Nieman Storyboard – Détails, épisodes et analyse

Award-winning journalist and executive producer Soledad O’Brien joins Storyboard contributor Christina M. Tapper for this week’s Nieman Storyboard podcast to discuss her career journey from TV news to documentaries, and how she came to embrace the form for storytelling on on social issues.

As one of the most respected voices in journalism, working at NBC, MSNBC, and CNN, O’Brien founded Soledad O’Brien Productions, a media production company that explores stories of race, class, gender, and identity, in 2013. Most recently, she anchored and produced the political magazine show "Matter of Fact with Soledad O'Brien" during a 10-season run for Hearst TV. O’Brien’s reporting has been honored with 10 Emmys and three Peabody Awards.

In 2025, O’Brien served as the executive producer for HBO Max’s documentary short, “The Devil is Busy,” about a day at an Atlanta abortion clinic and the fight for reproductive rights. O’Brien and her team decided to tell the story through Tracii, the head of security at the clinic who is a devout Christian. Patients and clinicians are featured in the documentary, but it’s Tracii’s story that is the thread from start to finish in this post-Dobbs era piece.

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Listening and Watching List:

• “Murder on the Towpath with Soledad O’Brien” 
• “Who Killed JFK?”
• “War on La Radio”
• “The End of Affirmative Action”
• “Black and Missing”
• “The Perfect Neighbor”
• “Katrina: Come Hell or High Water”
• Geeta Gandbhir
• Christalyn Hampton

Show credits

Hosted and produced by Mark Armstrong
Episode producer and interview by Christina M. Tapper
Episode editor: Kelly Araja
Audience editor: Adriana Lacy
Promotional support: Ellen Tuttle
Operational support: Paul Plutnicki, Peter Canova

Nieman Foundation interim curator: Henry Chu
Music: “Golden Grass,” by Blue Dot Sessions (www.sessions.blue)
Cover design by Adriana Lacy

Nieman Storyboard is presented by the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard.

Journalists Leah Sottile and Ryan Haas join Storyboard Editor Mark Armstrong to discuss the second and final season of their serialized podcast “Hush,” from Oregon Public Broadcasting. 

Sottile and Haas first began working together on the 2019 OPB/Longreads podcast “Bundyville,” and they've continued their collaborative work as journalists and podcasters ever since. This week, they've announced that they will be starting an independent publication called The Western Edge. (For updates, you can follow Sottile and Haas on Bluesky or on their individual Substacks.)

Get the full show notes: https://niemanstoryboard.org/2026/01/22/leah-sottile-ryan-haas-true-crime-podcasting-journalism/

Subscribe to the Nieman Storyboard newsletter: https://niemanstoryboard.org/about/subscribe-to-nieman-storyboard/

Reading list

• Leah Sottile: Bluesky, Substack
• Ryan Haas: Bluesky, Substack
• “Hush Season Two: The Case of Sarah Zuber”
• Justin St. Germain, Oregon State University professor
• “Dying for a Fight”
• “In Cold Blood,” Truman Capote
• Oregon Public Broadcasting
• “Hush Season One: The State of Oregon v Jesse Lee Johnson”
• “Bundyville”
• “Twin Peaks”
• Justice for Sarah Zuber Facebook Page
• “When the Moon Turns to Blood” (Leah Sottile)
• “Blazing Eye Sees All” (Leah Sottile)
• “A Living Manifesto on Journalism in 2026 and Beyond” (Leah Sottile, December 2025)

Show Credits

Hosted and produced by Mark Armstrong
Associate producer: Marina Leigh
Episode editor: Kelly Araja
Audience editor: Adriana Lacy
Promotional support: Ellen Tuttle
Operational support: Paul Plutnicki, Peter Canova

Nieman Foundation interim curator: Henry Chu
Music: “Golden Grass,” by Blue Dot Sessions (www.sessions.blue)
Cover design by Adriana Lacy

Nieman Storyboard is presented by the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard.

Mark Armstrong sits down with Lane DeGregory, the Pulitzer Prize-winning enterprise reporter for the Tampa Bay Times covering "hope and humanity." 

