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Unique Models Fuse Science with Journalism in Nigeria

Science reporting is lacking in many places, including Nigeria. But journalist Abdullahi Tsanni and his colleagues are determined to change this through new venues, such as the African Science Literacy Network (ASLN), a program that pairs journalists with scientists across Nigeria, who collaborate on science stories published in the media. Still, there are obstacles to overcome, such as funding, visa issues, and support for this nascent field from media outlets.

Abdullahi Tsanni Jan 19, 2021

How to Deal with Negative Reactions to Stories

Many writers will at some point write a piece that generates a negative reaction from readers. Sometimes it’s warranted, and was perhaps avoidable; sometimes, as one editor puts it, “people are just jerks.” But tucked into the backlash is often a lesson—whether it’s about boosting your digital security, building out your source list for your next piece, or partnering with your editor to dispel any self-doubt that’s crept in during the process.

Katherine J. Wu Jan 12, 2021

Welcome to Four New Early-Career Fellows

We’re thrilled to introduce our newest early-career fellows, Pedro Márquez-Zacarías, María Paula Rubiano A., Abdullahi Tsanni, and Carolyn Wilke. Supported by a generous grant from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, Pedro, María Paula, Abdullahi, and Carolyn will each spend eight months working with individual mentors and the TON editorial team to report and write articles on the craft of science journalism for The Open Notebook.

TON Editors Dec 22, 2020

¿Hay aquí una historia? Cómo evaluar tus ideas antes de proponerlas

Cuando un periodista está al acecho de una nueva noticia o reportaje, cada detalle que relata un amigo, cada comunicado de prensa, cada aventura durante las vacaciones y cada noticia local extravagante puede parecer el comienzo de una gran idea para un trabajo periodístico. Pero la mayoría de los destellos de inspiración resultan ser solo eso: indicios transitorios. Solo unos pocos serán verdaderas joyas. Aprender a preguntar las interrogantes correctas sobre una idea puede ayudar a los periodistas a determinar si una idea merece existir como historia, y qué tipo de artículo proponer.

Mallory Pickett Dec 16, 2020

Discovering a Climate-Science Beat in India

In 2018, journalist Disha Shetty embarked on a reporting fellowship covering climate change across India. Over the next six months, she would discover a climate beat teeming with unexpected stories in unexpected places. To do them justice, however, she at times had to wrestle not only with science but with a cumbersome bureaucracy and delicate issues like caste and gender inequality.

Disha Shetty Dec 15, 2020

Staying Safe While Covering the Coronavirus: Lessons from the Latin American Experience

In the coronavirus pandemic, journalists all over the world have suffered pay cuts or lost jobs. Those still working have had to figure out how to stay safe. For many, that means working from home. But other reporters have been dispatched to press conferences, hospitals, cemeteries, and wherever else the stories are—with no safety equipment or medical insurance. Latin American journalists may have fared among the worst, with the largest number of deaths by COVID-19.

Myriam Vidal Valero Nov 24, 2020

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Announcements and NewsSee All

Announcements Etc.

Welcome to Four New Early-Career Fellows

TON Editors
Announcements Etc.

Your Gifts to TON Will Be Matched Through December 31

TON Editors
Announcements Etc.

Science Literacy Foundation Grant Will Support Peer-Mentoring Network

TON Editors
Announcements Etc.

Call for Proposals for Early-Career Science Journalism Fellowship

TON Editors
Announcements Etc.

Kavli Foundation Grant Will Support TON Email Mini-Courses

TON Editors
Announcements Etc.

Please Help TON Support Science Journalism on #GivingNewsday

TON Editors
Announcements Etc.

Now Peep This! Announcing the Winners of #PeepYourScience 2020

Siri Carpenter
Announcements Etc.

