Articles

Science narratives: more focused on story than facts?

A storytelling approach to science can make for bad journalism, according to a Myles Allen opinion piece that ran last month in The Guardian (UK). Writing about the theft and…
Mike Levine Writers Workshop: a chance for reporters to focus on story

Mike Levine Writers Workshop: a chance for reporters to focus on story

Calling all storytellers: Is there a story you’ve been dying to do, or even trying to write, but you know you need help? If so, the Mike Levine Writers Workshop…

Charles Pierce on the future of narrative journalism: "anyone not concerned isn’t paying attention"

I talked this week with Charles Pierce about the end-of-decade summary he did for Esquire. Pierce, who also works for The Boston Globe Magazine, talks (and perhaps writes—see end of…

Charles Pierce on the lost decade

In the universe of Charles Pierce, the decade just discarded was not a keeper. It’s hard to argue otherwise, but in the hands of the unerringly unsettling Pierce, the litany…

Errol Morris in The New York Times on still photography and context

So much depends upon a stuffed Mickey Mouse lying in the debris of a bombed-out building. In a weekend post on The New York Times site, Opinionator Errol Morris takes…
In defense of ignorance: Rob Nixon at the MLA on making room for readers

In defense of ignorance: Rob Nixon at the MLA on making room for readers

Can less be more? The value of ignorance came up this week at the Modern Language Association’s annual conference in Philadelphia during a session titled “Literature and Journalism.” Rob Nixon, of…
Picturing community: an interview with Los Angeles Times' photographer Francine Orr

Picturing community: an interview with Los Angeles Times’ photographer Francine Orr

Photographer Francine Orr had experience reporting on poverty and humanitarian crises around the globe. But while working on “Gimme Shelter,” an audio slide show about L.A.-area homeless people living under…
Intimate journalism: thoughts from a veteran and a beginner (part 2)

Intimate journalism: thoughts from a veteran and a beginner (part 2)

Storyboard recently talked about visual storytelling and intimacy with two very different journalists: an independent 30-year veteran and a newsroom staff photographer just two years out of graduate school.Yesterday, we…
Intimate journalism: thoughts from a veteran and a beginner (part 1)

Intimate journalism: thoughts from a veteran and a beginner (part 1)

Storyboard recently talked about visual storytelling and intimacy with two very different journalists: an independent 30-year veteran and a newsroom staff photographer just two years out of graduate school. Tomorrow,…
Adrienne Mayor on putting the story in history

Adrienne Mayor on putting the story in history

Adrienne Mayor was a 2009 National Book Award finalist for her nonfiction book The Poison King: The Life and Legend of Mithradates, Rome’s Deadliest Enemy. Mayor, a visiting scholar at…