TON Fellowship Stories Archives - The Open Notebook

Post Tagged with: "TON Fellowship Stories"

Juli Berwald

Juli Berwald’s Life on the Rocks Meditates on Coral Reefs, Motherhood, and Battling the Unknown

In Life on the Rocks, scientist-turned-writer Juli Berwald paints a bittersweet portrait of coral reef loss and the scientists working against all odds to stop it. As she writes about corals, she weaves in pieces of her own life, as her work mothering a daughter battling mental illness becomes harder to separate from the science. Celia Ford spoke with Berwald about how to introduce personal narrative and vulnerability into science writing.

by Celia Ford · May 17, 2022 · 0 comments

Serving Up Snippets of Science in Short Videos

Serving Up Snippets of Science in Short Videos

Making short videos can be an approachable on-ramp into multimedia work. But capturing snippets of science in video differs from print storytelling. Journalists diving into this medium will have to learn a few new skills so they can structure stories around visuals and pull research footage, photos, and their script into videos that viewers don’t want to scroll past.

by Carolyn Wilke · March 22, 2022 · Comments are Disabled

Mahdi Garba and Modupe Abidakun on the Tragic Origins of Vaccine Hesitancy in Nigeria

Mahdi Garba and Modupe Abidakun on the Tragic Origins of Vaccine Hesitancy in Nigeria

In Kano State, Nigeria, vaccine hesitancy can, to some extent, be traced back to experiences people had during a 1996 meningitis outbreak, a drug trial, and the decade-long legal battle that followed. Nigerian journalists Mahdi Garba and Modupe Abidakun delved into this story for their 2021 feature in Unbias the News, “Vaccine Hesitancy—the Pfizer Kano Case.” Abdullahi Tsanni spoke with Garba and Abidakun about how they pitched, developed, and reported the feature together, and why the story was important to tell.

by Abdullahi Tsanni · March 15, 2022 · Comments are Disabled

Dibbler Dingles, Worm Blobs, and Fossilized Poop: Finding Humor in Science

Dibbler Dingles, Worm Blobs, and Fossilized Poop: Finding Humor in Science

When science news is filled with crises from climate change to COVID-19, it can feel like there’s nothing left to laugh about. Yet some journalists still manage to find humor in science and satisfy our appetites for comic relief. Here, six reporters and science communicators whose work spans print, audio, video, and stand-up comedy discuss how to add levity to science stories.

by Carolyn Wilke · March 1, 2022 · Comments are Disabled

Rosanna Xia

Rosanna Xia Unearths the Story of a Decades-Old DDT Dump off California’s Coast

The waters off Southern California’s picture-perfect Catalina Island conceal a toxic cache from decades ago: submerged barrels seeping DDT on the seafloor. In a longform story for the Los Angeles Times, Rosanna Xia explores the forgotten history behind this pesticide-polluted waste, which might number up to half a million barrels. Her story spotlights scientists’ emotional reactions to the scale of the pollution and compels readers to sit with the uncertainty surrounding legacy contamination.

by Carolyn Wilke · January 18, 2022 · Comments are Disabled

Shedding Sentence Deadweight to Help Science Stories Soar

Shedding Sentence Deadweight to Help Science Stories Soar

Evocative writing does more than keep readers rapt. It also can help writers untangle scientific concepts or make abstract ideas more concrete. But when journalists are racing against deadlines or covering a well-worn beat, they may find their sentences falling into ruts. To write prose that propels stories, reporters can sharpen their nouns and verbs, hone their descriptions, and experiment with witty wordplay.

by Carolyn Wilke · December 7, 2021 · Comments are Disabled

Emily Atkin Talks about Objectivity and Covering the Climate Crisis

Emily Atkin Talks about Objectivity and Covering the Climate Crisis

Catastrophic flooding in Germany, China, and the East Coast of the United States. Record-setting wildfires from California to Greece. Heat domes cooking marine life to death. All of these are signs that climate change is already here. How to report on it is a question that environmental writer Emily Atkin has been asking herself for nearly a decade. Atkin, founder of the newsletter Heated, shares her thoughts on what it means to report truthfully on a global crisis.

