Mark Obbie's Blog, page 33
February 26, 2014
20 criminal justice blogs that matter
This is a blog about the journalists writing about crime and criminal justice reform. So, rather than tweet out an answer to The Marshall Project’s question seeking names of “favorite bloggers on criminal justice issues,” I’ll post my answer here with a few caveats. Following this issue requires the proverbial exercise in drinking from a […]
February 24, 2014
A prosecutor evolves
Texas Monthly‘s Pamela Colloff has done it again. As I’ve obsessively documented on this site, and as ratified by greater minds than mine, she has applied her prodigious skills as a reporter and writer to powerful narratives about crime. Though her work has focused on wrongful convictions, I find her latest piece notable because it […]
February 20, 2014
On a technicality
Whenever I see the phrase “on a technicality,” alarms go off. It usually signals a writer’s ignorance of the law, or just plain laziness in not wanting to learn enough to explain something. It’s shorthand for “I don’t understand why this happened, and it sounds all legal-y, so I’ll just chalk it up to ‘technicalities.’” […]
February 19, 2014
The anger games
Just when it seems we’re capable of having a civil, bipartisan conversation about criminal justice reform — when everyone from Right on Crime to Texas legislators to Rand Paul decides it’s OK to ease up on the tough-on-crime talk — I’m brought back to reality. And it’s a newspaper’s fault for the letdown. The reminder […]
February 15, 2014
In search of hope and reason
I’ve long been a fan of Tony Horwitz’s travelogues, deft and deeply reported narratives that entertain while educating. They do even more than that: they color in pieces of the American mosaic and tell us something about our national character. His latest, a Byliner Original titled Boom, tackles a topic more susceptible to politics than […]
February 14, 2014
“Turn every page”
In a previous life, I started and ran a grant-funded program meant to tempt journalism students to taste the sweet wonders of legal reporting. When that bombed, I broadened the focus of the guest lecture I gave each semester in all the reporting classes at Syracuse’s Newhouse School. Instead of instruction in covering the courts […]
February 10, 2014
Bill Keller’s big bet
“What a coup for this new venture to get someone of his caliber.” That’s Jill Abramson’s apt description of the move by her predecessor as the top editor of the nation’s most important newspaper to the top editorial post of The Marshall Project. I’ve eagerly kept my nose pressed to the glass to watch as […]
February 8, 2014
“We all have a lot of work to do”
Amid all the anger and confusion surrounding Dylan Farrow’s accusations against Woody Allen, one essay finally said something constructive and wise. At Slate, Samantha Jane Geimer — who as a young girl was raped by the movie director Roman Polanski — reminds us that victims don’t heal just because their attacker is convicted and punished, […]
February 5, 2014
Rivers and lakes of content
I was simultaneously blessed and cursed with a role in the first wave of online journalism, managing what was at the time the largest business-to-business news and information site (which morphed into something else that ultimately morphed into Law.com). As a result, I’ve always been fascinated by, but wary of, new publishing schemes that inspire […]
February 1, 2014
Weekend true-crime twofer
I’m catching up on some long-form reading this Saturday morning with two notable narratives that demonstrate a core principle: One of the most effective ways to honor victims is through deeply reported storytelling that brings a fresh perspective to their lives and deaths. Neely Tucker’s Washington Post Magazine story takes an easily overlooked hit-and-run death […]
