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January 2007 - Posts

Wednesday, January 31, 2007 8:30 AM

Slipping through Security

Last fall I criticized the network newscasts for their paucity of enterprise reporting. Few of the stories I watched featured original reporting beyond the daily march of official events. But Monday evening CBS News chief investigative correspondent Armen
posted by jonmarshall | 0 Comments
Tuesday, January 30, 2007 8:30 AM

Bullhead Bonanza

Chuck Neubauer and Tom Hamburger of the Los Angeles Times have dug up some interesting dirt about Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's dealings in the desert. In Sunday's paper, their "A Deal in the Desert for Sen. Reid?" reveals that the Nevada senator
posted by jonmarshall | 0 Comments
Monday, January 29, 2007 8:30 AM

Mississippi Turning

For 18 months, editor Donna Ladd of the weekly Jackson Free Press and her staff helped investigate the deaths of two men in 1963 during Mississippi's civil rights struggles. Together with Canadian Broadcasting Corp. documentary filmmaker David Ridgen,
posted by jonmarshall | 0 Comments
Friday, January 26, 2007 8:30 AM

Looking the other Way

Some of the little girl's relatives thought something was wrong. So did workers at her Head Start school and the caseworker in charge of her family. Even the girl's school bus driver reported that she was being abused. Despite these warnings, Oregon's
posted by jonmarshall | 0 Comments
Thursday, January 25, 2007 8:15 AM

Word Clouds

MSNBC.com came up with a creative and interesting way to cover President Bush's State of the Union speech. As a video of the president's address plays, you can see "word clouds" that graphically show the frequency with which Bush uses certain words. You
posted by jonmarshall | 0 Comments
Wednesday, January 24, 2007 8:30 AM

Lead Lessons

Yesterday I featured a couple of fascinating sports stories from the New York Times. Today I'm turning to the Old Gray Lady's cross-town rivals for a more serious story. "How City is Poisoning Kids" by Tina Moore and Benjamin Lesser of the New York Daily
posted by jonmarshall | 0 Comments
Tuesday, January 23, 2007 10:20 AM

Two Coaches

The New York Times has had a couple of brilliant sports stories in the past week. Warren St. John's "Outcasts United: On a Small Town's Soccer Fields, Refugees Find Hostility and Hope" paints a beautiful portrait of a team of immigrant boys and their
posted by jonmarshall | 0 Comments
Monday, January 22, 2007 8:20 AM

The War on Two Fronts

The Detroit Free Press has made a strong commitment to covering Michigan's troops as they serve in Iraq and to writing about their families as they struggle back home. The Free Press sent writer Joe Swickard and photojournalist David P. Gilkey to Iraq
posted by jonmarshall | 0 Comments
Friday, January 19, 2007 9:00 AM

The Odyssey

"Kingsley's Crossing" is an incredible piece of reporting from one of my favorite Web sites, Media Storm. To create this story, French photojournalist Olivier Jobard traveled over the rutted roads and deserts of West and North Africa with Kingsley, a
posted by jonmarshall | 0 Comments
Thursday, January 18, 2007 8:15 AM

Payday

Many words were written last week about the congressional drive to raise the minimum wage. David Finkel of The Washington Post, however, took the story several steps farther than most by showing what it's like to live on $7.25, the new minimum wage approved
posted by jonmarshall | 1 Comments
Wednesday, January 17, 2007 8:30 AM

Hospital Ills

This week Alan Judd and Andy Miller of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution concluded a tremendous four-part series about abuse and neglect in Georgia's seven state mental hospitals. "A Hidden Shame" reveals that high patient-to-staff ratios have contributed
posted by jonmarshall | 0 Comments
Tuesday, January 16, 2007 9:00 AM

Future Shock

The future of Iraq will be in the hands of its children. In the latest issue of Newsweek, Christian Caryl shows us how those children are responding to the bloodshed and brutality that has surrounded them. In "Iraq's Young Blood," Caryl deftly describes
posted by jonmarshall | 0 Comments
Monday, January 15, 2007 8:30 AM

State House Sting

Many newspapers and broadcast stations have cut back their coverage of the doings in state capitals in recent years. That can be a huge mistake, as the dedicated state house reporting of J. Andrew Curliss and Dan Kane of The Raleigh News & Observer proves.
posted by jonmarshall | 0 Comments
Friday, January 12, 2007 8:15 AM

They Haven't Got Time for the Pain

Last week I featured a great story by Colin Nickerson of the Boston Globe about the hospital heroics of the 399th Army Reserve Unit. But who treats the emotional wounds of the soldiers when they come home? Sometimes no one, according to a startling story by
posted by jonmarshall | 0 Comments
Thursday, January 11, 2007 8:45 AM

Candy for Mickey Mouse

The Boston Globe has been running some especially strong stories lately. Bob Hohler's "If They Want to Play, They Have to Pay" describes how children sell cookies, hawk candy and shake donation cans in neighborhoods across America so they can gather enough
posted by jonmarshall | 0 Comments
Wednesday, January 10, 2007 8:45 AM

The Gates of Gain and Pain

Most investigative reporting focuses on the miscues of government and business, but this week Charles Piller, Edmund Sanders and Robyn Dixon of the Los Angeles Times are giving us a close look at what goes on in the not-for-profit world. Their "Dark Cloud
posted by jonmarshall | 0 Comments
Tuesday, January 09, 2007 8:15 AM

Too Fast, Too Drunk, Too Careless

For the past year, the Chicago Tribune has made an impressive commitment to covering teen-driving accidents, which kill more than 8,000 people every year around the country. Throughout 2006, Trib reporters tracked teen auto deaths in the Chicago area,
posted by jonmarshall | 2 Comments
Monday, January 08, 2007 8:30 AM

Dream Smashers

Since the summer, David Olinger, Greg Griffin, Jeffrey A. Roberts and Aldo Svaldi of the Denver Post have been using computer-assisted reporting to tell a very human story. Their "Foreclosing on the American Dream" investigates why Colorado leads the
posted by jonmarshall | 0 Comments
Saturday, January 06, 2007 8:30 AM

Hospital Heroics

Yesterday's News Gem was about a New Jersey family desperately trying to heal the emotional scars of a soldier who has come home from the battles of Iraq. Today's Gem features "In Iraq 'It's Us Versus Death,'" a terrific story by Colin
posted by jonmarshall | 0 Comments
Thursday, January 04, 2007 8:30 AM

The Battle at Home

Andrea Gurwitt of the Herald News in northern New Jersey has written a powerful story about what it's like for the families of soldiers living with post-traumatic stress disorder. In Part One of "Casualties of War," Gurwitt introduces us to Joseph Villabol, who
posted by jonmarshall | 0 Comments
Wednesday, January 03, 2007 8:15 AM

The Great Escape

"Yolanda's Crossing" by Paul Meyer and Stella M. Chavez of The Dallas Morning News describes the harrowing journey and dramatic escape of Yolanda Méndez Torres, who was forced to immigrate to the U.S. by the man who began raping her when she was 11. Meyer
posted by jonmarshall | 0 Comments