The Craft of Science Writing Publishes Today

Siri Carpenter
 

InterviewsSee All

Shayla Love Tackles the Biggest Taboo of All

Christine Ro

Samanth Subramanian’s A Dominant Character Recounts the Story of J.B.S. Haldane, Whose Life Was Torn between Scientific Integrity and Political Loyalty

Pratik Pawar

Meehan Crist Explores the Ethics of Having Children in the Era of Climate Change

Katherine J. Wu

Stephanie Lee Unravels the Conflicts of Interest Behind a Controversial COVID-19 Study

Katherine J. Wu

A.J. Hostetler on Mentoring Interns and Writing for Tony Fauci’s Aunt

Siri Carpenter

Amber Gibson and Cassandra Willyard Investigate Abuse of Medical Residents during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Jeanne Erdmann

Amy Maxmen Unveils Scientific Roadblocks Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic

Katherine J. Wu

Taylor Quimby Burrows into Lyme Disease in the Podcast Patient Zero

Shira Feder

Lane DeGregory Follows a Family Waiting for a Medical Miracle

Jennifer Lu

Martin Enserink Discusses the Sobering Impact of Covering Disease Research

Sally James

Annie Jacobsen on the Stories behind Secretive Government Research Programs

Greg Miller

अन्तर्राष्ट्रिय सीमा नाघेर नदी र समुदायको कथा भन्छन् रमेश भुसाल

Abhaya Raj Joshi

Ramesh Bhushal Crosses Borders to Tell the Story of a River and Its People

Abhaya Raj Joshi

Eva Holland’s Nerve Confronts the Science of Fear

Jill Sakai

Poet Jane Hirshfield Fuses Science, Loss, and Wonder in Her New Collection, Ledger

Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer

Priyanka Pulla Tracks a Zoonotic Disease Outbreak in India

Shreya Dasgupta

Jessica Camille Aguirre Dissects Australia’s Cat-Killing Conservation Strategy

Christine Ro

Sam Kean on Using History to Humanize Science

Greg Miller

Ankita Rao Reckons with the Toll of Forced Sterilization on Vulnerable Women

Emily Laber-Warren

Sarah Zhang Explores the Fallout of a Fertility Doctor’s Secret

Knvul Sheikh

Mary Heglar on Leading with the Heart, not the Head

Emma Marris

Elizabeth Shogren Uncovers Censorship of Science at the National Park Service

Jennifer Lu

Roxanne Khamsi Explores a Potential Revolution in Cancer Treatment

Jeanne Erdmann

Apoorva Mandavilli Probes India’s Push to Eliminate Leprosy

Jyoti Madhusoodanan

Brooke Jarvis Uncovers an Insect Armageddon

Ben Goldfarb

Elaina Plott Explores Everyday Life on a Sinking Island

Olga Kreimer

Christie Aschwanden Tackles the Science of Exercise Recovery

Siri Carpenter

Laura Beil Dissects a Criminal Doctor’s Surgical Rampage

Rachel Zamzow
 

Reported FeaturesSee All

Unique Models Fuse Science with Journalism in Nigeria

Abdullahi Tsanni

How to Deal with Negative Reactions to Stories

Katherine J. Wu

Discovering a Climate-Science Beat in India

Disha Shetty

Staying Safe While Covering the Coronavirus: Lessons from the Latin American Experience

Myriam Vidal Valero

Cross-Pollination: What Happens When Science Journalists Pursue the Creative Arts

Sarah DeWeerdt

There’s No One Path to Becoming an Editor

Carolyn Wilke

How to Deal with Pushback on an Investigative Story

Mallory Pickett

Data Journalists’ Roundtable: Visualizing the Pandemic

Tien Nguyen

Making Your Writing and Reporting Transgender-Inclusive

Tara Santora

Practice Data Reporting for Science Stories Using These Workbench Tutorials

Betsy Ladyzhets

Reporting on Health: What 18 Journalists Wish They’d Known from the Start

Shira Feder

Freelancing in the Time of Coronavirus

Stephanie Parker

How to Find Patient Stories on Social Media

Katherine J. Wu

Interrogating Data: A Science Writer’s Guide to Data Journalism

Betsy Ladyzhets

What to Do When a Source Asks to See Your Unpublished Copy

Katherine J. Wu

Entering Science Writing as a Child of Immigrants

Vanessa Vieites

A Photojournalist’s Eye: Taking Photos to Accompany Science Stories

Joan Meiners

Problems with Preprints: Covering Rough-Draft Manuscripts Responsibly

Roxanne Khamsi

Reading and Negotiating a Freelance Contract

Shira Feder

Editors’ Roundtable: Managing Pandemic Coverage

Siri Carpenter

Lights, Camera, Interview: Getting the Most out of a Video Interview

Madison Pobis

COVID-19 Reporting Diaries: March 25–31, 2020

Shira Feder

Tipsheet: Covering the Coronavirus Epidemic Effectively without Spreading Misinformation

