The Mimi Award slideshow
Watch the slideshow from the 2008 Mimi Award ceremony, honoring the exemplary work of editor Lois Norder.

—09 May, 2008

Lois Norder wins the Mimi Award
The Dart Society recognizes the managing editor of investigations at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram for her passion, sensitivity and commitment to excellence in covering victims of tragedy.

—04 March, 2008

Air Force revises subpoena rules
Following a meeting with Dart Society members, U.S. Air Force officials have revamped their subpoena practices to extend greater protections to journalists...

—08 February, 2008

Judging of Mimi Award nominations begins
Six distinguished journalists have begun judging candidates for the Mimi Award, honoring an exemplary editor...

—21 January, 2008

Ochberg-Walter DVD wins award
A DVD project coordinated by Frank Ochberg, M.D., and featuring Ochberg Fellow Mike Walter ('05) has won a FREDDIE Award by MediMedia ...

—17 October, 2007

Society board welcomes new members
The Dart Society is pleased to announce its appointment of two new board members. Ochberg fellow Mike Walter and Dart Award-winning editor Tina Croley were chosen among the Society membership to serve full terms on the six-member board ...

—3 October, 2007

Center Names 2007 Ochberg Fellows
The Dart Center has announced the recipients of the 2007 Ochberg Fellowship. The ten Fellows are:

• Margarita Akhvlediani, Institute for War and Peace Reporting
• Donna Alvis-Banks, Roanoke (Va.) Times
• Moni Basu, Atlanta Journal-Constitution
• George Hoff, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
• James MacMillan, Philadelphia Daily News
• Michael Marizco, BorderReporter.com
• Tara McKelvey, The American Prospect
• Lisa Millar, Australian Broadcasting Corporation
• Susan Snyder, Philadelphia Inquirer
• John Trotter, freelance

Click here to read more ...

—16 August, 2007

2005 Ochberg Fellow Mike Walter has put together a piece at WUSA-TV about the Dart Society's "Target: New Orleans" project. (Click here for video) ...

—3 June, 2007

—30 April, 2007

David Clark Scott Wins
First Mimi Award
David Clark Scott, international news editor at The Christian Science Monitor, who helped win the release of freelancer Jill Carroll after she was kidnapped in Iraq last year, has been named the first winner of The Mimi Award, a new prize that recognizes exceptional work by an editor ...

—12 March, 2007

The Dart Society has launched a new blog with reports from members who are participating in the Society's new project, "Target: New Orleans." The blog, titled "Mission: Possible," is being maintained by Society treasurer Deirdre Stoelzle Graves. Read it here ...

—7 March, 2007

2006 Ochberg Fellow Melissa Sweet has written about last fall's Fellowship seminar in The Walkley magazine. Read it here ...

—3 March, 2007

The Dart Center has announced the recipients of the 2006 Ochberg Fellowship. The ten Fellows are:

• Arnessa Garrett, The Advertiser (Lafayette, La.)
• Lena Jakobsson, Court TV News (New York, N.Y.)
• Kim Komenich, San Francisco Chronicle (California)
• Jenny Johanna Manrique Cortés, freelance (Colombia)
• Kevin McKiernan, freelance (Santa Barbara, Ca.)
• Sharon Schmickle, Minneapolis Star Tribune (Minnesota)
• Melissa Sweet, freelance (Australia)
• Petra Tabeling, freelance (Germany)
• Michele Trudeau, National Public Radio (Irvine, Ca.)

—23 August, 2006

Gary Tippett (2004) has won a Quill award for "April's Story," an extensive report of a car crash survivor who suffered head injuries. Gary's piece was named "Best Feature in Print." This is the third time Gary has won a Quill (which are presented by the Melbourne Press Club). He previously won in 1996 and 2002 ...

—13 March, 2006

Natalie Pompilio (2001) was a finalist in the "Deadline News Reporting by an Individual" category in the American Society of Newspaper Editors' annual awards for distinguished writing and photography (see the full list of winners and finalists here) ...

—1 March, 2006

New York Daily News photojournalist David Handschuh (1999) has an exhibit of food photographs titled "Tres Yummy" on display at Druids Bar & Restaurant, 736 10th Avenue, Manhattan. The exhibit runs through the New Year.

