What happens when a storied journalism brand moves to sharpen its long-standing approach to news? For our second episode, we spoke to Monitor Editor Mark Sappenfield about the Monitor鈥檚 renewed commitment to focusing on what鈥檚 universal 鈥� and uniting 鈥� about the human experience. Hosted by Samantha Laine Perfas.
Why We Wrote This
Who reports the news? People. And at 海角大神, we believe that it鈥檚 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鈥檚 headlines we find respect, resilience, dignity, agency, and hope. 鈥淲hy We Wrote This鈥� shows how. The Monitor is an award-winning, nonpartisan news organization with bureaus around the globe. Visit CSMonitor.com/whywewrotethis to learn more.
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Why float a new podcast into the sea of podcasts? At the Monitor, we see the world in a different way, with an eye to progress and credible hope, yes, but also to the common values that undergird the shared human experience. In this new podcast, we share the stories behind our stories. Host Samantha Laine Perfas talks with editor Clayton Collins and producer Jingnan Peng about the launch of 鈥淲hy We Wrote This.鈥�
This new weekly podcast features conversations with Monitor reporters and editors that help explain how we approach the news 鈥� and how we find shared values such as respect, resilience, dignity, agency, and hope behind the headlines. Host Samantha Laine Perfas explains.
Sides have long been staked out on nuclear power: It鈥檚 either a poisonous menace or a means of getting past dirty, extractive energy production. The Monitor鈥檚 Stephanie Hanes, who covers climate change and the environment, explores a rising middle ground. Hosted by Samatha Laine Perfas.
Writer Martin Kuz remembers his father鈥檚 love for Ukraine. As Martin traveled the country reporting, including for a story on how Ukrainians find dignity and hope in honoring people they鈥檝e lost in the ongoing war, he could see even more clearly the depth of Ukrainians鈥� resolve. Hosted by Samantha Laine Perfas.
What goes into writing a weekly survey of where in the world things are going right? A fair assessment of what credible 鈥減rogress鈥� actually is, and a determination to present a diversity of coverage. Staff writer Erika Page talks with editor Clay Collins about the Monitor鈥檚 long-running Points of Progress feature.
鈥淕oodnight Moon,鈥� the Margaret Wise Brown classic read to children across generations, has its 75th anniversary on Sept. 3. The Monitor鈥檚 Harry Bruinius talks about a book that鈥檚 鈥渕odern and odd and elliptical鈥� 鈥� one that was radical in its day, and that has since worked its way into so many bedtime rituals. Hosted by Samantha Laine Perfas.
As a reporter, Ned Temko had a front-row seat to a remarkable string of world-changing events. As a Monitor columnist, he looks for global patterns. And at a time of mounting global stressors, he sees a spirit of communality emerging as a simple human response. In this episode, Ned speaks with the Monitor鈥檚 Clay Collins about the work of connecting world events and the underlying human impulses.
Alfredo Sosa, the Monitor鈥檚 director of photography, relishes fieldwork 鈥� no matter how challenging 鈥� for the humbling connections that it brings. He spoke to the Monitor鈥檚 Samantha Laine Perfas about his rigorous recent assignment to capture the high-altitude work of a wildfire lookout in Montana鈥檚 Bob Marshall Wilderness.
How did a reporter鈥檚 story evolve from being a report on Saudi Arabia鈥檚 economic reorientation to one about that society鈥檚 fundamental, bottom-up change? The Monitor鈥檚 Taylor Luck speaks with host Samantha Laine Perfas about finding in a notebook the scribbled asides that would actually form the heart of his story.