Author

Chip Scanlan

@chipscanlan

After two decades as an award-winning journalist, Chip Scanlan taught writing at The Poynter Institute from 1994-2009. His credits include The New York Times, NPR, The Washington Post Magazine and The American Scholar; two essays were listed as notables in Best American Essays. He lives and writes in St. Petersburg, Florida, and publishes Chip’s Writing Lessons, a newsletter of tips and inspiration.

Exposing what the police and courts wouldn't — and what society owes in return

Exposing what the police and courts wouldn’t — and what society owes in return

It’s difficult to find a writer who isn’t haunted by a story. It could have been the quest that couldn’t catch a glint in an editor’s eye. Maybe one that…
September 11, 2019
Chasing ghosts that will forever haunt

Chasing ghosts that will forever haunt

"Ghosts of Highway 20:" Through serendipity, creativity and care, a newspaper in Oregon finds answers 40 years after police and courts failed
August 27, 2019
14 hours from event to post: Delivering narrative with context on deadline

14 hours from event to post: Delivering narrative with context on deadline

Since 2015, Michael Kruse of Politico has written hundreds of thousands of words about Donald J. Trump, plumbing the President’s unorthodox campaign tactics, his dubious finances, his penchant for lawsuits,…
August 6, 2019
A literary take on a hole in the ground

A literary take on a hole in the ground

Faced with nonstop jackhammering, the steady growl and beep of dump trucks, and sickening spirals of dust, residents of a peaceful Manhattan neighborhood searched for ways to take action against…
June 19, 2019
A sex worker plunges to her death and a reporter demands to know: Who was she?

A sex worker plunges to her death and a reporter demands to know: Who was she?

Dan Barry led a team at The New York Times to uncover a name, a life history, and the sinister world of power and exploitation on 40th Road
June 4, 2019
A tribute: On Herman Wouk and the incandescence of "Youngblood Hawke"

A tribute: On Herman Wouk and the incandescence of “Youngblood Hawke”

The news that Herman Wouk, whose epic World War II novels kept him atop the best seller lists for much of his literary career, died May 17 at the age…
May 28, 2019
How The New York Times tracked public data to produce "Killing Khashoggi"

How The New York Times tracked public data to produce “Killing Khashoggi”

Before humans learned to write, they documented their lives through images with technologies fashioned from materials at hand. To create the renowned galleries of animals — objects of fascination, dreams…
May 9, 2019
Nut grafs: Overused, misused — or merely misunderstood?

Nut grafs: Overused, misused — or merely misunderstood?

When a summary nut beeps like the back-up horn on a truck or blinds like a searchlight, it can ruin the magic of a narrative
January 30, 2019
An annotated project that "breaks the 'rules' in all the right ways"

An annotated project that “breaks the ‘rules’ in all the right ways”

EDITOR’S NOTE: While we did not annotate this project by ProPublica Illinois, we are including it in “Annotation Tuesday” because the story itself, as published, was an innovative example of…
January 15, 2019
A conversation with Tommy Tomlinson: Getting naked in print and public

A conversation with Tommy Tomlinson: Getting naked in print and public

 The first time I met Tommy Tomlinson, he and his wife, Alix Felsing, took me to their favorite spot for breakfast in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they lived and where…
October 9, 2018