Category: News industry

When journalists make mistakes, the consequences can be far-reaching, affecting consumers, governments and even the economy. But responsible journalists also carry the burden of the errors, and some begin to question themselves. The “imposter syndrome” lures some journalists into a rabbit hole of self-doubt. It leaves talented reporters restraining themselves under the pressure of the …

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The Double Exposure festival, along with its concurrent symposium, combines investigative reporting with creative storytelling. The films for the Oct. 10-13 festival in Washington, D.C., will include “Desert One” directed by Academy Award winner Barbara Kopple, Feras Fayyad’s “The Cave,” and Paul Rosenberg’s “Bedlam”.

Censorship of student media is pervasive across the United States, despite the lack of substantial qualitative data to confirm a recent uptick in cases, media scholars and researchers say. Interviews with student journalists, media advisers and media law researchers found that they’ve been censored or have witnessed student media censorship either as a bystander or …

Continue reading “‘Growing hostility’ between student media and administrators”

From the Pentagon to Panama, with other major discoveries in between, investigative journalism has made major contributions in bringing to light what some would rather keep in the dark. Charles Lewis has seen the highs and lows of investigative journalism throughout his career. Now a journalism professor and executive editor of the Investigative Reporting Workshop, Lewis sat down with F&D’s Andreas Adriano.

“You aren’t going to understand it,” the spokesman at Virginia’s top education agency told me during our third phone call. His comment came two weeks after I had submitted a public records request to his agency, part of a project I had planned both to report and to use as training. Prior to that call, …

Continue reading “Educating Emma: One intern’s lesson in investigative reporting”

In Tom Reid’s standalone media literacy class at Swampscott High School, teenagers sat in a semi-circle on couches, dissecting an episode of Black Mirror called “Nosedive.” In that episode of the Netflix science fiction thriller, students examined the pros and cons of social media sites and apps that allow people to digitally rate one another …

Continue reading “States legislating how to help young people find real news”

Shooter found guilty: July 15, 2021 When Capital Gazette Editor Rick Hutzell, the keynote speaker at the annual Investigative Reporters and Editors conference, described those who died in a shooting that devastated his newsroom a year ago, I looked around the room and saw their faces. The five who died were reflected in the 1,350 …

Continue reading “Keep going? Resilient reporters stay the course”

False news stories outweigh melting ice caps, rising seas and soaring temperatures on many Americans’ list of threats facing the country, according to a report published today by the Pew Research Center. More Americans call “made-up news and information” a “very big problem” for the country than identify issues such as climate change, racism and …

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By design, local news outlets cover a variety of topics that help Americans stay in touch with their communities. From weather to high school sports to morning traffic, local news reporters are tasked with informing how citizens lead their day-to-day lives. And while Americans continue to consume that news on a regular basis, audiences are …

Continue reading “Local news is in trouble, but most Americans don’t know it”

She uncovered the flaws behind the bail-bond system for a National Public Radio program “Bonding for Profit,” and spent a summer gutting fish in Alaska, so NPR correspondent Laura Sullivan is no stranger to investigative journalism or personal challenges. Her latest venture: the world of television documentaries as the PBS FRONTLINE correspondent for “Business of …

Continue reading “NPR’s Sullivan enjoys ‘digging down’”