To the best of my recollection, of all the courses I taught over a long teaching career, only one was explicitly about writing.
All of the others focused on some aspect of journalism methodology -- how to gather information, validate it, organize it, and defend it once published.
In the course of considering all of that, we spent a great deal of energy studying how to obtain and interpret documents, identify and interview sources, attend and describe events, notice patterns, pick up details, stay attention to nuances and instincts, and how to investigate people and organizations.
But there is another component to the whole process and that is how to tell a story once you’ve got it. Accordingly, as I became a better writer myself, I incorporated "how to investigate the story" into my teaching curriculum.
Partly this was in reaction to receiving too many poorly-told story drafts as a teacher and as an editor.
The problem was and is that journalists (and most everybody else) gets too caught up in the twists and turns of a reasonably complicated story to stay in control of the narrative.
So we spent time discussing pace, rhythm, structure, character development and transitions. We talked about beginnings and endings. If I were to teach a course on story-telling today we would read short stories by writers like Chekov and listen to songs by writers like Dylan and watch movies like Casablanca.
Some people are natural story-tellers but everyone can learn to be better. At least that’s the story I told myself as their teacher.
And time after time my students proved that to be the case.
HEADLINES:
Why Trump's comments on vaccines and paracetamol risk child health (BBC)
The president is wrong on Tylenol (Economist)
In Targeting Common Painkiller, Trump Oversteps His Own Advisers’ Guidance on Autism (WSJ)
The drug Trump plans to promote for autism shows real (and fragile) hope (WP)
Trump’s $100,000 H-1B visa fee could hurt US growth, economists warn (Guardian)
Over 70% of H-1B visa holders are Indian citizens. Its government says Trump jacking the fee to $100,000 is ‘likely to have humanitarian consequences’ (Fortune)
President Trump’s $100K H-1B fee disrupts Silicon Valley’s hiring machine (Business Insider)
South Korea’s President Lee says U.S. investment demands would spark a financial crisis (CNBC)
Jimmy Kimmel’s Show to Return to ABC on Tuesday Night (NYT)
A Rogue Nation on the High Seas — Trump is treating the military like his personal mercenaries. (Atlantic)
Trump’s legal arguments in a case challenging his deployment of troops to U.S. cities could disable laws banning the military from interfering in elections, including the 2026 midterms. [HuffPost]
Trump Might Be Losing His Race Against Time (Atlantic)
Supreme Court Allows Trump to Fire F.T.C. Commissioner (NYT)
Trump ramps up retribution campaign with push for Bondi to pursue cases against his foes (AP)
US will complete TikTok deal ‘in coming days’ and control its algorithm, White House says (CNN)
Trump reveals Murdochs and Dell could potentially take part in TikTok deal (AP)
US Government faces September 30 shutdown deadline: Democrats push healthcare protections amid funding standoff (Mint)
France and Saudi Arabia will convene dozens of world leaders to rally support for a two-state solution, with several of them expected to formally recognise a Palestinian state - a move that could draw harsh Israeli and US responses. (Reuters)
GOP considers changing and extending ACA subsidies (Axios)
Under new guidelines, more Americans meet the criteria for high blood pressure (PBS)
RFK Jr. Has a Prescription for America: Pure Chaos (Bulwark)
In Assault on Free Speech, Trump Targets Speech He Hates (NYT)
John Oliver: ‘Everyone knew the administration had it in for Kimmel’ (Guardian)
Distillation Can Make AI Models Smaller and Cheaper (Wired)
How are MIT entrepreneurs using AI? (MIT)
‘Chief Of War’ Producers Confirm Season 2 Will Show Hawaiians Battling Mark Zuckerberg (The Onion)
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