DeGregory, whose work has been featured frequently on Storyboard over the years, is now celebrating 25 years at the Tampa Bay Times. She takes us through her process — from connecting with the community, to developing story ideas, and earning the trust of your subjects. She also reveals who inspires her work — from fellow journalists to musicians and songwriters.

DeGregory also hosts the journalism podcast WriteLane, and is the author of the 2023 anthology, "The Girl in the Window and Other True Tales: An Anthology with Tips for Finding, Reporting, and Writing Nonfiction Narratives." 

The title story from that book, "The Girl in the Window," won the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing in 2009. DeGregory told the story of a girl named Dani who had suffered from severe neglect and was adopted by a new family. She returned to Dani's story ten years later, in 2017. 

Get the full show notes and reading list: https://niemanstoryboard.org/2025/07/31/pulitzer-lane-degregory-power-of-local-storytelling/

Subscribe to the Nieman Storyboard newsletter: https://niemanstoryboard.org/about/subscribe-to-nieman-storyboard/

Show Credits

Hosted and produced by Mark Armstrong
Episode editor: Kelly Araja
Audience editor: Adriana Lacy
Promotional support: Ellen Tuttle
Operational support: Paul Plutnicki, Peter Canova

Nieman Foundation interim curator: Henry Chu
Music: “Golden Grass,” by Blue Dot Sessions (www.sessions.blue)
Cover design by Adriana Lacy

Nieman Storyboard is presented by the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard.

Storyboard contributor Christina M. Tapper sits down with Dana A. Williams, author of the new book “Toni at Random: The Iconic Writer’s Legendary Editorship,” for a conversation about Toni Morrison and her work as a trade editor at Random House, where she championed Black writers working in all genres and ultimately changed the publishing landscape. 

The book is the first to focus solely on the Nobel and Pulitzer Prize-winning writer’s editing career, and it offers previously untold stories about Morrison's work and insights into the editor-writer relationship. Morrison edited more than 50 books, including works by Toni Cade Bambara, Lucille Clifton, Huey P. Newton, Leon Forrest, Gayl Jones, Angela Davis, and Muhammad Ali. She even edited a cookbook.  

Morrison died in 2019 at age 88. Williams, professor of African American Literature and dean of the Graduate School at Howard University, had Morrison's blessing to write the book and the privilege of interviewing her, and also conducted research in Morrison's archives at Princeton University and Random House's archives at Columbia University.   

Get the Nieman Storyboard newsletter: https://niemanstoryboard.org/about/subscribe-to-nieman-storyboard/

Show credits

Hosted and produced by Mark Armstrong
Episode producer and interview by Christina M. Tapper
Episode editor: Kelly Araja
Audience editor: Adriana Lacy
Promotional support: Ellen Tuttle
Operational support: Paul Plutnicki, Peter Canova

Nieman Foundation interim curator: Henry Chu
Music: “Golden Grass,” by Blue Dot Sessions (www.sessions.blue)
Cover design by Adriana Lacy

Nieman Storyboard is presented by the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard.

“This American Life” reporter and editor Nadia Reiman joins Storyboard Editor Mark Armstrong for a conversation about immigration, mass deportation under Trump’s presidency, and finding the human stories amid ongoing raids by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Reiman has worked for “This American Life” since 2018, and in 2019, she was part of the producing and reporting team for “The Out Crowd,” an episode examining the first Trump administration’s policy on asylum seekers, which was honored with the first-ever Pulitzer Prize in Audio Reporting. Before working at “This American Life,” she was a senior editor at “Latino USA” and producer for StoryCorps. She’s worked in radio production since 2005.  

Get the full show notes: https://niemanstoryboard.org/2025/07/03/nadia-reiman-stories-immigration-this-american-life/

Get updates from Nieman Storyboard: https://niemanstoryboard.org/about/subscribe-to-nieman-storyboard/

Show Credits

Hosted and produced by Mark Armstrong
Associate producer: Marina Leigh
Episode editor: Kelly Araja
Audience editor: Adriana Lacy
Promotional support: Ellen Tuttle
Operational support: Paul Plutnicki, Peter Canova

Nieman Foundation interim curator: Henry Chu
Music: “Golden Grass,” by Blue Dot Sessions (www.sessions.blue)
Cover design by Adriana Lacy

Nieman Storyboard is presented by the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard.