by María Paula Rubiano A. · October 26, 2021 · Comments are Disabled

Frank Matt

Frank Matt on Visualizing the Scale of the World’s Water Crisis

Frank Matt is a producer of the documentary series Explained from Vox and Netflix. In this interview, Pedro Márquez-Zacarías asks Matt about his work on “World’s Water Crisis,” an episode of the series, to explore aspects of the craft of science video journalism. For Matt, a key to tackling such a global issue is to anchor the story in local struggles, which can make the story more personal.

by Pedro Márquez-Zacarías · October 19, 2021 · Comments are Disabled

Reporting Unsung Histories of Science

Reporting Unsung Histories of Science

Across history, unrecognized characters have played roles in science, technology, and medicine. If journalists know where to look, they can find and report compelling tales of people who have been overlooked. But historical stories can pose challenges such as a dearth of information and biased perspectives. Archivists, historians, and sensitivity readers can help writers unearth and share uncelebrated narratives, whether as background to current events or part of long-form features.

by Carolyn Wilke · October 5, 2021 · Comments are Disabled

Making First Contact with Editors

Making First Contact with Editors

Contacting an editor for the first time can be intimidating, especially for writers who lack experience. It can be hard to even get the contact details of an editor. Although there is no standard way of introducing yourself to editors, most science writers make first contact by email, including at least a story idea, if not a full pitch. So, writing a persuasive, compelling email is key to having a successful first-time contact with an editor.

by Abdullahi Tsanni · September 21, 2021 · Comments are Disabled

Navigating Qualitative Research

Navigating Qualitative Research

Most science journalists learn how to read a certain kind of paper: one based on number-heavy, experiment-driven research. But rarely are we taught how to evaluate the credibility of papers that are based on qualitative data such as interviews, observation, or the analysis of historical documents. Doing so requires redefining expectations, calibrating your definition of what “robust” research is, engaging deeply with the internal debates of a field, and resetting the narrative structure of your stories.

by María Paula Rubiano A. · September 7, 2021 · Comments are Disabled

Getting Started in Freelance Audio Journalism

Getting Started in Freelance Audio Journalism

With its immersive and intimate feel, audio storytelling gives print journalists new ways to invite an audience into a world. Radio shows and podcasts can use sound to convey the scientific process and add drama to research narratives. Learning to create compelling audio stories takes time and practice, but training workshops and online communities can help newbies gain their footing and eventually land freelance assignments.

by Carolyn Wilke · August 3, 2021 · Comments are Disabled

Finding the Right Tools for Organizing Assignments and Reporting

Finding the Right Tools for Organizing Assignments and Reporting

There are lots of tools to help journalists shepherd their story to completion. However, no one organizational tool or strategy is perfect for everyone—or even right for any given person at all times and across all their projects. You’ll need to experiment to find the combination that works for you, without accidentally spending so much time trying to develop an organizational utopia that you are left with no time for doing the journalism itself.

by Abdullahi Tsanni · July 27, 2021 · Comments are Disabled

Covering Environmental Health When Science Is Lacking

Covering Environmental Health When Science Is Lacking

Telling stories about environmental health is not an easy task. Vulnerable communities are often the protagonists, and scientific evidence to back up their claims of harm by industry or governments is often scarce. To report responsibly, science journalists need to rethink the questions they ask scientists, get comfortable with uncertainty, and recognize when missing data is a story of its own.

by María Paula Rubiano A. · July 20, 2021 · Comments are Disabled

Writing Vivid Scenes from a Distance: Lessons from Audio Producers

Writing Vivid Scenes from a Distance: Lessons from Audio Producers

The pandemic left many writers without one of their main tools to write engaging scenes: going to places where they can experience the story firsthand. Many audio producers are accustomed to telling stories from a distance, so the questions they ask to create sensory scenes didn’t change much in remote reporting. However, they did have to make some adjustments. They’ve used all sorts of interviewing techniques, from video tours to interviews by voice notes, to bring depth to their stories and characters.

by María Paula Rubiano A. · June 8, 2021 · Comments are Disabled

Geoffrey Kamadi

Geoffrey Kamadi Looks into a Threatened River Ecosystem in Kenya

In December 2020, Kenyan freelance science journalist Geoffrey Kamadi won the gold award in the small-outlet category of the 2020 AAAS Kavli Science Journalism Awards for his investigative story for Science Africa, “Tana River Basin under Threat.” For his story, Kamadi traveled to the Tana River Delta, where he meets farmers whose livelihoods have been greatly damaged, listening to their stories of yellowing banana plants and reduced rice production.

