Vol. 54 No. 3 NIEMAN REPORTS Fall 2000 THE NIEMAN FOUNDATION FOR JOURNALISM AT HARVARD UNIVERSITY 4 Narrative Journalism 5 Narrative Journalism Comes of Age BY MARK KRAMER 9 Exploring Relationships Across Racial Lines BY GERALD BOYD 11 The False Dichotomy and Narrative Journalism BY ROY PETER CLARK 13 The Verdict Is in the 112th Paragraph BY THOMAS FRENCH 16 ‘Just Write What Happened.’ BY WILLIAM F. WOO 18 The State of Narrative Nonfiction Writing ROBERT VARE 20 Talking About Narrative Journalism A PANEL OF JOURNALISTS 23 ‘Narrative Writing Looked Easy.’ BY RICHARD READ 25 Narrative Journalism Goes Multimedia BY MARK BOWDEN 29 Weaving Storytelling Into Breaking News BY RICK BRAGG 31 The Perils of Lunch With Sharon Stone BY ANTHONY DECURTIS 33 Lulling Viewers Into a State of Complicity BY TED KOPPEL 34 Sticky Storytelling BY ROBERT KRULWICH 35 Has the Camera’s Eye Replaced the Writer’s Descriptive Hand? MICHAEL KELLY 37 Narrative Storytelling in a Drive-By Medium BY CAROLYN MUNGO 39 Combining Narrative With Analysis BY LAURA SESSIONS STEPP 42 Literary Nonfiction Constructs a Narrative Foundation BY MADELEINE BLAIS 43 Me and the System: The Personal Essay and Health Policy BY FITZHUGH MULLAN 45 Photojournalism 46 Photographs BY JAMES NACHTWEY 48 The Unbearable Weight of Witness BY MICHELE MCDONALD 49 Photographers Can’t Hide Behind Their Cameras BY STEVE NORTHUP 51 Do Images of War Need Justification? BY PHILIP CAPUTO Cover photo: A Muslim man begs for his life as he is taken prisoner by Arkan’s Tigers during the first battle for Bosnia in March 1992. He was later thrown from a third- story window during interrogation. [Haviv describes taking this photo on page 54.] Photo by Ron Haviv/SABA. 52 The Perils of Growing Comfortable With Evil BY BRENT STAPLES 54 ‘Basically We’re Alone. Left Up to Our Own Wits.’ A PANEL OF WAR PHOTOGRAPHERS 58 Dying to Get the Story BY MARY KAY MAGISTAD 59 Journalists Learn How to Protect Themselves in War A PANEL OF INSTRUCTORS 62 Words & Reflections 63 Questions Crime Reporters Sometimes Forget to Ask BY JOHN PAINTER, JR. 66 Dead Men Talking BY KEN ARMSTRONG 68 An Indictment of the Washington Press BY MICHAEL GARTNER 69 Harper’s Magazine: A Survivor! BY ROBERT MANNING 71 Can Journalism Be Fair? BY PHILIP MEYER 72 Freelancers Confront New Challenges BY ANNE DRISCOLL 75 International Journalism 76 Journalism in Transition in South Africa BY MATHATHA TSEDU 77 A Story of Courage in South African Journalism BY DENNIS CRUYWAGEN 79 In Zimbabwe, the Independent Press Struggles to Survive BY DAVID KARANJA 82 Imprisonment and Torture of Journalists in Zimbabwe BY MARK G. CHAVUNDUKA 84 Lessons Learned in Africa BY WILSON WANENE 86 Top 10 Underreported Humanitarian Stories DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS 88 From Darkness Into Blinding Glare BY SUSAN MOELLER 89 Coverage of AIDS in Africa BY SUSAN MOELLER 3 Curator’s Corner 91 Nieman Notes 91 Reading Between the Lions BY JUDITH STOIA 92 Class Notes End Note Howard Simons’ Legacy Lives On BY MARCIA SLACUM GREENE Curator’s Corner The Nieman Foundation’s Unfinished Business By Bob Giles n my first morning in Lippmann House, I was given zations in the journalistic community, through the contribu- a thick green folder with lots of information to be tions of the fellows, through a global outreach and through Oquickly absorbed. Inside was a memo from Bill the network of former Nieman Fellows is at once challeng- Kovach addressed “To My Successor.” ing, exciting and humbling. “You poor man,” I thought. “You gave 10 years of your life To a considerable extent, the Nieman Foundation’s abil- to creatively enlarging and improving the Nieman program ity to help raise the standards of journalism has been and on the day you retired you did not know the identity of enhanced by the reach and potential of its Web site as an your successor.” invaluable place to engage the Nieman family and the larger Bill’s memo began, “Congratulations. You’ve just begun world of journalism in a continuing discussion about the one of the greatest jobs in the world of journalism. As you state of journalism. know you’ve also inherited an important mandate—‘to The mission to promote and elevate the standards of promote and elevate the standards of journalism’—at a journalism is a purpose the Nieman Foundation shares with crucial time in the history of journalism.” the larger journalistic community. We are but one of many As I read Bill’s note I wondered how many different leading journalism organizations and foundations that are versions of passing the mantel had been played out in the striving to understand deeply held public concerns about transition from one Curator to the next. Bill served as acting journalistic practices. The public is troubled by the blending Curator during the last months of Howard Simons’ life and of entertainment and news and by what it observes when then was