Keeping faith in the face of unlearning

few days ago, I caught a Lyft to Sea-Tac Airport from my home in Seattle. The driver was originally from Eritrea, as are many of the taxi and share drivers I meet here. He told me he emigrated to the U.S. in 1991, when he was in his early 20s. When I mentioned that I […] | Continue reading


@niemanstoryboard.org | 2 years ago

A key to clear, accessible writing: Familiar analogies to describe the complex

h, those pesky numbers. Not, we journalists are often told, our strong suit. Or to cite the old and very lame joke: “Jourmalists don’t do math.” And yet we must, especially in an era in which numbers often drive the news: Public polls, political races, economic indicators — which … | Continue reading


@niemanstoryboard.org | 2 years ago

Icy waters, lost treasures, timeless tales and the tricky route to immortality

ow’s this for a story? At the start of a bloody war that shocked the world, a ship braved Antarctic ice and sailors risked their lives, returning with a tale for the ages. That’s the story of Ernest Shackleton and the Endurance a century ago —  but it’s also what happened when a … | Continue reading


@niemanstoryboard.org | 2 years ago

Beware the seduction of story frames: A cautionary tale

o surprise that the infamous slap during the March 27 Oscars was the talk of the press the next day, and the day after, and so many of the days that followed. No real surprise that someone in he media, within moments, had labeled it the Slap Heard ‘Round the World. Clever? Maybe. … | Continue reading


@niemanstoryboard.org | 2 years ago

A view of Ukraine, from an America journalist who has made his life there

eteran U.S. newspaper journalist Brian Bonner has given the last 14 years of his career to Ukraine. As the longtime editor of the Kyiv Post, an English-language newspaper in the country’s capital, he directed a staff of reporters who wrote about everything from Kyiv’s nightlife a … | Continue reading


@niemanstoryboard.org | 2 years ago

Pre-reporting risk and consequence

y neighbors across the street always have a banner flying from their porch. Sometimes they are holiday related, but mostly the colors of various sports teams. Many are international, thanks to their son’s passion for soccer. A few days ago they put up a Ukrainian flag. Now, as th … | Continue reading


@niemanstoryboard.org | 2 years ago

What happens when fandom backfires in a culture of censorship

ach time I lived in China, for a stretch in 2008 and again in 2015, I felt alone and disconnected. I grew up in Boston, but am Chinese by blood. I shared the same skin, eyes and hair color as the masses in China. I celebrated the Lunar New Year and shared some central values, […] | Continue reading


@niemanstoryboard.org | 2 years ago

Happy memories from Ukraine haunt as a new and brutal story unfolds | Nieman Storyboard

Of the too-many horror stories coming out of Ukraine, I find myself stopped when I read yet another about a family that fled with nothing of their settled lives. Grab a jacket, the children, the dog, your passports, whatever cash you have, maybe a loaf of bread.(niemanstoryboard. … | Continue reading


@niemanstoryboard.org | 2 years ago

Happy memories from Ukraine haunt as a new and brutal story unfolds

f the too-many horror stories coming out of Ukraine, I find myself stopped when I read yet another about a family that fled with nothing of their settled lives. Grab a jacket, the children, the dog, your passports, whatever cash you have, maybe a loaf of bread. There is no time t … | Continue reading


@niemanstoryboard.org | 2 years ago

A successful investigative career and a vision led Jim Morris to take a risk

im Morris was four decades into a successful investigative journalism career spotlighting environmental and labor issues. His storytelling — in newspapers, magazines and broadcast — was intimate and girded with data. He had more than 80 awards to his name, including the George Po … | Continue reading


@niemanstoryboard.org | 2 years ago

“… anything can happen in a war.”

t’s not fair — and perhaps dangerous — to watch the Hollywood version of war. The good guys always win — or at least used to until Hollywood got a little messier and the lines between good guy and bad got blurred. Even then, as with any story of war, the narrative is framed by [… … | Continue reading


@niemanstoryboard.org | 2 years ago

The education of a journalism contest judge

f you’ve never judged a journalism contest, I urge you to raise your hand. The work can be blistering: Dozens of stories to read, tight delivery deadlines, clumsy online access. But the profession needs your service. And it is an unparalleled education in craft and mission. A fri … | Continue reading