The Black List founder and CEO Franklin Leonard joins Storyboard Editor Mark Armstrong for a conversation about the state of storytelling in Hollywood, and how true stories intersect with entertainment. 

Leonard was working as a development executive for Leonardo DiCaprio's production company when he started The Black List 20 years ago, first as a survey of the best unproduced screenplays. The list became an immediate sensation, getting passed around Hollywood, and it has since grown into a company and online community for people to upload and review unproduced screenplays and unpublished novels. 

Hundreds of scripts from the annual Black List survey have been produced as feature films and earned Academy Award nominations —including more than 50 wins and four Best Pictures: "Spotlight," "Slumdog Millionaire," "The King's Speech," and "Argo." 

Read the full show notes: https://niemanstoryboard.org/2025/06/19/the-black-list-franklin-leonard-based-on-true-story-hollywood/

Get updates from Nieman Storyboard: https://niemanstoryboard.org/about/subscribe-to-nieman-storyboard/

Show Credits

Hosted and produced by Mark Armstrong
Associate producer: Marina Leigh
Episode editor: Kelly Araja
Audience editor: Adriana Lacy
Promotional support: Ellen Tuttle
Operational support: Paul Plutnicki, Peter Canova

Nieman Foundation curator: Ann Marie Lipinski
Deputy curator: Henry Chu
Music: “Golden Grass,” by Blue Dot Sessions (www.sessions.blue)
Cover design by Adriana Lacy

Nieman Storyboard is presented by the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard.

Washington Post technology reporter Drew Harwell joins Storyboard Editor Mark Armstrong for a conversation about his feature story on “Emilycc,” a Texas-based Twitch streamer who has livestreamed her entire life, 24 hours a day, for the last three years. 

For his story, “Inside the life of a 24/7 streamer: ‘What more do you want?’,” Harwell traveled to Texas to meet Emily, and he wrote it with the understanding that he was bridging two very different worlds — the streaming community on Twitch and the readers of The Washington Post. 

Get the full show notes: https://niemanstoryboard.org/2025/06/05/washington-post-drew-harwell-twitch-streamer/

Sign up for the Nieman Storyboard newsletter: https://niemanstoryboard.org/about/subscribe-to-nieman-storyboard/

Show credits

Hosted and produced by Mark Armstrong
Associate producer: Marina Leigh
Episode editor: Kelly Araja
Audience editor: Adriana Lacy
Promotional support: Ellen Tuttle
Operational support: Paul Plutnicki, Peter Canova

Nieman Foundation curator: Ann Marie Lipinski
Deputy curator: Henry Chu
Music: “Golden Grass,” by Blue Dot Sessions (www.sessions.blue)
Cover design by Adriana Lacy

Nieman Storyboard is presented by the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard.

Nieman Storyboard contributor Christina M. Tapper sits down with Akiba Solomon, an award-winning senior editor at The Marshall Project, the nonprofit news organization dedicated to covering the U.S. criminal justice system. 

Solomon edited The Language Project, about the terms journalists use to write about incarceration. Tapper and Solomon discuss the importance of people-first language, alternatives for dehumanizing words that are a part of our lexicon, and how to work with writers and subjects who are incarcerated. 

Get the full show notes: https://niemanstoryboard.org/2025/05/22/marshall-project-akiba-solomon-how-journalists-write-about-incarceration/

Sign up for the Nieman Storyboard newsletter: https://niemanstoryboard.org/about/subscribe-to-nieman-storyboard/

Reading List: Authors, Books, and Stories Mentioned 

• The Language Project (Edited by Akiba Solomon, The Marshall Project, April 2021)
• Life Inside (Edited by Akiba Solomon)
• FWD.us: People First Language Guide 
• Prison Journalism Project: Language Around Incarceration
• Angela Davis on the term “lockdown,” in conversation with GirlTrek (May 2021, 48:48 mark)
• "The Warmth of Other Suns" (Isabel Wilkerson)
• "When Crack Was King" (Donovan X. Ramsey)

More by Akiba Solomon

• "How We Fight White Supremacy: A Field Guide to Black Resistance" (by Akiba Solomon and Kenrya Rankin)
• "Naked: Black Women Bare All About Their Skin, Hair, Hips, Lips, and Other Parts" (edited by Ayana Byrd and Akiba Solomon)

