieman Online where the environment was broken and could not carry so many people. Extractive capitalism replaced this model when free People Want to Know About People elections saw a transition in 1994, with little change for many people. Environment journalism fails People born into this “free” South Africa still live downwind of factories that splutter when we forget about people sulphur over their communities, and power Dialogue Journalism by sipho kings plants that ensure they have chronic asthma. Can so-called “dialogue journalism” engage Environment journalism all-too-often audiences, foster civil discourse, and increase trust in the media? Ricki Morell fails to show this reality. Too many of us are takes a look at the increasing number of based in cities, are white and middle class. We conversation-based journalism projects that t’s odd that we forget people in our gravitate toward environmentalists because bring together diverse audiences. reporting. People want to know about they want to make the world a better place. people; gossip and curiosity are some of We report what we know. “…Go to War I Did, and our default settings. Yet we keep publish- At the same time, newsrooms are cutting at Considerable Trouble” ing stuff that is devoid of humans. I do it. full-time beat reporters. At this point there Ruth Cowan fought both generals and editors to become one of the first women II imagine you’ve done it, be that in the form are maybe a handful in secure positions in credentialed to cover WWII. María Ramírez, of journalism or an annual report. South Africa. A handful for a big country the 2018 Ruth Cowan Nash Nieman This is a particular problem in my beat as with nearly 60 million people and a future Fellow, reflects on the Associated Press an environment reporter. It means we quite rendered very uncertain by the changing cli- correspondent and her career. literally talk about the end of the world but mate. That means stories fall to overwhelmed get little in response. In a bid to fix this, I’ve general reporters, who take press releases written this thing to talk through my process from environmental organizations and re- and why I think basing reporting around write them as news. Those organizations get How to Successfully Pitch The New York actual people is so important. their funding—and direction—from Western Times (or, well, anyone else) New York Times Smarter Living section I’ll go chronologically. donors, who care most about green issues. Nobel Peace Prize winner and former president of Colombia Juan Manuel Santos, NF ’88, editor Tim Herrera presents a list of the six I grew up in the sort of communities that This ends up being a journalism about speaks with Colombian documentarian Margarita Martinez, NF ’09, during a talk at the most common mistakes freelancers make we rarely cover. Places one petrol tank too issues, events, and other news hooks. The Nieman Foundation’s 80th anniversary reunion weekend. Watch the video at nieman. when pitching, and also includes tips on far away from the big city for media to get to. philosophy of ubuntu guides how we relate most obvious example of this is the contin- harvard.edu/80th-anniversary-reunion-weekend/ how to impress editors. In Southern Africa—my home—this means to people. It holds that we are who we are ued slaughter of rhino for their horn, with most everywhere gets left out of the narrative because of others. The giddy grasping at me- 1,000 killed a year. This dominates report- What Happens When Facebook Goes of how things are unfolding this century. centered American capitalism is destroying ing. Middle-class readers want to know more Down? People Read the News My family didn’t have television. The this, but at that point it meant kids wandered so the media provides for this small segment Would more people go directly to news sites and apps for their information fix if BBC’s World Service was our daily news. In around, congregating at whichever house had of the population that pays for journalism. Facebook didn’t exist? Web analytics tracker eSwatini—the speck of a kingdom that you the best grub. Other issues get crowded out. Chartbeat has evidence that suggests yes. might know as Swaziland—and in Botswana, Kids were to be seen and heard. This In 2011—after a year interning at the Mail Josh Schwartz writes about Chartbeat’s our luxury would be buying the weekly paper. meant I went with my parents on projects & Guardian—my editor asked me to help glimpses into consumer behavior and I didn’t read these. They were boring and (they worked with communities to develop change this, by taking up the position as changes the company is seeing in content my focus was on the important stuff of child- things such as water projects). The with here the paper’s environment reporter. My focus discovery that is good news for publishers. hood: tasting soil and breaking bones. Family is important. Much Western aid fails because would be on getting to communities that are pictures taken from dad’s ever-present Nikon it is imposed. Well-meaning people with out of the way and do not find themselves from the early ’90s capture an image of some- funding decide what communities need, but represented in the media. Mic Drop? A Veteran Longform Writer one perpetually naked and outside. don’t listen to what the community wants. Thanks to my childhood, I threw myself “There is a process of Trades Notebook for Headphones, Text In writing my own narrative, one day, I My parents listened. My first two decades into this. Stories would be about people and with Sound will label this as the roots of my environment therefore cemented this idea that you listen their lives. In each case, this could then link polarization in almost every Longtime print journalist Cynthia Gorney reporting. to people and hear what their take on things to a wider issue. So a village choking thanks takes on a new challenge—her first narrative Life at this stage was spent in the commu- is. It also meant I played with the washers and to a power plant would be a way to talk about country in the world. The big podcast, “Curb Cuts” for 99% Indivisible— nity, in the villages of Bokaa and Pitsane in spanners of development, seeing cement cast local air pollution and the carbon emissions and shares her frustrations and successes Botswana. In that part of my continent, the and boreholes drilled. that drive global warming. challenge today is to see if with audio gear, interviews, and edits. In environment journalism, we refer to Many other environment reporters fol- this intersection of people and their environ- low a similar route. But our industry could we can … again reenergize Annotation: “Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad ment as brown issues. That is to make some use more. This is why stories about global the center. Reenergize a more Wolf Scientist?” sort of distinction that there is a realm of warming, floods, and all forms of catastrophe Freelancer Christopher Solomon discusses and annotates his July 2018 New York My focus in reporting is environment where people are not involved. struggle to resonate. This is why it feels like pragmatic type of politics.” Times Magazine piece, which centers on “ We talk about green issues when referring to we’re shouting into a void. � controversial wildlife biologist Rob Wielgus getting to communities — the natural world and other species. and a contentious issue in the American that do not find themselves In South Africa—where I went to univer- Sipho Kings, a 2018 Nieman Fellow, covers the Juan Manuel Santos, NF ’88 West: gray wolves and their protection represented in the media sity to study journalism—brown issues are environment for the Mail & Guardian ABITBOL LISA OPPOSITE: Nobel Peace Prize laureate under the Endangered Species Act.

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