not to be earnest on here but I've been loving interviewing news creators for @niemanlab.org's Creators of Record series.

It’s a good reminder on this beat that journalism’s future isn’t just about preserving what was, but that it's being invented every day. 🧵:

Do links hurt publishers on Twitter? Our new analysis says yes. (+ some data coming for Bluesky!)

How to end a story - Nieman Storyboard A Zoom with Susan Orlean reveals an ending for Ellie Silverman’s story about a D.C. officer five years after Jan. 6, 2021

A Zoom with Susan Orlean reveals an ending for Ellie Silverman’s story about a D.C. officer five years after Jan. 6, 2021.

Palestinian Journalists Honored for Their Coverage and Courage - Nieman Reports Shrouq Aila and Anas Baba receive Lyons Award, given by the 2026 Nieman Fellows, for reporting from Gaza while enduring the horrors of war

The 2026 class of fellows at the Nieman Foundation has chosen Anas Baba of @npr.org and multiformat journalist Shrouq Aila as this year’s recipients of the Louis M. Lyons Award for Conscience and Integrity in Journalism.

niemanreports.org/lyons-award-...

Using diaries, photos, and films to create narrative magic - Nieman Storyboard The story behind Sophie Elmhirst’s bestseller, ‘A Marriage at Sea.’ Plus: Joi Lee on returning to the U.S. to cover ICE

"This moment provided a memorable lesson for me: Many of the best writers are clever reporters." @markarms.bsky.social

High-impact storytelling in college admissions essays, and what we can learn from it - Nieman Storyboard Roy Peter Clark shares lessons from his latest book, and calls on journalists to share their knowledge with the next generation

"For those who are not professionals, the college admissions essay may turn out to be the most high-stakes piece of writing they will ever have to create."

A Patrick Radden Keefe reading list - Nieman Storyboard Boston University's Power of Narrative conference. Plus: J. Anthony Lukas Prize Project Awards

Stories from the Storyboard archive analyzing some of @praddenkeefe.bsky.social's memorable work.

Annotation: Irin Carmon follows the experiences of five pregnant women in the post-Dobbs era - Nieman Storyboard ‘I felt a sense of connection, rage, and sadness about what was going to happen to anyone who was pregnant in this country, whether they wanted to be or not’

"I felt a sense of connection, rage, and sadness about what was going to happen to anyone who was pregnant in this country, whether they wanted to be or not." @irincarmon.bsky.social

Getting the story: How 7 writers found their idea and main characters - Nieman Storyboard From the Nieman Storyboard archives: Here are the strategies journalists use to find their next big story

Here are the strategies journalists use to find their next big story.

V Spehar built a news business from under a desk. Now they’re a creator journalism pioneer. Under the Desk News started as TikTok explainers during the pandemic. Six years later, V Spehar has become one of the internet's most trusted journalists.

"Traditional media doesn’t need to be more TikTok-y. Digital influencers don’t need to be more traditional. There’s room enough for all of us and together we get the job of telling the truth and holding power accountable done together." www.niemanlab.org/2026/04/v-sp...

How Stephen Rodrick prepared for his story about ICE occupying a small town - Nieman Storyboard Plus: Audio Flux wants your (short) story, and Tom Junod on publishing his first book at age 67

"I'm not a guy who prides himself on not getting emotionally involved in his stories, and I wept many times in those two weeks." @stephenrodrick.bsky.social @rollingstone.com

niemanstoryboard.org/2026/03/13/h...

#journalism #writing #longreads

Using diaries, photos, and films to create narrative magic - Nieman Storyboard The story behind Sophie Elmhirst’s bestseller, ‘A Marriage at Sea.’ Plus: Joi Lee on returning to the U.S. to cover ICE

My Friday newsletter for @niemanstoryboard.org: @mallarytenore.bsky.social on Sophie Elmhirst's "A Marriage at Sea." Plus: Joi Lee in @longlead.com, Carl Rosen in @nymag.com, and 13 years of @brendanomeara.bsky.social's Creative Nonfiction podcast.

niemanstoryboard.org/2026/04/03/d...

Annotation: How Sophie Elmhirst wrote a bestselling nonfiction book that reads like fiction - Nieman Storyboard The author of ‘A Marriage at Sea’ found her voice — and a deep archive of diaries, films, and interviews — to tell the true story of Maurice and Maralyn Bailey

The author of ‘A Marriage at Sea’ found her voice — and a deep archive of diaries, films, and interviews — to tell the true story of Maurice and Maralyn Bailey. @mallarytenore.bsky.social

niemanstoryboard.org/2026/04/02/a...

#longreads #booksky #journalism

An AI company set out to fix news deserts. Instead, it copied local journalists’ work - Poynter Nota shut down its news sites after Axios and Poynter found dozens of plagiarized quotes, phrases and photos

Poynter found more than 70 stories dating back to October that included reporting, writing and photography from local journalists without attribution. www.poynter.org/ethics-trust...

Amid internal uncertainty, the VTDigger’s new union contract guarantees journalists’ input on AI use After a year of negotiating, the VTDigger Guild ratified its second-ever union contract on April 1 with VTDigger, the nonprofit news outlet covering Vermont. The new four-year agreement guarantees a…

According to the Boston Globe, negotiations became tense when the @vtdiggerguild.bsky.social started publicly campaigning for AI protections www.niemanlab.org/2026/04/__tr...

The Provincetown Independent’s reporters couldn’t find housing. So the Local Journalism Project bought a condo for them to rent. “We determined the need, we raised the funds, we found the properties, and we are teaching young journalists what a circuit breaker is.”

