Tom Warhover

Reporting past the black-and-white politics of school book bans

By Tom Warhover• Story Annotations• December 6, 2023

By Tom Warhover There’s a war on words and images out there. Book banning in schools is trending these days, supercharged with the twin engines of social media and political extremism. Banning has reached historic highs. Book challenges are … Read more

Epic history that inspired epic storytelling

By Tom Warhover• Notable Narratives• January 4, 2022

At the end of each semester, after all the discussions of craft, I remind my reporting students at the Missouri School of Journalism the why of it all: the larger purpose their journalism serves. By then they have become … Read more

“His name was Zaki Anwari …”

By Tom Warhover• One Great Moment• August 25, 2021

Writers usually stuff facts in dispatches from the front or the cop shop or the accident scene. All those W’s and H’s, jammed together. Generally, the formula works. But individual facts, as well as individuals, can become lost in … Read more

“… a common appreciation for truth.”

By Tom Warhover• One Great Moment• November 13, 2020

Lou Abbott and Bud Costello’s most famous comedy sketch builds off a play on punctuation. Abbott names a baseball team’s infielders, and Who’s on first. Costello hears the period as a question mark. Confusion ensues. Read more

Writing the character, contradictions and soul of a place

By Tom Warhover• Story Annotations• March 24, 2020

America’s quadrennial obsession with Iowa has passed like the season’s last snow storm, there for a turbulent moment but forgotten three days later. The nail-biting over bad election apps and inadequate phone banks and questions of a … Read more

“How dare you…”

By Tom Warhover• One Great Moment• September 27, 2019

After you watch Greta Thunberg’s speech a second or third time, after your heart rate slows, after your guilt subsides (a bit) — read the transcript. Franklin Foer of The Atlantic wrote about the … Read more

Yes, everyone, there is a reason to believe …

By Tom Warhover• Why's This So Good?• December 25, 2018

Dear Reader, As the holiday weekend approached, a newspaper friend asked me why, as editor of a community newspaper, I reprinted the editorial “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus” on Christmas day every year for 15 years. Usually … Read more

An alligator attack sparks a Facebook attack – and an invitation to reconsider meanness

By Tom Warhover• Why's This So Good?• September 13, 2018

I sat on a bench with Wade Livingston the other day. We talked about an alligator attack, a woman who drowned, and the people who saw fit to condemn her for the audacity to up and die while walking her dog. It’s … Read more

“Gary Robinson died hungry.”

By Tom Warhover• One Great Moment• July 21, 2018

Why is it great? My mentor Ron Speer of the Virginian-Pilot liked the opening line of the Bible for Greatest Short Lede Ever. I go with Buchanan. I’m hooked with four words. I can’t stop reading. Not possible. I … Read more

About Tom Warhover