Kelly McBride

1 month ago | npr.org | Kelly McBride

Describing excellent journalism is the first step to being a good journalist It is often a struggle to turn the vague notion of great journalism into a concrete list of attributes that elevate a story into something noteworthy. And yet, if young journalists can't identify what makes some news stories stand out, they'll have difficulty learning to create great journalism.

1 month ago | poynter.org | Kelly McBride

Government workers, teachers and green card holders across the country are asking editors to remove their names — and the record of their support for causes now targeted by the Trump administration — from old stories. Journalists from around the country routinely ask me for ethics help. In the last month, I’ve heard from the editor of a gay newspaper, several alternative publications, a newsroom that covers immigrant issues, student newspapers and several mainstream commercial newsrooms.

1 month ago | editorandpublisher.com | Kelly McBride

Posted Wednesday, April 30, 2025 10:57 am Government workers, teachers and green card holders across the country are asking editors to remove their names — and the record of their support for causes now targeted by the Trump administration — from old stories. Journalists from around the country routinely ask me for ethics help. In the last month, I’ve heard from the editor of a gay newspaper, several alternative publications, a newsroom that covers immigrant issues, student newspapers and...

2 months ago | nhpr.org | Kelly McBride

I got a lot of responses to my recent newsletter that argued that most protests don't make for compelling news stories. The NPR audience members who wrote in vociferously disagreed with me, in dozens and dozens of letters and social media comments. Some believed I was urging NPR to shirk its journalistic duties, possibly as a way of appeasing the president. Many thought that when I said the protests weren't compelling as a news story, I meant that the reasons behind the protests weren't newsworthy.

2 months ago | nhpr.org | Kelly McBride

At the Public Editor's Office, we routinely hear from audience members who take issue with NPR headlines. Vocal about their discontent, they let us know when they believe a headline was poorly framed or unfair. Sometimes, a keen-eyed reader will notice that a headline has changed, and ask why. Headlines do a lot of work. They serve as entry points into NPR's journalism on the internet. And they help online search engines match stories to users.