@niemanstoryboard.org | 2 years ago

When feedback is a drag, and when it’s path forward

or most of my life, feedback made me anxious. I was in third grade when my mom came home from a parent-teacher conference with this pronouncement. “Your teacher said your math skills need improvement, so I’m going to find you a tutor.” For countless Saturday evenings after that, … | Continue reading


@niemanstoryboard.org | 2 years ago

Not your usual police report

op shop PIOs typically don’t ruminate on life in a small city or make jokes at their own expense. At least, not on social media. But since 2014, Tim Cotton — a lieutenant with the police department in Bangor, Maine (pop. 32,000) — has used the agency’s Facebook page for much more … | Continue reading


@niemanstoryboard.org | 2 years ago

A citizen-journalist’s effort to follow events in Ukraine

As information passes through cyberspace, the concerned citizen must work to find what can be trusted. | Continue reading


@niemanstoryboard.org | 2 years ago

How a phrase about one thing becomes an echo of everything

"Bewilderment," the most recent novel by Pulitzer-winner Richard Powers, has additional meanings in light of the invasion of Ukraine. | Continue reading


@niemanstoryboard.org | 2 years ago

The battle for Ukraine is also a battle for sustained attention

Many Ukrainian journalists stay in their homeland to fight the Russian invasion and get their stories to the world. | Continue reading


@niemanstoryboard.org | 2 years ago

The pioneering narrative work of “girl stunt reporters”

How Nellie Bly and a sisterhood of crusading journalists foreshadowed today's narrative nonfiction. | Continue reading


@niemanstoryboard.org | 2 years ago

So you want to write a book? Part 2: Agents, queries and timelines

Newspaperman-turned-author Bryan Denson shares how he organizes his notes and timelines to propose and write books. | Continue reading


@niemanstoryboard.org | 2 years ago

So you want to write a book? Part 1: A strong story and strong ego

Former investigative and narrative newspaper reporter Bryan Denson outlines how he went from rejection to multiple book contracts. | Continue reading


@niemanstoryboard.org | 2 years ago

What personal pain reminded two writers about the gift listening

Essays by Chuck Haga in the Grand Forks Herald and Frank Bruni in The New York Times peel layers of inattention to better listening. | Continue reading


@niemanstoryboard.org | 2 years ago

Reporting trauma: Nathan Rott on the tragedy of the Granite Mountain Hotshots

The NPR reporter honored a personal "no-knock" rule, but gained access to personal stories about the loss of a wildlands firefighting crew. | Continue reading


@niemanstoryboard.org | 2 years ago

Comedian Chris Gethard on the power of listening

The author and podcaster learned took tools from improv comedy to his unexpected radio call-in show and podcast. | Continue reading


@niemanstoryboard.org | 2 years ago

Reporting trauma: Moni Basu on following an earthquake survivor

A former CNN reporter returned to Haiti several times in the wake of the 2010 earthquake to follow the recovery story of a survivor. | Continue reading


@niemanstoryboard.org | 2 years ago

Reporting the COVID divide through tensions in one rural community

AP reporter Tim Sullivan found a small town on the Minnesota prairie to explore the political chasms exposed by COVID. | Continue reading


@niemanstoryboard.org | 2 years ago

Reporting trauma: Jessica Ravitz on farmer suicides

The CNN reporter made time and space for a daughter and son to talk about their father's death in hopes of helping others. | Continue reading


@niemanstoryboard.org | 2 years ago

Sticking a story together — and nailing the structure

A top Danish journalist uses a one-word theme and color-coded Post-its to find the path through complex stories. | Continue reading


@niemanstoryboard.org | 2 years ago

When writing sparks writing

arlier this month, we posted a short “One Great Moment” piece on a dazzling line of dialog from the new-this-season Netflix movie “A Boy Called Christmas.” Dame Maggie Smith is telling three fidgety children a story. When they want to know why they have to listen, she gently scol … | Continue reading


@niemanstoryboard.org | 2 years ago

Reporting trauma: John D. Sutter on Hurricane Maria

In a year tracking victims of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, a CNN reporter gained insights about taking care of story subjects and himself. | Continue reading


@niemanstoryboard.org | 2 years ago

An obit gets honest and goes viral

An irreverent obit defies the stiff conventions of traditional death notices to match an irreverent life. | Continue reading


