NIEMAN REPORTS To attract and retain millennial journalists, news outlets must better meet the needs of parents with young children WHERE ARE THE MOTHERS? Contributors The Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University Katherine Goldstein www.niemanreports.org (page 24), a 2017 Nieman Fellow, is a digital journalist and consultant focusing on issues of women and work. She leads workshops, coaches, and teaches a course at the Harvard Extension School on how to develop a journalism career. Previously, she worked publisher Ann Marie Lipinski as the editor of vanityfair.com, the director of traffic and social media strategy at Slate, and as the green editor at The Huffington editor Post. In addition to her editorial, strategy, and managerial roles, James Geary she has covered topics ranging from the Copenhagen climate talks senior editor to the first gay wedding on a military base. She lives in Brooklyn, Jan Gardner New York with her husband and son. editorial assistant Eryn M. Carlson Diego Marcano (page 8) is a Venezuelan journalist now attending staff assistant Boston University. Previously, he was Lesley Harkins based in Colombia as a reporter at design Prodavinci, where he covered policy, Pentagram international affairs, and technology. editorial offices One Francis Avenue, Cambridge, Laura Beltrán Villamizar (page 12), MA 02138-2098, 617-496-6308, an independent photography editor and [email protected] writer, is the founder of Native Agency, a platform dedicated to the promotion and Copyright 2017 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. development of visual journalists from Periodicals postage paid at underrepresented regions. Boston, Massachusetts and additional entries Jon Marcus (pages 14 and 42 ) is higher- education editor at The Hechinger Report, subscriptions/business a nonprofit news organization based at 617-496-6299, [email protected] Columbia University. Previously the editor Subscription $25 a year, of Boston Magazine, he has written for $40 for two years; The Washington Post, Time, and USA Today. add $10 per year for foreign airmail. Single copies $7.50. Michael Bird (page 20) is a reporter Back copies are available from and editor for The Black Sea, a platform the Nieman office. showcasing investigative reporting Please address all subscription in southeast Europe. He is based in correspondence to: Bucharest, Romania and London. One Francis Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138-2098 and change of address information to: Stefan Candea (page 20), a 2011 Nieman P.O. Box 4951, Manchester, NH 03108 Fellow, is co-founder and coordinator ISSN Number 0028-9817 of European Investigative Collaborations. Postmaster: Send address changes to He is a co-founder of the Romanian Center Nieman Reports P.O. Box 4951, for Investigative Journalism. Manchester, NH 03108 Nieman Reports (USPS #430-650) Tristan Ahtone (page 36), a 2018 Nieman is published in March, June, Fellow, is a freelance reporter and member September, and December by of the Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma. He has the Nieman Foundation at Harvard University, reported for “The NewsHour with Jim One Francis Avenue, Lehrer,” National Native News, Frontline, Cambridge, MA 02138-2098 Vice, Fronteras Desk, and NPR. (BOTTOM)VILLAMIZAR: PRESS (TOP); CUBILLOS/ASSOCIATED OPPOSITE: GRAHAM MACINDOE ARIANA JITSKE NAP; The New York Times’s improved family leave policy is the result of lobbying by an employee group to which these women belong Contents Summer 2017 / Vol. 71 / No. 3 Features Departments How Venezuela’s Independent 8 cover From the Curator 2 Digital News Outlets are Covering Ann Marie Lipinski Where Are the Mothers? 24 the Turmoil in Their Country To stay relevant to readers, newsrooms Despite safety risks, journalists are Live@Lippmann 4 must do more to keep mothers in the tal- reporting on the unrest and shortages Political commentator Charlie Sykes ent pipeline. Besides, it is good business By Diego Marcano By Katherine Goldstein Niemans@Work 6 The Ethics of Leaks 14 A live magazine takes root in Europe, The increasing use of anonymous watchdog a tale of Milwaukee told through sources has intensified the debate over Telling Indigenous Stories 36 a class picture, a study of a foreign how to vet information and sources Reporting on the unique realities entails correspondent’s craft By Jon Marcus revisiting journalism’s founding principles By Tristan Ahtone Books 48 “WTF: What’s the Future and Covering Controversial 42 Why It’s Up to Us” Issues on Campus By Tim O’Reilly Newly energized college journalists are facing off against university administrators Nieman Notes 50 By Jon Marcus Sounding 52 Jassim Ahmad A demonstrator in Venezuela where street protests have roiled the nation for months Page 8 nieman reports Summer 2017 1 from the night before. During the congress- an in whose country journalists have been the man-elect’s court hearing Jacobs said: “I murdered with impunity. curator asked Mr. Gianforte a question in the same Last November, in a speech at the manner I have asked questions of hundreds Committee to Protect Journalists’ 2016 of