Laura Helmuth

So You Think You Can’t Draw? A Beginner’s Guide to Graphic Journalism

Jennifer Lu

Gut Check: Working with a Sensitivity Reader

Jane C. Hu

Videogram: How a Vox Video Explains the Science behind the First Photo of a Black Hole

Tien Nguyen

Say What? A Non-Scientific Comparison of Automated Transcription Services

Roxanne Khamsi

On the Shortage of Spanish-Language Science Journalism in U.S. Media

Mariela Santos-Muñiz
 

StorygramsSee All

Storygram: Ed Yong’s “North Atlantic Right Whales Are Dying in Horrific Ways”

Nadia Drake

Storygram: Two Media Outlets Cover the “CRISPR Babies” News

Jill U. Adams

Storygram: Marilynn Marchione’s “Chinese Researcher Claims First Gene-Edited Babies”

Jill U. Adams

Storygram: Antonio Regalado’s “Exclusive: Chinese Scientists Are Creating CRISPR Babies”

Jill U. Adams

Storygram: Annie Waldman’s “How Hospitals Are Failing Black Mothers”

Tasneem Raja

Storygram: Joshua Sokol’s “Life After Mercury Poisoning”

Jude Isabella

Storygram: Maria Konnikova’s “Altered Tastes”

Molly Birnbaum

Storygram: Nicola Twilley’s “The Billion-Year Wave”

Rebecca Boyle

Storygram: Anna Maria Barry-Jester’s “Surviving Suicide in Wyoming”

David Wolman

Storygram: Sarah Wild’s “Bones Specialists Try to Prise Secrets from the Veld Bodies”

Jen Schwartz

Storygram: Eric Boodman’s “Accidental Therapists”

Brooke Borel

Storygram: Andrew Grant’s “At Last, Voyager 1 Slips into Interstellar Space”

Marguerite Holloway

Storygram: Jane Qiu’s “Trouble in Tibet”

Mara Hvistendahl

Storygram: Amy Maxmen’s “How the Fight Against Ebola Tested a Culture’s Traditions”

Amanda Mascarelli

Storygram: Charles Piller’s “Failure to Report”

Roxanne Khamsi

Storygram: Natalie Wolchover’s “Visions of Future Physics”

George Musser

Storygram: George Johnson’s “Why Everyone Seems to Have Cancer”

Joanne Silberner

Storygram: Amanda Gefter’s “The Man Who Tried to Redeem the World with Logic”

Brendan Maher

Storygram: Azeen Ghorayshi’s “Sounding the Alarm”

Ann Finkbeiner

Storygram: Cally Carswell’s “The Tree Coroners”

Tom Yulsman
 

Profiles

A Day in the Life of Arielle Duhaime-Ross

TON Editors

A Day in the Life of Maya Wei-Haas

TON Editors

A Day in the Life of Sabrina Imbler

TON Editors

A Day in the Life of Sara Shipley Hiles

TON Editors

A Day in the Life of Jane J. Lee

TON Editors

A Day in the Life of Helen Ouyang

TON Editors

A Day in the Life of Joshua Sokol

TON Editors

A Day in the Life of Eli Chen

TON Editors

A Day in the Life of Mark Peplow

TON Editors

A Day in the Life of Virginia Hughes

TON Editors

A Day in the Life of Amy Maxmen

TON Editors

A Day in the Life of Ashley Smart

TON Editors

A Day in the Life of Megha Satyanarayana

TON Editors

A Day in the Life of Shannon Palus

TON Editors

A Day in the Life of Anna Kuchment

TON Editors

A Day in the Life of Kat McGowan

TON Editors

A Day in the Life of Maryn McKenna

TON Editors

A Day in the Life of George Musser

TON Editors

A Day in the Life of Becky Lang

TON Editors

A Day in the Life of Sandeep Ravindran

TON Editors

A Day in the Life of Max Ufberg

TON Editors

A Day in the Life of Anahad O’Connor

TON Editors

A Day in the Life of Chrissie Giles

TON Editors

A Day in the Life of Alicia Chang

TON Editors

Office Hours with Melissa Hendricks

TON Editors

A Day in the Life of Annalee Newitz

TON Editors

A Day in the Life of Rhitu Chatterjee

TON Editors

A Day in the Life of Lizzie Wade

TON Editors
 

Ask TONSee All

Ask TON: Who Should Trim Long Drafts?