"how do you educate and train young reporters if they can’t find a place to live?" www.niemanlab.org/2026/04/the-... Great solution to a big ol problem. by @speppered.bsky.social

France’s Independent Press Fights Back - Nieman Reports Alternative media startups in France see themselves as a bulwark against billionaires and the far right. Can they survive?

France’s Independent Press Fights Back

Alternative media startups see themselves as a bulwark against billionaires and the far right. Can they survive?

niemanreports.org/french-media...

The Security Playbook Every Journalist Should Know - Nieman Reports Safety experts outline practical steps for protecting devices, data, and sources to safeguard against hacks, leaks, raids, and legal threats.

The Security Playbook Every Journalist Should Know

Experts outline practical steps for protecting devices, data, and sources — both online and off — to safeguard against hacks, leaks, surveillance, raids, and legal threats

niemanreports.org/digital-secu...

‘I don’t think this is a story about resilience or hope’ - Nieman Storyboard Kerry Howley returns to Camp Mystic. Plus: Remembering Tracy Kidder

"Ultimately I don’t think this is a story about resilience or hope. It’s a story of a complete failure of accountability.” — @kerryhowley.bsky.social @nymag.com

#longreads #journalism

How to turn all that "stuff" into narrative - Nieman Storyboard Practical tips from nonfiction author Elizabeth Mehren on how to create compelling nonfiction from mounds of research and interviews

“Elizabeth Mehren’s process began from the very first question of each first interview with a source. She knew that eventually she was going to build a timeline, so her first question aimed to determine where the story began.” (2024)

niemanstoryboard.org/2024/05/01/n...

#longreads #journalism

Amy Ellis Nutt and the wreck of the Lady Mary, Part 1 - Nieman Storyboard This is the third in an occasional series of line-by-lines with narrative writers and their work, adapted from a project called Annotation Tuesday! on Tumblr. Earlier, we featured the Tampa Bay…

“I always take F. Scott Fitzgerald to heart on this. He said ‘All fine prose is based on the verbs carrying the sentence.’”

niemanstoryboard.org/2012/11/29/l...

#writing #storytelling #journalism #longreads

The art of the narrative interview: Sequencing your story - Nieman Storyboard A matrix of spreadsheets and physical calendars can help a writer organize notes, track scenes and visualize a story timeline

“In this stage of narrative interviews, I look for what I call ‘pivotal moments’ and ‘defining moments.’ They’re similar, but with an important distinction. One involves external or situational factors. The other is largely internal.”

niemanstoryboard.org/2024/07/24/n...

#writing #longreads

Three newsletters for the price of 1.5: Independent journalists experiment with a bundle The bundle, from three independent journalists, makes subscribing easier and cheaper.

OMG, yes! "But the true holy grail of newsletters, the thing that would give readers the closest thing to a bespoke magazine without making them pay full price for a bunch of individual subscriptions, is the bundle," writes @neeldhanesha.com: www.niemanlab.org/2026/04/thre...

Nonprofit news outlets had a strong traffic month in January Big gainers included Oaklandside, Sahan Journal, and The Colorado Sun. Here’s our regular ranking of the top 25 nonprofit news sites in the United States.

Thanks to support from our readers, The Sun continues to grow and move up on this list of nonprofit news outlets around the country. .... www.niemanlab.org/2026/03/nonp...

The Provincetown Independent’s reporters couldn’t find housing. So the Local Journalism Project bought a condo for them to rent. “We determined the need, we raised the funds, we found the properties, and we are teaching young journalists what a circuit breaker is.”

The Local Journalism Project purchased the three-bed, three-bath property in October for just under $1.5 million.

Three reporters moved in within weeks; they pay 30% of their salaries as rent, well below market rate. www.niemanlab.org/2026/04/the-...

Journalism at an AI Inflection Point - Nieman Reports As artificial intelligence moves into newsrooms, four Nieman Fellows weigh in on the technology’s promise, limits, and risks.

"Only use [AI] technology to support your mission. You have to understand your mission and then you can use technology to support it."

niemanreports.org/ai-research-...

Sudan's Journalists Risk Everything to Cover a War the World Ignores - Nieman Reports Sudan’s journalists risk their lives to tell the story of their homeland as the world turns away, writes Isma'il Kushkush.

Sudan’s Journalists Risk Everything to Cover a War the World Ignores

More than 30 journalists have been killed since fighting broke out in 2023. Those still working continue to face danger and a shrinking international audience

niemanreports.org/sudan-civil-...

The Guardian experiments with republishing its food newsletter on Substack The Guardian has started cross-posting its weekly food newsletter, "Feast," to Substack, where it hopes to reach new audiences. This is an experiment, according to Press Gazette's reporting; if Feast…

The Guardian experiments with republishing its food newsletter on Substack www.niemanlab.org/2026/03/the-...

The nonprofit Salt Lake Tribune is ready to tear down its paywall After two years of planning, there's finally a date. Well, okay, a month: May. That's when the Salt Lake Tribune, Utah's largest newspaper, will drop its paywall. "Starting in May, all newly…

The nonprofit Salt Lake Tribune is ready to tear down its paywall www.niemanlab.org/2026/04/the-...

Three newsletters for the price of 1.5: Independent journalists experiment with a bundle The bundle, from three independent journalists, makes subscribing easier and cheaper.

Three newsletters for the price of 1.5: Independent journalists experiment with a bundle www.niemanlab.org/2026/04/thre...