politicians… [His] response was to slam International Press Freedom Awards, broad- me to the floor and start punching me.” caster Christiane Amanpour said, “Never in Gianforte pleaded guilty to misdemeanor a million years did I expect to find myself assault but with a diluted description of his appealing for the freedom and safety of actions. “I grabbed his wrist,” he testified. American journalists at home.” Violence at Home “A scuffle ensued, and he was injured, as I Trump’s tweets, she said, had “chilled” her. and Abroad understand it.” In describing the scene at his “We are not there yet, but here’s a post- election-night party in Bozeman, Politico card from the world: This is how it goes with The animus against wrote that attendees “widely laughed off” authoritarians around the world like Sisi, journalists in the U.S. the events. “When Gianforte apologized to like Erdoğan, like Putin, like the Ayatollahs, the reporter he had assaulted, an attendee like Duterte in the Philippines, and all of demonstrates how yelled that he was forgiven, as others shook those people,” she said. quickly conditions their head, expressing the opinion that he “International journalists know only can change in any part shouldn’t have to apologize.” too well: First the media is accused of incit- Niedringhaus and Jacobs occupy distant ing, then sympathizing, then associating— of the world poles on the continuum of violence against and then they suddenly find themselves by ann marie lipinski journalists. But the proximity of the memo- accused of being full-fledged terrorists and rial for her and the assault on him forced subversives. They end up in handcuffs, in uncomfortable questions for me about how cages, in kangaroo courts, in prison—and easily, dangerously, almost imperceptibly then, who knows what?” conditions can change for journalism in any If any tree can claim patriotic roots, it is n a sunny friday in may, a part of the world. perhaps the Eastern redbud. It was a favor- sweetly solemn ceremony unfold- President Trump’s insistent use of his ite of George Washington, who wrote about ed on the grounds of Harvard’s candidacy and now office to demean and them in his diary and treasured the speci- O Lippmann House as Nieman Fellows diminish journalism in the U.S. is redefin- mens at Mount Vernon. Thomas Jefferson gathered for a class reunion. Missing ing the historic relationship between the wrote about them too and planted red- was Anja Niedringhaus, a treasured class- presidency and the press in perilous new buds on the grounds of Monticello. Anya’s mate and Associated Press photographer ways. By some counts, the pugilistic video tree grows directly outside my office and who was slain while covering elections in that portrayed him punching a figure rep- through a tall mullioned window I’ve been Afghanistan. In Anja’s honor, fellows from resenting CNN was his most widely shared keeping an eye on its sure summer progress. the class of 2007 dedicated a tree and stood tweet. More disquieting to me was the re- To gardeners, its flowering is a harbinger of beneath the young Eastern redbud, telling cent exchange between Trump and Russia’s spring, showy magenta blossoms signaling stories about their fallen friend. Vladimir Putin. Gesturing to journalists a new year. But I’ve been reading about red- I don’t know that I’ve heard a journalist covering their meeting, a giggling Putin buds and have learned not to count them described with more affection, both for her asked, “These are the ones that insulted out in the harsh months. One arborist Pulitzer Prize-winning work and her distinct you?” And the new American president wrote: “Even in winter, covered with snow, charm. A veteran of the Nieman staff who shared a mirthful moment with the veter- the Eastern redbud is stunning.” has known hundreds of fellows confided that afternoon that Anja had been her favor- ite. In 2014, an Afghan police officer opened fire on the photographer and AP colleague Kathy Gannon as they waited peaceful- ly inside a car at a checkpoint near Khost. Gannon was badly injured. Niedringhaus died instantly. She was 48. The risks that journalists have taken in places like Afghanistan are extraordinary, and perhaps one reason why Niedringhaus also loved the leavening work of shooting the Olympics. But the once-clear boundar- ies we drew around assignments to mark them for danger are growing blurred. On the eve of the Nieman Fellows’ me- morial for Anya, Greg Gianforte, a Montana Republican, was voted into Congress in spite of—some say because of—his physical assault on Guardian journalist Ben Jacobs Journalists in Turkey increasingly face trial and imprisonment 2 nieman reports summer 2017 groups churn with messages The Struggle proposing new initiatives, new information, posting Against new emergencies, one day Silence in alerting us of a reporter in Quintana Roo whose ear was Mexico is a cut off as a warning to the owner of his newspaper and Relay Race another of an indigenous radio announcer who was attacked Reflecting on my return or of a photographer’s teenage to Mexico and the violent daughter who was disappeared (and, thankfully, later found).