"Tres Yummy" features a selection of photographs from David's earlier presentation, "Out of the Fire and Into the Frying Pan - A News Photographer's Odyssey," a culinary catalog of food as it gets grilled, seared, sautéed, tossed, smoked, marinated, roasted or served raw from the kitchens of some of New York's finest restaurants.

For more information about the exhibit, contact David Handschuh at FoodPhotos@hotmail.com or 212.210.2344 ...

—2 December, 2005

Scott Wallace (2005) wrote and photographed the cover story for the October edition of Smithsonian magazine. The story explores the debate about whether to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from the perspective of the two Native Alaskan cultures whose fates are inextricably intertwined with that of the refuge.

—25 October, 2005

Chris Bull (1999), former Washington correspondent for The Advocate and editor of PlanetOut.com, will be honored for his career achievements by the Northern California Chapter
of the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association. Click here to read an invitation to the October 17 award ceremony.

—7 October, 2005

Denver Post reporters Amy Herdy and Miles Moffeit (2004), with colleagues Arthur Kane and Marsha Austin, have won a Galloway Award from Military Reporters and Editors for "Domestic print coverage (more than 100,000)." The award will be presented at MRE's annual conference later this month in Alexandria, Va.

—4 October, 2005

The Philadelphia Inquirer's "Blinq" blog features an audio interview with reporter Natalie Pompilio (2001), who spent two weeks reporting on the disaster in and around New Orleans. Inky blogger Daniel Rubin writes:

Just back from New Orleans, after nearly two weeks of watching her old city fall, Natalie Pompilio sat down this week with BLINQ and talked about what it was like covering the worst natural disaster of our time. It was worse than Iraq, she said, and she knows from experience.

In nearly six years at The Times-Picayune, Natalie had covered her share of hurricanes. The Inquirer city desk reporter flew down the Sunday before Katrina hit, played cards with friends as the wind howled, expected this one to be like the others. Then the levee broke.

She tells how she lost her car, her money and ID. How she moved from place to place, happening upon the sacking of Wal-Mart, the exodus across Interstate 10. She describes the people desperate for human touch, the roving gunmen, a bicycle trip through dark waters, and the strange new sounds of The Big Easy. Click on the links to hear the interview.

—16 September, 2005

Ron Haviv (2004), has posted a gallery of images he captured in New Orleans here.

—8 September, 2005

David Wood (2003), has been on the Gulf Coast, writing about the military's efforts to help Katrina victims. In a Sept. 3 story, "Military Expresses Frustration Over Red Tape," he writes:

CAMP SHELBY, Miss. -- Only a tiny fraction of the active duty U.S. military is engaged in rescue and relief efforts in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, a situation that frustrated senior military officers are attributing in part to complex relationships with the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

"We are in support of FEMA; we are not running our own operation," said Maj. Gen. Dan Colglazier, deputy commanding general of the First U.S. Army, which coordinates all military involvement in hurricane rescue and relief.

"That's one of the hazards" of a complex situation involving dozens of local, state and federal agencies, Colglazier said.

But a difficult command structure inside the military seemed equally cumbersome as officers wrestled Friday with having to coordinate any movement of forces with dozens of supervising commands and agencies

At the Pentagon's sweltering forward command post here, a television running on intermittent power showed scenes of utter devastation in New Orleans, with bloated corpses, burning buildings and throngs of desperate refugees.

In a Sept. 5 story, "The General in Charge Is a Man in a Hurry," Wood profiles the commander of the active military forces gathering in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Army Lt. Gen. Russel L. Honore.

—7 September, 2005

Jason Vest (2003) and Justin Rood, in Government Executive magazine, write:

As levees burst and floods continued to spread across areas hit by Hurricane Katrina yesterday, a former chief of the Army Corps of Engineers disparaged senior White House officials for "not understanding" that key elements of the region's infrastructure needed repair and rebuilding.

Mike Parker, the former head of the Army Corps of Engineers, was forced to resign in 2002 over budget disagreements with the White House. He clashed with Mitch Daniels, former director of the Office of Management and Budget, which sets the administration's annual budget goals.