by Abdullahi Tsanni · June 1, 2021 · Comments are Disabled

David Quammen

David Quammen on Traveling into the Past to Cover the Pandemic

No journalist understands the complexities of zoonotic diseases quite like David Quammen. In 2012, he published Spillover, a book predicting the arrival of a terrible pandemic, spurred by a novel virus passing from animals to humans. For that project, he traveled to remote villages, walked through forests, and crawled in caves looking for answers. But when the world-changing pandemic finally arrived, it brought a new challenge: He had to cover it from home.

by María Paula Rubiano A. · May 18, 2021 · Comments are Disabled

Juan Miguel Álvarez interviewing Afro-Colombian leader Elizabeth Moreno Barco in Cucurrupí, Colombia, on the banks of the San Juan River, while residents from the place watch.

How Collaborative Journalism Enabled Reporting on Latin America’s Threats to Environmental Leaders

Ten countries, 38 reporters, 29 in-depth stories, and a database that documents nearly 2,400 acts of violence against Latin American environmental leaders are a few of the numbers that characterize the ambitious Land of Resistants project. To achieve their goals, the team clearly defined concepts, methods, and deadlines from the beginning. Ethical and practical questions about safety arose at every step, so the team had to take care of each other. Editing was a balancing act of letting different styles shine and answering the project’s core questions.

by María Paula Rubiano A. · May 4, 2021 · Comments are Disabled

How to Find Scientist Sources and Plan Interviews

How to Find Scientist Sources and Plan Interviews

Interviewing scientists is a basic part of science journalism. But choosing the right sources and having a successful conversation can be a challenging task—even for seasoned reporters. There is no guarantee that every interview is going to be great, but planning and preparing well can maximize your chances of getting the information you need and having a successful story.

by Abdullahi Tsanni · April 27, 2021 · Comments are Disabled

Tip Sheet for Newcomers to Science Writing

Tip Sheet for Newcomers to Science Writing

Maybe you’re a scientist who’s making the leap into journalism. Maybe you’re a general-assignment reporter, or an education reporter, or a city hall reporter, and you’ve been assigned your first science story. Or maybe you’re a journalism student who wants to try covering science or medicine or the environment. But whoever you are, if you’re brand new to science journalism, this tip sheet is for you.

by Shira Feder · April 13, 2021 · Comments are Disabled

Consejos para periodistas: Una guía de inducción para quienes se inician en el periodismo científico

Consejos para periodistas: Una guía de inducción para quienes se inician en el periodismo científico

Quizás eres un científico que está dando el salto al periodismo. Tal vez seas un reportero de asignaciones generales, de educación o de política y te han asignado tu primera noticia sobre un tema científico. O tal vez eres un estudiante de periodismo que quiere probar cubrir temas de ciencia, medicina o medio ambiente. Sin importar quién seas, si eres nuevo en el periodismo científico, estos consejos son para ti.

by Shira Feder · April 13, 2021 · Comments are Disabled

How to Handle a Mistake

How to Handle a Mistake

At some point in their career, most journalists will make a mistake, from minor ones such as misspellings to more significant ones like misunderstanding the conclusions of a study. It’s crucial to understand how mistakes happen, so journalists can do their best to avoid them—and understand how to handle them when they do occur.

by Shira Feder · February 9, 2021 · Comments are Disabled

How to Deal with Negative Reactions to Stories

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.

by Katherine J. Wu · January 12, 2021 · Comments are Disabled

Medical flat lay background. COVID 19 healthcare medicine concept. Full frame shot of face mask placed with stethoscope and medical scrubs. All are on green background. Knolling concept.

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

Most journalists will agree that learning how to properly report on science news takes time, but as news of the COVID-19 pandemic continues to dominate headlines, it’s now a job that many reporters must learn quickly. To help new science journalists, whether they’re fresh out of college, career changers, or seasoned journalists being given an unexpected assignment, The Open Notebook asked 18 science journalists for their most practical advice for covering the health and science beat. Here’s what they told us.

by Shira Feder · September 1, 2020 · Comments are Disabled