Show Credits

Hosted and produced by Mark Armstrong
Episode producer and interview by Christina M. Tapper 
Episode editor: Kelly Araja
Audience editor: Adriana Lacy
Promotional support: Ellen Tuttle
Operational support: Paul Plutnicki, Peter Canova

Nieman Foundation curator: Ann Marie Lipinski
Deputy curator: Henry Chu
Music: “Golden Grass,” by Blue Dot Sessions (www.sessions.blue)
Cover design by Adriana Lacy

Nieman Storyboard is presented by the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard: https://nieman.harvard.edu/

New York Times bestselling author, journalist, and athlete Kim Cross joins Storyboard Editor Mark Armstrong for a conversation about reporting for narrative nonfiction — focusing on reconstructed narratives and her feature story for Bicycling magazine, "The Alchemists," about the Afghan women who broke gender barriers in cycling before the Taliban took over their country. 

"They, as teenage girls, had convinced their culture to change its mind about the fact that women were not allowed to ride bicycles," Cross said.

Read the full show notes: https://niemanstoryboard.org/2025/05/08/kim-cross-narratives-women-cycling-afghanistan/

Cross is a Storyboard contributor and the author of books including the bestselling "What Stands in a Storm," "The Stahl House," and "In Light of All Darkness." Her stories have appeared in The New York Times, Outside, Bicycling, Garden & Gun, and ESPN, among other publications. Her work has been recognized in “Best of” lists by The New York Times, the Columbia Journalism Review, The Sunday Long Read, Longform, Apple News Audio, and Best American Sports Writing. Cross also teaches feature writing through Harvard Extension School, and she's teaching a workshop on reconstructed narratives May 28-June 1 in Archer City, Texas.

Sign up for the Nieman Storyboard newsletter: https://niemanstoryboard.org/about/subscribe-to-nieman-storyboard/

Show credits

Hosted and produced by Mark Armstrong
Associate producer: Marina Leigh
Episode editor: Kelly Araja
Audience editor: Adriana Lacy
Promotional support: Ellen Tuttle
Operational support: Paul Plutnicki, Peter Canova

Nieman Foundation curator: Ann Marie Lipinski
Deputy curator: Henry Chu
Music: “Golden Grass,” by Blue Dot Sessions (www.sessions.blue)
Cover design by Adriana Lacy

Nieman Storyboard is presented by the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard.

Storyboard Editor Mark Armstrong welcomes Mary Schmich, the Pulitzer Prize-winning former columnist for the Chicago Tribune and host of the podcast "Division Street Revisited," which follows the stories of seven people featured in Studs Terkel's 1967 oral history book, "Division Street: America." 

Schmich teamed up with former colleague Melissa Harris, who came up with the idea for the show, and a group of acclaimed journalists to research and produce the podcast. In Terkel's original book, the people profiled used pseudonyms — so Schmich, Harris, and the team tracked down their real identities and surviving family members, and pulled audio recordings from a recently digitized archive of Terkel's work. 

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Schmich has won the Pulitzer Prize and the Studs Terkel Award for her work as a columnist at the Chicago Tribune. She grew up in Georgia and Arizona as the oldest of eight children, and she graduated from Pomona College and attended journalism school at Stanford. From 1985 until 2021, she worked at the Chicago Tribune, where she was a features writer, a national correspondent and, for 29 years, a columnist. "Over the years, I cultivated three essential mantras, which [were]: Panic is my muse. Deadlines crowd out doubt. It always gets done," Schmich said.  

Get the full show notes and reading list: https://niemanstoryboard.org/2025/04/24/mary-schmich-podcasts-division-street-revisited/

Show credits

Hosted and produced by Mark Armstrong
Associate producer: Marina Leigh
Episode editor: Kelly Araja
Audience editor: Adriana Lacy
Promotional support: Ellen Tuttle
Operational support: Paul Plutnicki, Peter Canova

Nieman Foundation curator: Ann Marie Lipinski
Deputy curator: Henry Chu
Music: “Golden Grass,” by Blue Dot Sessions (www.sessions.blue)
Cover design by Adriana Lacy

Nieman Storyboard is presented by the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard.