Why We Wrote This
Who reports the news? People. And at The Christian Science Monitor, we believe that it’s our job to report each story with a sense of shared humanity. Through conversations with our reporters and editors, we explain the qualities behind our reporting that affect how we approach the news. Behind today’s headlines we find respect, resilience, dignity, agency, and hope. “Why We Wrote This” shows how. The Monitor is an award-winning, nonpartisan news organization with bureaus around the globe. Visit CSMonitor.com/whywewrotethis to learn more.
U.S. Politics and Legal Tests
How does a justice reporter stay focused when nearly every politics story seems to have intricate – and sometimes massive – legal ramifications? Avoid loaded phrasing. Keep it clinical. And remember to breathe. Henry Gass joins guest host Gail Russell Chaddock to talk about his work at the intersection of law and American politics, the busiest corner of his much broader beat.
How Crowd Control Evolves
What does good policing looks like when it comes to managing sometimes bristly human interactions at street protests or in rowdy sports stadiums? Writer Simon Montlake and photographer Alfredo Sosa learned in Columbus, Ohio, how police dialogue units can play a role. But is it sustainable, and transferable? How far might it extend in an era when violence and fear seem sometimes seem more prevalent than an openness to discourse? Hosted by Clay Collins.
What Faith Looks Like Now
Who’s in the pews these days? What about those in – or adjacent to – American political leadership who proclaim religiosity even while exhibiting behaviors that don’t necessarily comport with it? Beginning to decode some of those questions represented a politics writer’s early swings on the religion beat. Many more remain. Sophie Hills, the Monitor’s new faith and religion writer, joins guest host Gail Russell Chaddock on this episode to discuss.
A Kingdom of Empathy?
When it comes to humanity’s relationship to Earth’s other creatures, does “dominion” really mean “stewardship”? Monitor writer Stephanie Hanes joins host Clay Collins for a look behind the reporting of her recent deep dive into what new research suggests about the richness of animals’ inner lives – and what that might mean for humans’ relationship to them.
A Mother’s Strength
A new writer’s local assignment on a gun violence memorial brought him face to face with a mother whose trying experience, and her telling of it, seemed to underscore an organization’s healing mission. It also showcased his source’s strength, resilience, and agency. In this episode, we break from the conversation format to make room for a writer’s annotation of a interview – used with permission of his source – that informed his reporting.
Reading America’s Shift: Part 2
Covering an incoming administration is about more than tracking the words and deeds of the new chief executive. Plates are shifting from the Cabinet to Congress. That warrants careful reporting, too. It means staying grounded in facts, not engaging in speculation, as a government emerges that is in some ways quite different from Trump 1.0. Washington writer Cameron Joseph, a frequent recent guest, joins guest host Gail Russell Chaddock to talk it through.
Reading America’s Shift: Part 1
In this stretch between Election Day and the inauguration, the United States waits on a president-elect who has a long list of actions to take “on Day 1,” many without precedent, even given his earlier term. What will Monitor coverage of this transition and this presidency look like? How do journalists stay curious and focused on truth? How do they avoid appearing to be condescending? Two Washington-based Monitor writers join guest host Gail Russell Chaddock to talk about the kind of careful listening and deep introspection that good reporting requires. First of two parts.
A Chatty Thanksgiving Primer
Fresh cranberries or canned? Northern pumpkin pie or Southern sweet potato pie? An assembling of intergenerational family members, a handful of friends, or a group of strangers? Almost everything about Thanksgiving, from travel to table talk about politics, has the potential to become fraught. Calm can prevail when a simple sense of gratitude gets its place at the table. The Monitor’s Kendra Nordin Beato joins host Clay Collins to talk turkey and more.
Encore: Respect, Dignity, and Getting Along
Another U.S. election is behind us. Can civility – deep civility, not just politeness – heal divides? Stephen Humphries, the Monitor’s chief culture writer, joined host Clay Collins in this encore episode to talk about his expansive view of the culture beat and about how he came to write about Alexandra Hudson’s book, “The Soul of Civility.” Ms. Hudson, too, joined the 2023 episode to talk further about how to bridge the empathy gap that reveals itself around so many issues.
Why We Went Deep on Sudan
A land war grinds on into another winter in Europe’s east. The Mideast keeps spiraling, old enmity refueled. A U.S. presidential election claims whatever sliver of attention is left. The West tends to forget about the African continent even in less distracting times. But stories from many of its more than 50 countries abound – of wars, yes. Of starvation. But also of human courage and resilience. In this episode, the Monitor’s Peter Ford, our international news editor, joins host Clay Collins to explore the why and how of our recent series on Sudan.
