United States Journalists

A Distinction Journalists Like to Ignore ‘Journalists, both then and now, too readily allow fears of a public backlash to inhibit their actions.’ By Laurel Leff
A Local Newspaper Endures a Stormy Backlash ‘We had the opportunity to tell the story of powerless people who'd been hurt by powerful people who counted on the public never learning what they'd done.’ By Dean Miller
Courage of the Wise and Patient Kind ‘Our craft demands such courage if we are to find a constructive way through the many difficulties that challenge us today.’ By Geneva Overholser
Courage: What Network News Needs Now ‘Network news spent decades establishing its solid credentials. Now is no time for it to lose its nerve.’ By Bill Wheatley
Editorial Pages: Why Courage Is Hard to Find The Star Tribune published strong editorials about Bush administration truth telling when few other papers did, and an editor there explores some reasons why. By Jim Boyd
H.L. Mencken: Courage in a Time of Lynching Subscriptions were cancelled, threats made on him and Sunpapers’ staff, and advertisers’ products were boycotted, but Mencken's words were published. By Marion Elizabeth Rodgers
Heroes in the Tough Transition to Digital News A long-time newspaper journalist assesses the courage required if essential values are to be retained. By Davis ‘Buzz’ Merritt
Investigative Journalism Doesn't Win Many Friends ‘… just about everything has been tried to discourage these kinds of investigations by those who are unhappy with what we find.’ By Charles Lewis
Public Support Wanes, Some Journalists ‘Despite the low esteem in which the news media are held today, some of the best, most courageous news coverage is being produced.’ By Barry Sussman
Risking Relationships as a Measure of Courage ‘Questioning the reasons for the war meant not only going against the President's policy but against the beliefs of many people I knew and respected.’ By Sheryl McCarthy
Seeking Journalistic Courage in Washington, D.C. ‘The disturbing trend is that more and more of these informational offerings are nothing but PR peddled as “news.”’ By Walter Pincus
Telling a Story That No Other Newspaper Will Tell ‘If we don’t print these stories about the casino, who will? People need to see this ….’ By Stephen G. Bloom
The Center for Public Integrity: What It Is By Charles Lewis
The Difficult Isolation Courage Can Bring Newspaper boycotts forced ‘the need for courage beyond the physical ….’ By Hodding Carter III
The Embrace of Principled Stands During the civil rights era, a few newspaper owners, editors and reporters risked their lives and livelihoods by supporting Supreme Court rulings and desegregation. By Gene Roberts and Hank Klibanoff
The Forces Threatening Journalism ‘The challenges facing news professionals — and threatening journalism in the public interest — are significant and cannot be avoided.’ By Jay Harris
The Muslim Cartoon Controversy Exposed an Absence of Courage ‘… the continuing timidity of the American media looked increasingly like cowardice, appeasement, or better-you-than-me cynicism.’ Adapted article by Doug Marlette
The Road Traveled From Journalism to Jail ‘What is absent in journalism is not courage but consciousness and compassion.’ By David A. Sylvester
Two Sides of Courage ‘Only after I left the foreign battlefields and returned to the United States did I discover the quiet part of courage in what it is I try to do.’ By Eli Reed