Recent Poynter Online Stories about Student Journalists, Online Startups and More

I’ve gotten to write some fun stories lately about innovative college students, online news startups and news consumers donating to good causes they hear about in the news.
Here’s some of my most recent Poynter Online work:
“Texas Tribune’s Launch ‘Just the Beginning’ of Databases, What’s to Come,” Nov. 4
“CoPress Pushes Innovation, Shows Value of Open-Source Platforms,” [...]

Updates from the Past Few Weeks

It’s been a crazy past couple of weeks, but I’m now settled in my new apartment and will have more free time for my blog. Work has been busy, too, but in a good way. I’ve been mostly editing stories and Webinars and haven’t had as much time for writing lately, but I’ve found a [...]

Story Behind Go! Cover Photo of Kissing Interracial Couple

I wrote a story for Poynter Online this week about a Go! cover photo of an interracial couple and the racially charged comments it generated.
To find out more about the issue, I talked with editors at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, including Kurt Greenbaum, editor of social media, about how they handled the comments:

When you’re [...]

Story Behind the ‘Copy Editor’s Lament’ Song

Earlier this week my editor sent me a link to a song that one of Poynter’s faculty members found via Twitter. After hearing the “Copy Editor’s Lament” song, I couldn’t help but want to write about it.
I interviewed Christopher Ave, the man who wrote and recorded it, and wrote the piece shortly thereafter. I felt [...]

Reporting on the New York Post’s Editorial Cartoon

Last week I reported a piece with my colleague Steve Myers about the New York Post’s editorial cartoon, which many are calling racist:
“Ted Rall, president of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists, doesn’t think Wednesday’s New York Post editorial cartoon was penned by a racist. But he does think it was a ‘misfire,’ a ‘cheap form of [...]

Voices/Perspectives of African Americans Flourish on The Root

In timing with the 100th anniversary of the NAACP and the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln this week, I wrote an article for Poynter’s diversity blog about The Root. An online magazine, The Root features content from leading black writers, as well as information about genealogy. I found the site to be particularly interesting because [...]

The Story Behind NPR’s ‘A Changing Frontier’ Series

While surfing the Internet the other day for diversity-related stories, I came across National Public Radio’s five-part series on the U.S.-Mexican border. I was particularly struck by the way that NPR correspondent Jason Beaubien described the tension that exists between the U.S. and Mexican cities that straddle the border. They are so close geographically, but [...]

Responsibilities Rise as Copy Desks Shrink

Mallary Tenore/Poynter Online
My editor asked me to write an article about “the future of copy editing” last week after hearing talk of copy desks shrinking nationwide. She said she thought I would be especially interested in the topic, given that I am going to spend the next year copy editing for Poynter Online and News [...]

Committed to Commenting … Or Not

I often wonder why some articles receive more comments than others. If I receive three comments on a Poynter Online article, I consider that to be pretty good. I thought the article I wrote about journalists paying it forward last week would receive at least a couple of comments, given the subject matter of the [...]

Journalists and Press Secretaries: Understanding the Divide

I wrote a Poynter Online story this week about the working relationship between journalists and press secretaries, following the publication of White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan’s new book, in which he criticizes the press for not being aggressive enough in the lead-up to the Iraq War. The topic of this piece is also relevant [...]