December 2021
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Voters wait in line outside Philadelphia City Hall to cast their early voting ballots at the satellite polling station in Oct. 2020 in Philadelphia (Photo by Mark Makela/Getty Images)


** From the editor
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Voting is something most people think about every two to four years, as congressional and presidential polls roll around. But since last November’s election, 19 Republican-led states have enacted laws that the Brennan Center for Justice says will “make it harder for Americans to vote.” Add the fact that Republicans have blocked Democratic-proposed measures to protect ballot access — and the gerrymandering of election maps around the U.S. is already in full swing — and it’s clear that the time is now for voting rights and election administration coverage.

As Celeste Katz Marston reports in our exploration of the voting rights beat ([link removed]) , journalists covering elections face plenty of challenges, from the maze of different laws in effect in different states to cash-strapped local newsrooms deploying fewer people on these stories. Still, heading into the 2022 mid-terms, news outlets are broadening and deepening coverage by integrating voting rights into other beats, from business and sports to criminal justice and tech, diversifying the pool of reporters writing about civic issues, and calling out election disinformation and lies.

“I don’t think it’s necessarily bad for the media to have a pro-voter bias,” Ari Berman, a senior reporter at Mother Jones, told Nieman Reports. “That’s different than having a pro-Democratic bias [or] an anti-Republican bias. I have a pro-voter bias; I’m for policies that expand access to the ballot.”
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Among all of Winston Churchill’s sayings, one of my favorites is, “The longer you can look back, the farther you can look forward.” We hope our story on voting rights coverage and all our work ([link removed]) at Nieman Reports have helped you look a little farther forward this past year, and that as 2021 winds down you have a moment to look back at some of what we consider among our most important pieces…

Sincerely,

James Geary
Editor, Nieman Reports
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** Nieman Reports' Top 5 Feature Stories of 2021 ([link removed])
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From covering voting rights to the harassment Indian journalists are subjected to on a daily basis, Nieman Reports tackled these issues and more. Here are five of our most important and timely feature stories from this year

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** Nieman Reports' Top 5 Opinion Pieces of 2021 ([link removed])
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Nieman Reports' columnists and writers have tackled some of journalisms' biggest challenges this year with nuanced and insightful commentary. Here are five of this year's most thought-provoking pieces

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** Nieman Reports' Top 5 Interviews of 2021 ([link removed])
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This year, the Nieman Foundation has invited some of journalism's most decorated thinkers into conversation. Here are five Nieman interviews to immerse yourself in before the year ends

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** More from Nieman Foundation publications:
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Tempted to self-publish that book? Here are some things to know ([link removed])

Author and writing coach Chip Scanlan shares what he learned when he dared to self-publish a chapbook of interviews with writers and editors

Read more from Nieman Storyboard ([link removed]) .

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Predictions for Journalism 2022 ([link removed])
Each year, we ask some of the smartest people in journalism and media what they think is coming in the next 12 months. At the end of a trying 2021, here’s what they had to say.

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