Story Craft

When writing news requires a distance from neutrality to “tell it like it is”

Writing guru Roy Peter Clark analyzes an "astonishing lead," and unpacks the notions of objectivity and detachment in light of current events

By Roy Peter Clark • January 14, 2021

Broken windows in doors at the U.S. Capitol following a violent riot by pro-Trump supporters on Jan. 6, 2020

A reporter’s search for “lost history” becomes a best-selling book

Release of "Icebound" by former Storyboard editor Andrea Pitzer is a chance to revisit the annotated narrative of her reporting journey

By Jacqui Banaszynski • January 13, 2021

Narrative News

Fifty years of Robert Caro’s reporting notes going public

The Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer, famed for his meticulous reporting method, is giving a lifetime of notes to the New York Historical Society

By Jacqui Banaszynski • January 12, 2021

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From the Editor

Why journalists rise up in the face of fear

By Jacqui Banaszynski

January 11, 2021

A reflection on clarity and purpose: "There was only one place for me to go."

Story Annotations

Reconstructing the tragedy of COVID from the epicenter of New York City’s outbreak

By Chip Scanlan

January 7, 2021

Zooming in on a hard-hit corner of multi-cultural Queens, Dan Barry, Annie Correal and a New York Times team dared to get close and gain trust

From the Editor

Thrilling journalism in face of a terrible year

By Jacqui Banaszynski

January 5, 2021

Excellence in times that "try men's souls"

From the Editor

Passports to authentic reporting: a foreign view, and a view through empathy

By Jacqui Banaszynski

December 31, 2020

Two anchors to keep you moored wherever you are and whatever the story

One Great Moment

“The mountains on the horizon …”

By Jacqui Banaszynski

December 29, 2020

Tana French in her novel "The Searcher"

From the Editor

A very few of my favorite fiction reads of 2020

By Jacqui Banaszynski

December 24, 2020

It was a year of great journalism about hard things — and fiction that soothed along the way

From the Editor

A go-to list of how-to story craft posts from 2020

By Jacqui Banaszynski

December 23, 2020

While all Storyboard posts offer lessons from the masters of the craft, we offer a few practical stand-outs from the past year

From the Editor

Practical tools, pro survival tips and poetry led Nieman Storyboard’s top posts of 2020

December 22, 2020

The list shows a range of interests in story subjects and approaches, and a strong desire to peek behind the curtains of storywork

Personal Essays

Journalists on the screen: a conflicted image

By Christopher Borrelli

December 17, 2020

The pop culture portrayal of reporters in movies and TV mirrors and shapes public perception of the press

Why's This So Good?

The surprising structure of a journey that inspired a surprising structure of a story

By Eva Holland

December 16, 2020

Criss-cross bicycle trips through Kazakhstan by riders with palindromic names led to a story with a palindromic structure and palindromic word play

Strictly Q&A

How a top LinkedIn journalist quit with no what’s-next ideas, then woke up to a big one

By Julia Shipley

December 9, 2020

The Pivot: Novice podcaster Isabelle Roughol on the love of journalism that "lets you enter infinite worlds"

One Great Moment

“He was old enough to dance to a good beat but too young to know his favorite color.”

By Jacqui Banaszynski

December 11, 2020

Peter Hermann and Clarence Williams of The Washington Post, in a story about the spike in gun violence in Washington D.C.