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June 2008 - Posts

Monday, June 30, 2008 6:20 AM

Covert Action

Seymour Hersh has a long history of helping break important stories: the My Lai massacre in Vietnam, the C.I.A.'s illegal spying against Americans, the abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib, and many more. In the July 7 New Yorker, Hersh returns with another
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Friday, June 27, 2008 6:11 AM

Mortgage Mess

Black Americans are much more likely than whites to get stuck paying high interest rates for their mortgages than whites, according to a comprehensive investigation by Aliza Appelbaum and Alden K. Loury of The Chicago Reporter. Their "An Equal Opportunity
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Thursday, June 26, 2008 6:07 AM

Just Wait....

Associated Press Texas sports editor Jaime Aron has written an excellent narrative about his premature twin sons' fight for life, "Born Too Soon." There's much to recommend this story – it has just enough details, it moves at a nice pace, Aron shares
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Wednesday, June 25, 2008 6:31 AM

They Watch Every Blip

"The Flight Watchmen" by Laura Blumenfeld of The Washington Post is a fine example of how to tell a larger story be tracking a few people through an ordinary day. The day starts slowly as Chan Browne, 44, makes a sandwich for his girlfriend's daughter's
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Tuesday, June 24, 2008 6:02 AM

Drenched But Not Defeated

Two weeks ago News Gems applauded the work of The Des Moines Register as it covered the tornados that pummeled the Midwest. Today I want to give a special shout out to their fellow Iowans at The Cedar Rapids Gazette who are still putting out
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Monday, June 23, 2008 6:57 AM

Detainees

Two stories in the past week have taken us deep inside the war against terrorism to show us the people, places and techniques that the U.S. government has tried to keep hidden. In Sunday's New York Times, "Inside a 9/11 Mastermind's Interrogation" by
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Friday, June 20, 2008 6:33 AM

A Sharp Eye on Mass Transit

Miami-Dade County commissioners are considering tax hikes to fund their crumbling mass transit system. County taxpayers have been there before. In 2002, after rejecting four previous proposals for transit tax hikes, they approved a sales tax. Now, in
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Thursday, June 19, 2008 6:52 AM

Government Screw-Ups

I've seen a couple of great examples recently of television networks serving as watchdogs when the government acts with complete insensitivity toward some of its most vulnerable citizens. Brian Ross and Vic Walter of ABC News, in conjunction with Audrey
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Wednesday, June 18, 2008 6:51 AM

The Housing Bubble

"Anatomy of a Meltdown: The Credit Crisis" by Alec Klein and Zachary A. Goldfarb of The Washington Post is a comprehensive, readable account of the housing boom and bust. In the first section of this three-part series, they trace the bubble's roots
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Tuesday, June 17, 2008 6:09 AM

Iraq Today

For a terrific overview of the current state of Iraq, check out this week's issue of The Economist. In "Iraq: Is it Finally Turning the Corner?" the magazine puts the country's political, military, economic and social situations in clear
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Monday, June 16, 2008 6:45 AM

Undercover in Myanmar

More than a month after Cyclone Nargis killed tens of thousands of people in Myanmar, the military regime continues to deny unhindered access to the disaster zone. To reach the affected regions, a Los Angeles Times staff writer hid in the holds of riverboats
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Friday, June 13, 2008 6:47 AM

Keeping Pace

Yesterday we featured The Des Moines Register's superb multimedia package, "Parkersburg Tornado: The Aftermath." Today we highlight a narrative from the Register's storm coverage, Ken Fuson's "Solidified by Sandbags." Fuson begins as the Cedar River
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Thursday, June 12, 2008 6:18 AM

Tales of the Tornado

The Des Moines Register is doing an amazing job of using maps, stories, photos, videos and blogs to cover the storms that have hammered Iowa. Take for example its "Parkersburg Tornado: The Aftermath" package, which allows viewers to scan a map
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Wednesday, June 11, 2008 6:27 AM

Juvenile Justice

The Long Beach Press-Telegram has produced an excellent series, "Kids and Crime: Inside Juvenile Justice." The sections, written by Wendy Thomas Russell, Greg Mellen, Tracy Manzer and Kevin Butler, cover local neighborhoods, schools, police, courts and
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Tuesday, June 10, 2008 6:13 AM

John Doe Steps Forward

In 1970, 13-year-old John Hunt was victimized by a serial pedophile, Dr. George Reardon, in Reardon's office at St. Francis Hospital in Hartford, Connecticut. Hunt, now an assistant features editor at The Hartford Courant, tells what happened next in
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Monday, June 09, 2008 6:53 AM

Lure and Connect

An intriguing title and blurb can pull readers into a story they'd otherwise skip. Here's how Rebecca Dube of The Globe and Mail begins "Senior High," her series on a Toronto retirement home named the Terraces of Baycrest: Fast Times at Senior High
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Friday, June 06, 2008 6:45 AM

Witness for the Prosecution

Ashley Harrell's "Snitch" in SF Weekly profiles Deanna Johnson, a woman who is determined to testify against a gang murderer even though she risks losing everything she has, including her son and her life. Harrell does an amazing job of describing
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Thursday, June 05, 2008 6:37 AM

College Life

Earlier this week News Gems featured a great investigation by students at Humboldt State University. Today I want to highlight one of the most exciting multimedia projects I've seen, which was created by students at Northwestern University. Developed
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Wednesday, June 04, 2008 6:49 AM

Underground Workers

Jennifer Gonnerman's "Blood on the Tracks" in New York magazine does a great job of describing the dangerous world of the workers who maintain the city’s 660 miles of subway tracks. Gonnerman introduces us to the workers and shows us how they
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Tuesday, June 03, 2008 6:29 AM

The Abandoned Man

"Nobody's Fault" in the North Coast Journal is a powerful and disturbing investigation into the death of James Lee Peters, a 25-year-old Native American who committed suicide in a California jail cell. Part of what makes this story impressive
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Monday, June 02, 2008 6:25 AM

Countdown to Collapse

In a fast-paced series, Kate Kelly of The Wall Street Journal chronicles "The Fall of Bear Stearns." She provides a wealth of details, as in this passage: The 40 top Bear Stearns Cos. executives listening to Alan Schwartz over lunch had spent the morning
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