Honest, well-presented data ought to be ironclad. In what some have dubbed a “post-truth” age, however, numbers can be dismissed simply for not matching a chosen narrative. Jake Turcotte builds graphics and data visualizations for the Monitor. He spoke with host Clay Collins about the importance of arraying data that presents information in a way that’s credible, digestible, and a tool for helping readers make up their own minds about complex stories.
Why is Christian Science in our name?
Why is Christian Science in our name?
Our name is about honesty. The Monitor is owned by The Christian Science Church, and we’ve always been transparent about that.
The Church publishes the Monitor because it sees good journalism as vital to progress in the world. Since 1908, we’ve aimed “to injure no man, but to bless all mankind,” as our founder, Mary Baker Eddy, put it.
Here, you’ll find award-winning journalism not driven by commercial influences – a news organization that takes seriously its mission to uplift the world by seeking solutions and finding reasons for credible hope.
Explore values journalism About us
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.
A new museum went up this summer in Charleston, South Carolina, at the site of Gadsden’s Wharf. From this spot, through which thousands of enslaved people were forced, writer Ken Makin reported a story of progress toward reclamation – and of hard work left to be done. He spoke with host Clay Collins about the transformation of this harrowing place, and about how it left room to celebrate a culture’s will to thrive.
How much more effective is journalism when its practitioners take extra care to account for local perspectives and practices? And what does it mean when media organizations stay with their stories over time? Xanthe Scharff’s reporting in Malawi in 2005 and then again this year helps answer both questions. She and her recent colleague Madalo Samati – a mentor Xanthe met when she shifted from reporting to actively participating – spoke with guest host Amelia Newcomb.
How does a Mideast reporter find, amid recurring conflict, stories loaded with humanity and shared values? Amman-based Taylor Luck, a return guest on this podcast, works to balance credible hope and the cycle of setbacks wrought by hard regional realities. He spoke to host Clay Collins about a generation bent on bringing change – and about what he’s seen while producing datelines from Tunisia to the West Bank.
Charges of politicization are nothing new. But what goes into keeping Supreme Court reporting fair at a time when the justices themselves are making headlines over issues of ethics? Writer Henry Gass and his editor, Yvonne Zipp, join guest host Gail Chaddock for a look at covering the sometimes surprising session that just ended – staying glued to SCOTUSblog and reporting smart stories ahead of decisions from the places where the human impact of those rulings is most acutely felt.
In rural China, millions of elderly farmers are getting by despite a dwindling government pension reserve. In some ways, it’s a story of desperation. But on a reporting swing deep into northern Shaanxi province, the Monitor’s Ann Scott Tyson found it also to be one of resilience, perseverance, and agency. She spoke to guest host and show producer Jingnan Peng.
A long-awaited report to California’s legislature by a reparations task force is fueling broader conversations, at institutions and among individuals. The Monitor’s commitment to exploring the issues means considering – fairly and factually – a wide range of views. In this episode, writers Maisie Sparks and Clara Germani speak with guest host Trudy Palmer about how the work of recording perspectives and changes of heart shaped their own understanding of this complex story of justice, dignity, and transformation.
You don’t know everything that someone is capable of just from a single observation or interaction. That’s the core idea behind the anti-bullying work of Shadi Pourkashef. She delivers on it with a very intentional focus shift: from problem to solution. The Monitor’s JJ Wahlberg spoke with host Clay Collins about reporting – for her first Monitor story – on one shining exhibition of the power of kindness.
With much of the world’s attention on the cold wins-and-losses scorecard of Russia’s grinding war in Ukraine, and with a counteroffensive reportedly underway, how are Ukrainian civilians holding up? Scott Peterson has now reported from the conflict zone a half-dozen times. For this updated, encore episode of his February show, “War Stories,” he stopped by our Boston newsroom and spoke with host Clay Collins.
A once largely invisible minority, transgender people have swiftly moved into the mainstream of popular culture, and some conservatives appear intent on stoking a social and political backlash, particularly among older voters. Writer Simon Montlake talks about bringing fairness to the fore in coverage of a rights issue on which two sides’ stances are so fundamentally different. Hosted by Gail Russell Chaddock.