named his successor in June 1989. television enables viewers to watch reporters at work. When In a warm remembrance published in the Summer 1989 asked, members of the public willingly provide examples of issue of Nieman Reports, Bill wrote, “There is a special sense reportorial arrogance and insensitivity and a failure to fully of loss here at the Lippmann House. An enormous energy is grasp the details as well as the nuances of stories. That this missing…. Howard found a way to preserve the unique distrust of the press and its practices is a matter of significant character of the program while at the same time infusing it concern has been amply documented in a myriad of ways— with a new vitality and sense of mission.” through surveys, conferences, studies, focus groups, con- Bill is missed in much the same way, not only at Lippmann versations with readers and viewers. House but throughout the university. He has built on the In my recent work with The Freedom Forum, with its legacy of Howard Simons, engaging the prestige of the particular focus on fairness, I have developed a deep respect Nieman Foundation to speak forcefully and authoritatively for the public’s sophisticated understanding of how the for journalism. behavior of individual journalists influences their percep- At the Nieman reunion last April, Harvard’s President, tions of fairness in the news media. The public’s definitions Neil Rudenstine, spoke tellingly of Bill’s work. “No one of what is fair and what is not fair are broader and deeper represents the ideals of the Nieman Foundation more pow- than those voiced by many journalists. When asked about erfully than Bill Kovach…. He has consistently pointed out fairness, journalists tend to talk about accuracy, balance and the dangers of recent mergers between entertainment and lack of bias. Readers and viewers mention racial and cultural media organizations. As Chair of the Committee of Con- insensitivity, overdependence on unnamed sources, reluc- cerned Journalists, he has begun and sustained a national tance to correct errors, and words reporters use to character- dialogue dedicated to strengthening the core values of a ize individuals in stories. responsible free press…. The Nieman Foundation, under As I have listened to reporters talk about fairness, and as Bill, has become a kind of conscience for the press.” I have participated with the American Society of Newspaper Bill also built on the vision of Jim Thomson and Howard Editors and the Associated Press Managing Editors in a Simons in enlarging the participation of international Nieman number of projects focusing on the performance of the Fellows, who now comprise half of each Nieman class. The press, I am reminded of the enduring commitment of jour- international fellows bring a global dimension to the Nieman nalists to do better, even though actual improvements don’t experience and to the Harvard community. In many cases, always live up to this expression of commitment. they are journalists who have struggled to practice their craft To each of those journalists and friends who has written under repressive regimes in countries where a free press is to me in recent weeks, I have offered this wish: As I pursue a fragile, emerging concept. the obligation to continue the direction Bill Kovach and his The state of journalism will forever be the unfinished predecessors have established, I invite you to engage in our business of the Nieman Foundation. The opportunity to work through your thoughts and ideas about ways the participate in the discussion through the pages of this Nieman Foundation might even more effectively advance magazine, through conferences and seminars, through part- the special purpose we share. nerships with other Harvard institutions and leading organi- This is an invitation to all of our readers, as well. ■ Nieman Reports / Fall 2000 3 Narrative Journalism Mark Kramer, who directs a narrative journalism conference each year at Boston University, opens our series of articles by asserting that “narrative writing is returning to newspapers.” The reasons are as simple as the lure of storytelling and as complex as the business environment in which newspapers struggle to survive. In this issue, newspaper writers and editors, television correspondents and anchors, journalism professors and physicians write about narrative’s revival in the telling of news. Their words speak of possibilities, but also warn of the need for caution. New York Times editor Gerald Boyd (’81 NF) writes that the Times, in its 15-part series designed to tell the story of how race is lived in America, deliberately chose a narrative presentation: “We thought race was far too complicated to handle any other way.” Roy Peter Clark, who teaches writing at the Poynter Institute, hopes the divide will narrow between those who embrace narrative and those who cling to the Five W’s and the H.