TON Editors

Ask TON: Crafting a Winning Fellowship Proposal

TON Editors

Ask TON: Sending Embargoed Papers for Outside Comment

TON Editors

Ask TON: How Much Time Should I Spend Preparing a Pitch?

TON Editors

Ask TON: Finding Patients

TON Editors

Ask TON: Mastering News Turnaround

TON Editors

Ask TON: Using PIOs to Hunt Stories

TON Editors

Ask TON: Nailing Physical Descriptions

TON Editors

Ask TON: When Is Outsourcing Unethical?

TON Editors

Ask TON: How to Build Narrative in Explanatory Stories

TON Editors

Ask TON: Conducting and Condensing Q&A Interviews

TON Editors

Ask TON: Using Outlines and Storyboards

TON Editors

Ask TON: Getting Sources to Open Up

TON Editors

Ask TON: Clearing Writer’s Block

TON Editors

Ask TON: Taking Notes Discreetly

TON Editors

Ask TON: How Soon to Repitch an Editor?

TON Editors

Ask TON: How Much Editing to Expect?

TON Editors

Ask TON: Reconnecting After a Disruption

TON Editors

Ask TON: How Many Stories at Once?

Christie Aschwanden

Ask TON: Breaking Into Science Writing

TON Editors

Ask TON: How Many Interviews?

TON Editors

Ask TON: Which Meetings?

TON Editors

Ask TON: How Do You Juggle Assignments?

TON Editors

Ask TON: Why Blog?

TON Editors

Ask TON: What Does a Science Writing Master’s Program Get You?

TON Editors

Ask TON: Planning Reporting

TON Editors

Ask TON: How to Fact-Check

TON Editors

Ask TON: Is This Draft Too Long?

TON Editors
 

TON en EspañolSee All

¿Hay aquí una historia? Cómo evaluar tus ideas antes de proponerlas

Mallory Pickett

Mantenerse a salvo durante la cobertura del coronavirus: lecciones de la experiencia latinoamericana

Myriam Vidal Valero

La montaña rusa emocional de ser un escritor de ciencia

David Robson

Cómo utilizar las herramientas de cualquier rama del periodismo para el periodismo científico

Aneri Pattani

Reporteando sobre salud: lo que 18 periodistas desearían haber sabido en sus inicios

Shira Feder

Cómo leer un artículo científico

Alexandra Witze

Problemas con los preprints: cómo cubrir manuscritos preliminares de forma responsable

Roxanne Khamsi

Cuando el reporteo de la ciencia te pasa una factura emocional

Wudan Yan

Consejos para periodistas: Cómo cubrir la epidemia de coronavirus de manera efectiva sin propagar información errónea

Laura Helmuth

Periodismo de soluciones para periodistas científicos

Rachel Crowell

Cómo detectar estadísticas sospechosas

Rachel Zamzow

Sobre la escasez del periodismo científico en español en los medios estadounidenses

Mariela Santos-Muñiz

Escogiendo el nombre del cachorro: el arte de la estructura narrativa

Christie Aschwanden

Ciencia invisible: ¿Por qué están ausentes las historias de ciencia latinoamericanas en los medios europeos y de Estados Unidos?

Federico Kukso

¿Es necesario un título en ciencias para ser periodista científico?

Aneri Pattani

En busca del ángulo científico de cualquier historia

Kate Morgan

El primer crítico eres tú: cómo editar tu propio trabajo

Tien Nguyen

Cómo sacar el máximo provecho de las conferencias científicas

Rodrigo Pérez Ortega

Cómo ser (o no ser) un periodista activista

Christina Selby
 

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