Within an hour on the morning of Sept. 5, Chicago photographer Tonika Johnson had received a tag on Instagram, a tweet, a Facebook message and text from friends notifying her about the “The Great Divide” a photographic story by the New York Times that highlights the overt disparities in quality of life for residents in…
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…
The following is a letter signed by 15 University of Missouri journalism faculty and sent to University of Missouri System president and chancellor Mun Choi. The letter came after Choi blocked students from his Twitter account. Freedom of expression, scrutiny of public officials and open government are bedrock principles of a democracy and of institutions…
In “The Broken Heart of America: St. Louis and the Violent History of the United States,” Harvard University professor Walter Johnson has written a history of St. Louis that could not come at a more sensitive moment. Between its author’s prestigious pedigree and its exquisite timing, the book is winning a large audience, including many…
FOIA advocates in Illinois successfully fought off attempts by local governments to slow access to public information in the early stages of the pandemic. But many journalists are still warily watching how the local leaders conduct business in the “new normal” of virtual meetings and limited or reduced access to government offices. “You have to…