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Reporting On Water: U.S. and International Coverage

Water is the essence of life, and its cleanliness, availability, and our use and abuse of it are stories meriting reporters’ and editors’ attention. Yet as Stuart Leavenworth, who covered water issues for The Sacramento Bee and describes the wide array of issues he took on, reports: “To my chagrin, I had the beat largely to myself for four years. Across the country, papers have tackled problems of water pollution and degradation, but have overlooked fundamental issues of supply—and sustainability. This is curious.” – Melissa Ludtke, Editor

Reporting On Water: U.S. and International Coverage
Introduction
By Melissa Ludtke, Editor
Why Journalists Need to Cover the Water Story (1 comment)
It’s the economy, stupid.
By Stuart Leavenworth
By Its Absence Water Becomes a Big Story
‘I try to focus my coverage on people whose lives intersect with water.’
By Seth Hettena
No Agua, No Vida
A photographer chronicles the slow death of the Colorado River Delta.
By John Trotter
Covering Water When It’s a Commodity
‘Tracking the battles over water isn’t a beat—it’s a career.’
By Mark Grossi
The Owens Lake Project
Compiled by David Maisel
Finding Necessary Evidence to Back Up a Tip
A 17-month investigation about drinking water pollution prompts action.
By Scott Streater
Investigating Washington, D.C.’s Water Quality
With lead levels endangering health, public agencies kept test results from consumers.
By D’Vera Cohn
Local TV Investigates Who Is Polluting the Water (1 comment)
A series of news reports found city agencies ignoring their own regulations and illegally polluting water in Dallas.
By Paul Adrian
Connecting Coastal Growth With the Gulf of Mexico’s Decay
‘Not everything is black and white, nor do the words legal and illegal do justice to these issues.’
By Eric Staats
Complexity Makes Ocean Fishing a Tough Story
‘… the more I learned about fishing, the less clarity there seemed.’
By Beth Daley
Monitoring Colorado’s Ongoing Feuds About Water
With a drought and expanding population, coverage of water gains importance.
By Jerd Smith
The Story of Water Told in a Tale of Two Towns
Developing the narrative thread relied on finding key characters and weaving their experiences into the article’s focus on water.
By Todd Hartman
Motion and Sound Tell the Online Story in New Ways
By Sonya Doctorian
Creating Digital Newsbooks
Newspapers use them to bring enterprise reporting to a new audience on the Web.
By Roger Fidler
How to Read Digital Newsbooks
By Roger Fidler
Engaging Viewers in Conflicts About Water
Filmmakers invite ‘viewers to commit themselves for a while to the characters on screen and the choices they make.’
By Alan Snitow and Deborah Kaufman
Reporting on Water as a Global Story
A network of international journalists produced multimedia reports on the consequences of privatizing water.
By William Marsden
When Water and Political Power Intersect
A journalist probes the story of water privatization in Jakarta, Indonesia.
By Andreas Harsono
Using Narrative to Tell Stories About Water
‘The imperatives of narrative nonfi ction carried me like a current to the book’s last words.’
By Jacques Leslie
Reporting on Dams in Dictator-Run Countries
By Supalak Ganjanakhundee
Reporting From the Nation of the Nile
A journalist describes approaches to and experiences with coverage of Egypt’s water issues.
By Nadia El-Awady
When Coverage of a Water Crisis Vanishes
‘Unless there is a real and apparent danger … reporters will find it hard to convince editors to dedicate time and space for water stories.’
By Zafrir Rinat
Water Surfaces as a Story Only When It Floods
Three years after the Elbe River flood, ‘it is even harder to get these topics back into the news.’
By Dagmar Dehmer
Mainstream News Reporting Ignores Critical Water Issues
In India, ‘reportage on this complex subject has regressed to its earlier character—unsophisticated and immature.’
By Rakesh Kalshian
Educating Journalists in Nepal About Sanitation and Water Issues (2 comments)
By bringing awareness and information to reporters, stories about these topics are starting to be told.
By Soniya Thapa