Category: Journalists

Reporting on Hope and Help: Telling the story of people

Civilization is a stream with banks. The stream is sometimes filled with blood from people killing, stealing, shouting and doing things [journalists] usually record. While on the banks, unnoticed, people build homes, make love, raise children, sing songs, write poetry… the story of civilization is what happened on the banks. — Will Durant, The Story of […]

“Work from home” should not mean “social isolation”

Your emotional health is as important as your physical well-being, and the new normal — working at home — will affect both. While this crisis too shall end, the idea of “work from home” for journalists may be here for some time to come. Beyond the technical challenges, there are some very real emotional challenges […]

Journalists: Fight racism and hate speech without promoting it

The tragedy of the Florida school shooting uncovered some poor journalistic decision-making and damage to the institution. Journalists jumped on a possible connection between the shooter and a white supremacist hate group based in Florida.  But all may not be what it seems and journalists would be wise to avoid jumping to conclusions.  The harm […]

Covering protests and dissent — journalism in the heat of the moment

As I write this during the “Day without Immigrants” protest, I am reminded of the diversity of thought that exists in every protest, in this case, in our immigrant communities. Here in Texas, certainly across the Southwest and in many other communities, the word “immigrant” is connected indelibly with “Hispanic” or “Latino” (depending on where […]

New report focuses on saving ethical journalism

Call it whatever you want — the post-truth era, a post-fact world, a biased fourth estate — journalism is under siege and there is plenty of blame for that to go around. This is not just an American problem either, this is a worldwide problem. “Journalism with a public purpose is being overwhelmed in a […]

How journalists can minimize harm covering the Dallas police shootings

The horrific shootings in Dallas call for careful and calculated coverage from journalists — again. Journalists must keep in mind that there is clear evidence that coverage of mass shootings has a “contagion effect,” encouraging copy-cat violence (see research from Arizona State University). As polarized as this country has become and as hot as this […]

Mastering Facebook Live — and avoiding amateur hour

If the explosion of notifications on my feed are any indication, journalists are loving Facebook Live. This “real-time” reporting medium offers outstanding opportunities to connect with new audiences and to prove the hard, 24-hour work journalists do everyday.Yes, Periscope has been around for over a year, but there are some specific advantages to using Facebook Live […]

Fair journalism must include diverse voices, now.

Syrian migrants photo courtesy New York Daily News If we journalists ever needed to hear diverse opinions and new perspectives, it would be now. Think about the polarity that our society has been subjected to just this last year — racial divides between African-Americans and law enforcement, religious divides between Christian conservatives and Muslims, racial politics over […]

Does journalism matter?

Last week at the Excellence in Journalism conference, a young reporter asked for my advice about her career. “I’m thinking about whether this job is what I really want to do,” she said, “I’m not sure this is for me anymore.” That floored me, because despite her short two years of experience, this reporter gets […]