"One time I took two pieces of steel into Mitch Daniels' office," Parker recalled. "They were exactly the same pieces of steel, except one had been under water in a Mississippi lock for 30 years, and the other was new. The first piece was completely corroded and falling apart because of a lack of funding. I said, 'Mitch, it doesn't matter if a terrorist blows the lock up or if it falls down because it disintegrates -- either way it's the same effect, and if we let it fall down, we have only ourselves to blame.' It made no impact on him whatsoever."

—2 September, 2005

Ochberg Fellows Natalie Pompilio (2001) and Penny Cockerell (2000) have both been in and around New Orleans, reporting on the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Pompilio is covering the story for Knight Ridder. In an August 31 story, "Thousands still have not been heard from," she writes:

The old shed, Daniel Weber said, the one behind his house. That's where he thinks he will find his wife's body. That's where he thinks the floodwaters sparked by Hurricane Katrina took her Monday after snatching her from his grip.

"Her shirt came off. I couldn't pull her up. The water was rushing so fast," a sobbing Weber, 52, said yesterday. "It's not right. It's not right."

Pompilio has filed several other stories from the disaster zone:

» "Signs of desperation grip a city of despair," Sept. 1
» "Looters make off with merchandise as police look on, witnesses say," Aug. 30
» "Water rising in New Orleans as levee systems fail," Aug. 30

Cockerell is covering the disaster for The Oklahoman. In a September 1 story, "Refugees describe escaping rising water," she writes:

Some were disoriented, their emotions raw. Many started crying as they talked of missing parents, siblings, nieces and nephews. Most underestimated Hurricane Katrina's wrath and chose to wait out the storm, while others simply couldn't afford to leave.

"I don't care to be here anymore. I wish God would take me," said a teary Maria Luna, her hair still in the curlers she wore when she and her brother Rafael were rescued Monday evening from their rooftop in St. Bernard Parish.

Cockerell's other stories from the disaster include:

» "Red Cross responds to Katrina in ways both large and small," Aug. 31
» "Oklahoma volunteers man Red Cross shelter," Sept. 1

—1 September, 2005

Deirdre Stoelzle Graves (1999) reports on her and 2004 Fellow Miles Moffeit's recent visit to Detroit to welcome the winners of the 2005 Dart Award to the Dart Society:

... Detroit Free Press reporter Jeff Seidel and photographer Eric Seals received the award for their series, "Homicide in Detroit: Echoes of Violence," which chronicled the devastation wreaked by 364 homicides and a thousand more nonfatal shootings in the city in 2004.

After a lunchtime presentation to newsroom employees with Frank Ochberg, they showed us their Detroit.

Lots of American cities have stark border distinctions, but that between the upper-middle class Gross Pointe and Detroit's eastern edge still sort of stuns Jeff. "It goes from gray to green," he tells us from the helm of his family's minivan.

It's hard for me to tell. The houses all look the same—large, pretty brick two-stories with cute windows and porches. The peacefulness this afternoon belies no evidence of the viiolence that happens around here with the frequency of a war zone. Children sitting behind those cute widows take stray bullets if they don't get on the floor in time. People die on the porches. Halloween arsons have destroyed thousands of homes over the decades. People sitting on their porches are out of work. During the school year the presence of children on these streets means they're not in school. . . .

» Click here to read Dierdre's report.

—30 August, 2005

Jason Vest (2003) explains "How the Pentagon sent the army to Iraq without a counterinsurgency doctrine" in his latest story, "Willful ignorance," published in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Vest writes:

U.S. ground forces are only now beginning to readjust their approach toward counterinsurgency warfare. But to many knowledgeable observers, it's looking like too little, too late--thanks largely to the Pentagon's myopic leadership. It isn't just that the Pentagon's civilian ideologues and acquiescent brass failed to entertain even the possibility of an insurgency. And it's not merely because the civilian leadership has demonstrated a profound and deadly ignorance of insurgency's historical lessons.

