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A Retrospect of Journalism: What Happened to the Washington Reporters?

In his latest book, Whatever Happened to the Washington Reporters, 1978-2012, Stephen Hess set out to find the 450 Washington reporters he first surveyed in 1978. He tracks them in France, England, Italy, Australia, and 19 U.S. states in addition to the Washington area, locating 90 percent and interviews 283 of them, producing the first comprehensive study of career patterns in American journalism.

This blog series offers video snippets from Hess’ numerous interviews with these journalists and features Hess’ recollections, which offer context and anecdotes to their stories. Each Tuesday, we will be releasing a new conversation and blog post. 

Here, Hess explains his project in greater detail and why he is hopeful for journalism’s future: 

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Follow along for a new blog post about a different journalist each week:

August 7
Brit Hume: The First Day in the Newsroom 

August 14
Nina Totenberg: Journalists as Witnesses of History 

August 21
Steven V. Roberts: Coming from a Family of Writers

August 28
Linda Greenhouse: Breaking into Journalism as a Woman

September 11
Kitty Kelley: Becoming an Independent Writer 

September 18
Barry Sussman: Stories from Watergate

September 25
Hedrick Smith: Resigning from the New York Times to Film Documentaries

October 2
Bernard Kalb: From Covering the U.S. State Department, to Working Inside It

October 9
Andrew Glass & Andrew Alexander: The Future of Journalism