More than 160 million people voted in the US presidential election, more than any other election in US history. About two-thirds of eligible voters cast ballots, the most since 1900 when more than 7 in 10 eligible American voters cast ballots, according to numbers from the United States Election Project. The youngest voters, ages 18 to 29, were key to the surge in … [Read more...] about Community news outlets should build on high voter turnout in presidential election
Student journalists can help local media outlets cover the pandemic
Colleges and universities have become the new pandemic hot spots across the country. A New York Times study of more than 1,600 American colleges and universities — including every four-year public institution, every private college that competes in N.C.A.A. sports and others that identified cases — found at least 88,000 cases of Covid-19 by mid-September. For … [Read more...] about Student journalists can help local media outlets cover the pandemic
Community journalists should serve as fact-checkers on national stories
A few weeks ago a former elementary school classmate of mine shared a viral post on Facebook about how Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden was going to raise taxes for middle income families by 25 percent. I did a quick Google search and found that the post had been fact-checked already by reputable news outlets and was untrue. (For the record, my suspicion was not … [Read more...] about Community journalists should serve as fact-checkers on national stories
‘If the coronavirus is a war, Americans have picked a team’
There is a weariness about life at that moment that I haven’t felt since I was in Iraq reporting on the war. War reporters are used to risk calculations, and it’s an odd thing to get used to, but we do it because otherwise everything would feel too dangerous or nothing would. When nothing feels dangerous, it’s time to go home. That’s when reporters take risks they shouldn’t … [Read more...] about ‘If the coronavirus is a war, Americans have picked a team’
Media outlets covering racial unrest in America need to include an examination of their own newsrooms
We are in the midst of a racial reckoning in our country that is more visible in some places than others, but in all places it is long overdue, including in our newsrooms. The mostly peaceful protests that have swept the nation following the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis by police feel like a turning point for equality and justice, and we have responsibility to … [Read more...] about Media outlets covering racial unrest in America need to include an examination of their own newsrooms