It's also because, despite a plethora of writing from soldier-scholars and the informal attempts at innovation by a handful of junior officers, no formal organizational strategy exists that allows the army to rapidly and effectively adapt. All counterinsurgency scholars agree the viability of any counterinsurgency endeavor, especially one undertaken by an occupying force, depends upon this capability. Yet, until recently, even the army field manual on counterinsurgency reflected the prevailing culture of selective amnesia. The manual, published in October 2004, defines insurgency as an "organized movement aimed at the overthrow of a constituted government"--a definition that, literally applied, excluded the conflict in Iraq prior to the national elections earlier this year.

U.S. soldiers on the ground would probably beg to differ.

—22 August, 2005

In an interview with The American Prospect, Jimmie Briggs (2000) discusses his recently published book, Innocents Lost, for which he spent seven years investigating the plight of child soldiers around the world. Briggs tells TAP:

My hope is that my book compels people to explore what they can do and to try to do something. The people at UNICEF and the UN already know about this issue. One thing that can be done is to pressure the U.S. to ratify the CRC and to strengthen the optional protocol. Also, the flow of small arms and automatic weapons has sustained and fueled the use of child soldiers. These are light weapons that kids can carry. They can use them easily. If we could curtail the trade in these weapons, that would go a long way toward decreasing the number of kids who are fighting.

—4 August, 2005

Photojournalist Ron Haviv (2004), recently appeared on NBC Nightly News to share some of the photos and video he shot while working in Darfur. In the segment, titled "Crisis in Darfur" (which you can find here) Haviv notes: "Children all over the world in conflict zones are the most greatly affected by strife. They’re the ones who often get fed last. It’s no different in Darfur."

—20 July, 2005

Marking the 30-year anniversary of the fall of Saigon, photojournalist Kari Rene Hall (2004) accompanied Orange County Register reporter Katherine Nguyen to Vietnam. In one story, Nguyen visits relatives in Saigon and wonders "what my life could have been like had my parents stayed behind in Vietnam." In another, titled "Battleground to playground," Hall and Nguyen visit Da Nang and China Beach. Photo slideshows are posted with both pieces.

—20 July, 2005

Kevin Johnson, of Southwest Philadelphia, was shot in the back of the neck in 2003, allegedly because his assailants wanted to take his Allen Iverson basketball jersey. Philadelphia Inquirer reporter Natalie Pompilio (2001) visits Johnson and shows how he and his family are coping with his injuries and how they decided to forgive his attackers. Pompilio writes:

"I get frustrated. Sometimes. A lot," said Johnson, 21. "But if I get angry, I try to go to sleep, dream good dreams. Then I wake up, and I'm happy."

The crime that paralyzed Johnson has faded from the headlines. But in a city that often seems increasingly immune to violence, it is a brutal reminder that one bullet fired in one moment of anger can alter a life forever.

Doctors say Johnson will never move his arms or legs again. He'll never again play basketball, the activity that features in the majority of his "good dreams."

—19 July, 2005

Frank Green (2001) tells a tragic story in the Richmond Times-Dispatch:

Paul Martin Andrews and Dewey Keith Venable suffered as children from crimes that brought them together as adults.

Venable was molested by his mother's fiancé. Andrews was abducted and assaulted by Richard Alvin Ausley, perhaps Virginia's most notorious pederast.

Andrews, with the help of his family, held his life together.

Venable did not. He wound up at the Sussex I State Prison, where he was placed in Ausley's cell. On the night of Jan. 13, 2004, Ausley was strangled and beaten to death, and Venable is facing a potential death sentence in the slaying.

Green speaks with Andrews (who began corresponding with Venable after the slaying) as well as with Venable's mother.

—19 July, 2005

U.S. government auditors have found rampant waste and mismanagement in the U.S.-led reconstruction of Iraq, Newhouse News Service national security reporter David Wood (2001) writes:

Billions of dollars -- some of it in shrink-wrapped bundles of $100 bills airlifted to Baghdad from the Federal Reserve Bank in New York -- should have helped pay Iraqi bureaucrats, fix power lines and build schools. Instead, much of it can't be properly accounted for and millions have been stolen, auditors say.