@niemanstoryboard.org | 2 years ago

An editor’s sensitive guide to interviewing victims of trauma

Narrative editor and teacher Jan Winburn led a class at the University of Montana to prepare students for the challenges of covering trauma.. | Continue reading


@niemanstoryboard.org | 2 years ago

An Atlantic writer turned a fatal blow into a sensitive study of boxing, grief and grit

A TV screen crawl prompted a question that Jacob Stern chased for two years to provide a ringside seat to the chilly humanity of boxing.. | Continue reading


@niemanstoryboard.org | 2 years ago

The making of Joan Didion: From fuzzy facts to peerless prose

A writer and editor re-reads Joan Didion to track her career-long evolution from wobbly to wicked-good. | Continue reading


@niemanstoryboard.org | 2 years ago

The bold Joan Didion story you probably never read

A charter member and former executive director of IRE remembers lessons from Didion's probe of the 1989 Central Park jogger case. | Continue reading


@niemanstoryboard.org | 2 years ago

Kari Howard: An editor and mentor who loved good stories and storytellers

Howard guided writers at The Los Angeles Times, Reuters and Nieman Storyboard. She died this week, at 59, of cancer. | Continue reading


@niemanstoryboard.org | 2 years ago

Reconstructing 72 hours of life and death under the “heat dome”

A New Yorker contributor lived under the Pacific Northwest "heat dome," and then found human and science stories to show its toll. | Continue reading


@niemanstoryboard.org | 2 years ago

“Because the universe is made of stories …”

f this seems dated (it’s inspired by a Christmas movie, after all), consider this: The best of stories are, or should be, universal and timeless. And thus a breath-catching moment early in the recent season’s Netflix movie, “A Boy Called Christmas.”  I’ve tucked it in my teaching … | Continue reading


@niemanstoryboard.org | 2 years ago

How Rachel Aviv of The New Yorker exposed the “troubled teen industry”

  ntold 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 make it into public … | Continue reading


@niemanstoryboard.org | 2 years ago

Epic history that inspired epic storytelling

How The Washington Post drew on classic narrative techniques and new transparency tools to revisit the assault on the U.S. Capitol. | Continue reading


@niemanstoryboard.org | 2 years ago

The wisdom of babes, the sounds of music, and tasty stories to chew on

Check out the completely unscientific and totally discretionary Storyboard Editor's Choice Awards for 2021. | Continue reading


@niemanstoryboard.org | 3 years ago

The peak posts of 2021: Hemingway, sensitive sourcing and self-editing

A matrix of page views and time-on-site highlight an eclectic mix of "Community's Choice Awards" for the last year | Continue reading


@niemanstoryboard.org | 3 years ago

Solstice stories

Some meditation while shoveling snow brings awareness of miracles, from seasonal acts of kindness to the daily newspaper. | Continue reading


@niemanstoryboard.org | 3 years ago

Listening to, and writing, the magic

A mother and marketing director is inspired by a lake, a children's book and the time of year to write an Ode to Winter Solstice. | Continue reading


@niemanstoryboard.org | 3 years ago

“… sequestered neighborhoods and old hates that die hard or leave a residue …”

In Louise Erdrich's new novel, "The Sentence," she captures the divides of race and class exposed by COVID and police brutality. | Continue reading


@niemanstoryboard.org | 3 years ago

Tempted to self-publish that book? Here are some things to know

Author and writing coach Chip Scanlan shares what he learned when he bypassed the book agents and publishing houses and self-publish. | Continue reading


@niemanstoryboard.org | 3 years ago

The multiplier effect of one good teacher

The death of writing coach Don Fry provides a chance to consider the ripples that one special teacher sends out into the world. | Continue reading


@niemanstoryboard.org | 3 years ago

How an “immersionist” held up the story of one homeless child as “a mirror to America”

Pulitzer-winner Andrea Elliott of The New York Times navigated source relationships and ethics for eight years to tell Dasani's story. | Continue reading


@niemanstoryboard.org | 3 years ago

Writing that dares to sing

A new documentary about one intense month in 1969 of the Beatles making an album shows the creative power of daring to ask: "What if?" | Continue reading


@niemanstoryboard.org | 3 years ago