'Lassoing Facts': Coverage Of Beirut Explosion Reveals Strengths And Flaws
When an ammonium nitrate explosion damaged half of Beirut last week, NPR's Lebanon correspondent Ruth Sherlock was in England, having recently returned to work from maternity leave, but unable to travel to her post because of the pandemic. Less than a mile from the explosion, freelance journalist Nada Homsi, who has been working with NPR, was in her apartment.
Challenging staffing issues? Yes. But not that unusual for NPR's international desk, which has 21 correspondents on staff in 17 bureaus around the world. To me, as Public Editor, the staffing predicament seemed like a good chance to see how NPR deploys limited resources to cover the globe. I looked at and listened to all of the coverage, interviewed two international editors and a show executive producer, and came up with two suggestions for improving the already strong coverage.
"They are lone reporters covering vast regions,'' Didrik Schanche, chief international editor, said of the international staff. "And during coronavirus, the level of
