The longer I dwell in the world, the more I believe our greatest values, as human beings and as journalists, come through empathy and listening. Also, alas, our greatest failures. Because the longer I dwell in the world, the … Read more
It’s no surprise to Tim Sullivan that major news outlets like CNN or his employer, the Associated Press, are taking flak from conservatives for peddling “fake news.” But he was taken aback when a colleague told him that her … Read more
Joan Didion died on December 23, 2021, and by Christmas internet searches were returning page after page of obituaries that described her as a “peerless prose stylist.” She has long been celebrated as a journalist, essayist, novelist and memoirist, … Read more
In 1990, Joan Didion received an assignment from Bob Silvers, editor at the New York Review of Books, to write about a highly publicized, emotionally fraught crime almost nobody wanted to read about after it was, in theory, solved. Read more
Untold stories remain one of journalism’s and society’s starkest gaps. The plight of the mentally ill and homeless, the Sisyphean struggles of the working poor, ingrained prejudice against minorities in the workplace, child poverty and hunger — those subjects … Read more
Hanukkah came early this year. Christmas is on the near horizon, with Kwanzaa a day later. Other cultures have other traditions this time of year, some religious, some that have nothing to do with dogma but can be just … Read more
News that the United States now counts 800,000-plus deaths from COVID-19 — more than reported in any country in the world — made headlines earlier this week. The worldwide number of reported deaths was nearing 5.5 … Read more
Ask Andrea Elliott a question and it’s not surprising that she has a tough time being succinct in her answers. “Of course I do…I’m a long-form journalist.” By anyone’s definition, that description is an understatement. Her … Read more
In 1994, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun reversed his long-held, if ambivalent, support of the constitutionality of capital punishment. In an emotional dissent, the 85-year-old justice famously called the workings of “the machinery of death.” … Read more
It would be repetitive, at this point, to add yet one more tribute to Stephen Sondheim. For 50 years, he reigned supreme as a Broadway lyricist and mentor, giving us characters and tunes and metaphors that, … Read more
