THE WASHINGTON POST National Politics and the Press
How a front page frames a war
An Iraqi man in a Baghdad street could not count on where his story landed.
Front pages in 2003 were not mirrors. They were budgets of attention.
The dated file
How this file is builtEach report is dated to the page it reads, not to the day it was filed here, so the file stays in the order the record was made. Thirteen reports below, one above, one date each.
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AI ILLUSTRATION How Baltimore's daily and the alt-weekly cover the city
Baltimore and Maryland BALTIMORE SUN / CITY PAPER news report
That choice, not the writing, is most of what a reader ends up knowing about the city.
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AI ILLUSTRATION Covering a contested court case
Baltimore and Maryland COURTHOUSE DESK / WIRE COPY court report
Philadelphia police arrested Mumia Abu-Jamal in December 1981 and charged him with the murder of officer Daniel Faulkner.
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AI ILLUSTRATION Editorials, op-eds and the news: where the line sits
Baltimore and Maryland BBC EDITORIAL GUIDELINES standards page
The separation is real in some places and paper thin in others, and the rules that govern it are written down unevenly.
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AI ILLUSTRATION Letters to the editor and the corrections box
Baltimore and Maryland LETTERS PAGE / CORRECTIONS BOX published letter
A corrections box is the press admitting, in public, that something it printed was not true.
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AI ILLUSTRATION Alt-weekly press criticism: what it does that dailies do not
Baltimore and Maryland CITY PAPER press criticism
The alt-weekly was never the biggest paper in town. The form has thinned.
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AI ILLUSTRATION Election night calls: who declares a winner and when
National Politics and the Press ASSOCIATED PRESS / NETWORK DESKS decision desk
At 11 p.m. on election night, a call lands on live television and the race is over before every precinct has counted.
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AI ILLUSTRATION How newsrooms handle 9/11 conspiracy claims
Disasters and Hazards NEWSROOM ARCHIVES / OPEN SOURCE DESKS news report
Two decades on, the argument about September 11 is no longer only about what happened in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.
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AI ILLUSTRATION Verifying viral video before and after publication
Disasters and Hazards TELEVISION DESKS / FIRST DRAFT verification note
A newsroom that asks its audience to send footage inherits a job it did not ask for: it becomes an investigation unit for somebody
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AI ILLUSTRATION Hurricane coverage and the failure of the official account
Disasters and Hazards NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER advisory
That mix is the problem hurricane coverage keeps running into. The official account is written for the mariner and the emergency manager.
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AI ILLUSTRATION Weather modification claims and the reporting that feeds them
Disasters and Hazards NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE / LOCAL STATIONS forecast page
Read that sentence on the day a storm has just passed through your county and you will find it mild, specific and boring.
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AI ILLUSTRATION Undersea cable cuts and how outages get reported
Cable, Broadcast and Finance INTERNATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATION UNION wire copy
When an undersea cable fails, the outage map fills in before the explanation does.
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AI ILLUSTRATION The HDTV standard: how a broadcast format reaches viewers
Cable, Broadcast and Finance STANDARDS PROCESS / TRADE PRESS technical report
The HDTV standard did not arrive as a single announcement.
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AI ILLUSTRATION Business desks and the Federal Reserve
Cable, Broadcast and Finance NEW YORK TIMES / FEDERAL RESERVE release
When the Federal Reserve changes a sentence, money moves before anyone at the central bank holds a press conference.
