Foundation | Nieman Storyboard
Sign up for the Nieman Storyboard newsletter, delivered every Friday in your inbox. *** Dear Storyboard community, This week, contributor Carly Stern has a new annotation for us — a chapter from journalist Megan Greenwell's book, “Bad Company: Private Equity and the Death of the American Dream,” published by HarperCollins this summer. What started as a personal story for Greenwell — she was editor-in-chief of Deadspin when the private equity firm Great Hill Partners acquired it...| Nieman Storyboard
Like so many journalists, Megan Greenwell resisted inserting herself into the story that would ultimately shape her career. But the plot came to her. Greenwell knows as intimately as anyone how a private equity buyout can alter the fabric of a workplace. In 2019, Great Hill Partners acquired the Gizmodo Media Group — the parent company of Deadspin, where Greenwell was the first woman to become editor-in-chief. Shortly into the new ownership, Greenwell resigned — and explained why in a vir...| Nieman Storyboard
Sign up for the Nieman Storyboard newsletter, delivered every Friday in your inbox. *** Dear Storyboard community, "Snow Fall" was published 13 years ago. I remember being awestruck when I opened my browser to discover the ambitious and visually stunning multimedia story, reported by John Branch for The New York Times, about a deadly avalanche in Washington state. Through a video loop of a barren stretch of mountainside, and animated 3D renderings of the Cascade mountain range, readers wer...| Nieman Storyboard
The Interactives Visual Features Editor discusses the intersection of VR, interactive design, documentary work, and reporting| Nieman Storyboard
Sign up for the Nieman Storyboard newsletter, delivered every Friday in your inbox. *** Dear Storyboard community, Understanding the craft of storytelling involves confronting the reality of what it takes to get a story seen and read. And sometimes that means filming a selfie video from the front seat of the family minivan. If you've perused the Nieman Foundation Instagram, you may have seen me on camera, discussing some of the same topics you've read about in this newsletter or heard on...| Nieman Storyboard
Author Jason Pargin didn’t set out to become a star on TikTok. In fact, he never wanted people to even know his name, let alone what he looked like. He launched his writing career during the halcyon days of the World Wide Web, using a pseudonym to publish books like “John Dies At The End” (made into a movie starring Paul Giamatti) and the New York Times bestseller, “This Book is Full of Spiders.” Later, he became the Executive Editor of Cracked.com, the satirical site known for biza...| Nieman Storyboard
Above photo: A protest against the killing of journalists in Gaza, in Sant Jaume Square on Aug. 27, 2025, in Barcelona. Nearly 200 news workers have been killed in Gaza, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. For more coverage, see Nieman Reports. (Photo by Europa Press via AP) *** Sign up for the Nieman Storyboard newsletter, delivered every Friday in your inbox. *** Dear Storyboard community, As we wind down the last days of August, let's take a moment to revisit the stories,...| Nieman Storyboard
Sara Kehaulani Goo tells a personal story about Maui. Plus: what happens when your subjects don't like your story?| Nieman Storyboard
Samantha Michaels of Mother Jones followed the story of a woman given harsher punishment than the man who abused her daughter — and her| Nieman Storyboard
Sign up for the Nieman Storyboard newsletter, delivered every Friday in your inbox. *** Dear Storyboard community, In journalism, a single story can never tell the complete truth. Lives are complicated, memories are hazy, different points of view reveal new or conflicting details. Every story is a simplified narrative to some degree. This week's guest on the Nieman Storyboard podcast, Mallary Tenore Tarpley, urges us to look beyond the “tidy narrative.” Her new book, “Slip: Life ...| Nieman Storyboard
On the latest episode of the Nieman Storyboard podcast, Storyboard Editor Mark Armstrong sits down with Storyboard contributor and author-journalist Mallary Tenore Tarpley to discuss her new book, “Slip: Life in the Middle of Eating Disorder Recovery.” “Slip” is a reported memoir, with Tarpley recounting her own diagnosis and treatment for anorexia following the death of her mother from breast cancer when Tarpley was 11 years old. She talks about the process of writing and researching...| Nieman Storyboard
The power of one story, and the need for many. Plus: Maurice Carlos Ruffin on “getting your protagonist out of the house”| Nieman Storyboard
For many authors, making big edits for a story or book doesn't mean throwing out valuable work| Nieman Storyboard
The reporter and editor for ‘TAL’ reflects on the show’s unique voice, as well as her own experience with immigration| Nieman Storyboard
Robert Sanchez of 5280 magazine reports on experiments around psilocybin therapy, while also using first person to tell his own story| Nieman Storyboard
A matrix of spreadsheets and physical calendars can help a writer organize notes, track scenes and visualize a story timeline| Nieman Storyboard
To gather the goods for a successful narrative, a central focus of interviewing needs to track the journey of situation or event| Nieman Storyboard
A narrative journalist and nonfiction author shares how she pre-reports to find a viable story and a compelling central character| Nieman Storyboard
Nonfiction journalist, author and teacher Kim Cross explores the techiniques she uses in interviewing for narrative stories| Nieman Storyboard