Nicholas Kristof believes that in dark times, journalism is an act of hope. It’s a bold statement for a reporter who has spent his storied career covering human rights abuses and war torn countries for The New York Times . Kristof recently spoke with guest host Julia Paskin on LAist's daily news program AirTalk , which airs on 89.
3. FM, about his new memoir Chasing Hope: A Reporter's Life. Looking back on his year reporting in Los Angeles for The New York Times , Kristof said that it was not the great weather, afternoon deadlines or time as a business reporter that he remembers most fondly.
It was finding his wife, fellow journalist Sheryl WuDunn, that he recalled as the greatest thing about his time here. Shortly after the two were wed, they were assigned to The New York Time s newest bureau located in Hong Kong in 1989. Their assignment came at a pivotal time in China’s political history.
After witnessing the atrocities that occurred at Tiananmen Square, he noticed that many reports written by student protesters distorted the number of people killed and exaggerated details. Approaching the dilemma of good sourcing was a great challenge, but a useful lesson for Kristof. “It's very hard for us in journalism to be as skeptical of victims as we are perpetrators of massacres,” said Kristof.
Kristof also recalled that when it came to selection bias in his reporting he was well sourced in contacts that were against the violence against the students that had occurred, but n.