Jacqui Banaszynski retired as the endowed Knight Chair in Editing at the Missouri School of Journalism in 2017, is editor at Nieman Storyboard, and a faculty fellow at the Poynter Institute. She won the 1988 Pulitzer Prize in feature writing for “AIDS in the Heartland,” a series about a gay farm couple facing AIDS, and was a finalist for the 1986 Pulitzer in international reporting for her account of the sub-Saharan famine.
By Jacqui Banaszynski Last week life brought me one of those full-circle gifts. I’m hosting my friend Cristian Lupsa for a few days in Seattle and at the mountain cabin. I met Cristian when he was a masters student … Read more
By Jacqui Banaszynski I still remember, with a wince and a laugh, the time I was fretting over a conference keynote. I had X amount of time, X-plus amount of material and X-to-the-10th-degree amount of insecurity. That was not … Read more
By Jacqui Banaszynski For four decades now, I’ve laid down a motivational challenge for myself: Can I be involved in at least one journalism project each year that wins a significant award? Regional award is ok. National, far better. Read more
By Jacqui Banaszynski One of the tragic realities and outrages of life in America has become the steady drumbeat of gun deaths. The news takes on a Gatling-gun pace — and that reference is intentional. We are all being … Read more
By Jacqui Banaszynski A reminder about caution on the keyboard was inspired by last week’s news of the arrest of the Air National Guardsman accused of leaking Pentagon documents … Read more
By Jacqui Banaszynski Do anything often enough and long enough and you probably, at times, fall into the occasional rut. I don’t know of any fellow journalist, no matter their age or experience, who hasn’t lamented that their work … Read more
By Jacqui Banaszynski The video screens on the back of airplane seats are small and often smudged. But for many years, when I flew twice a week for work, that’s where I saw most movies. The filmophiles in my … Read more
By Jacqui Banaszynski Context is a core to good reporting, especially when current events are informed by history, law, geopolitics, culture, economics or the many other things that complicate modern life. A singular moment is seldom that. Context can, … Read more
By Jacqui Banaszynski Consider the tease of the writer’s muse. We wait and wait and wait for her to show up, and get more anxious about her absence as deadline nears. So we thrash through something as the clock … Read more
By Jacqui Banaszynski You don’t need insider access, aka paid subscriber status, to the news to overindulge in speculation about the possible indictment coming down from a Manhattan grand jury against former President Donald J. Trump. You also probably … Read more