—1 July, 2005

In the Village Voice, Kristen Lombardi (2003) reads the book The Truth About Hillary: What She Knew, When She Knew It, and How Far She'll Go to Become President, and reports on efforts to "gay-bait" New York Senator (and possible presidential candidate) Hillary Clinton. Lombardi writes:

Gay-baiting has long been used as a weapon to drag Clinton down. In his book, Klein writes that the "rumors first began to fly through Arkansas that Hillary was a lesbian" back in 1974, when her husband, Bill, ran for U.S. Congress: "The rumors were founded on Hillary's tough, aggressive manner, her military barracks vocabulary, and her defiant refusal to do anything about her unkempt appearance."

Read the story, and see Lombardi's previous coverage of Sen. Clinton, here.

—27 June, 2005

A veteran FBI agent tells Jason Vest (2003) about effective interrogation techniques. Vest writes:

Based on his experiences interviewing Islamist radicals everywhere from New York City to Khartoum, Cloonan believes that interrogations can gather intelligence that's both operationally actionable and court admissible (“nothing that shocks the conscience of the court,” as he puts it), and holds that torture -- by hands American or foreign -- is rarely ever useful or necessary. Cloonan and a New York Police Department detective secured actionable intelligence from a suspect in the foiled millennium-bombing plot in just six hours on December 30, 1999 -- by following FBI procedure, and by encouraging a suspect to pray during his Ramadan fast. The suspect even agreed to place calls to his confederates, which led to their speedy arrests.

As such, Cloonan is extremely unhappy with the post–9-11 article of faith that all manner of extraordinary mechanisms, from rendition to torture, are somehow both necessary and devoid of negative consequences. He took serious issue with the notion that violent coercion is the only means of getting Islamist terrorism suspects to talk. When I asked him to elaborate, he told the story of “Joe the Moroccan” -- or, more formally, L'Houssaine Kherchtou, a member of the al-Qaeda cell that bombed the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi and the U.S. government's star witness in the embassy-bombings case.

Read the story, published in The American Prospect, here.

—26 June, 2005

Reviewing results of Milwaukee police-shooting inquests, Gina Barton (2000) finds a disturbing pattern. Barton writes:

Clarence Michael Thurman III is dead because he tried to steal a lawn mower.

An inquest into his fatal shooting by a Milwaukee police officer did not result in criminal charges. Nor has any other police shooting inquest in Milwaukee County over the past 20 years, a Journal Sentinel review has found. As the inquest into another police shooting begins, lawmakers, victims' families and even Milwaukee's veteran prosecutor are calling for reforms.

Read the story here (Via IRE's ExtraExtra).

—21 May, 2005

The Air Force's top lawyer, Maj. Gen. Jack Rives, has issued guidelines that discourage uniformed lawyers from serving subpoenas on journalists. The new guidelines come after a January meeting between Rives and members of the Dart Society. Read more here ...

—18 February, 2005

Katrina Evacuees: Where Do We Go From Here?

Teen Crime, Adult Time
Colorado is one of the harshest places in the nation for juveniles who commit serious crimes. In a four-part series, Miles Moffeit (2004), of the Denver Post, examines the controversial system that puts teens away for life without parole ...

"Words Fail ..."
Penny Cockerell (2000), who covered Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana for The Oklahoman, describes the "mind-boggling" situation there, and the difficulties involved in getting the story ...

"Worse than Iraq"
Philadelphia Inquirer reporter Natalie Pompilio (2001) describes the logistical and emotional conditions facing reporters in New Orleans amid the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina ...

Heartbreak and Hope
Scott North (2003) and Donna DeCesare (2003) explore the drug trade and drug-related violence in Guatemala.

Cambodian Shadows
Penny Cockerell (2000) reports on the lingering traces of national trauma in Cambodia, 30 years after the Khmer Rouge takeover.

Close encounters
Gary Tippet (2004) writes about intruding on private grief

Reporting from Iraq
An interview with Natalie Pompilio (2001)

Coming Home
Ron Claiborne (2003) writes about his time in Iraq

“The Healer”
Chris Bull (1999) tells the story of Lindsy McLean, a gay NFL trainer

A Life's Work
Photographer Joseph Rodriguez (2003) documents social issues

AIDS in Zambia
Fellows Joseph Rodriguez (2003) and Frank Green (2001) report from Africa