Newswise Blog

Tuesday, September 13, 2022

This Month’s Look at Reporters

Alanna Mitchell - Freelance Journalist

Alanna Mitchell is a Canadian science journalist. 

• Her work has most recently appeared in Canadian Geographic, Seattle Times, The New York Times, and many local outlets. She covers a wide variety of science subjects, including (most recently), bioacoustics, coexistence between humans and animals, and the measurement of time.
• She describes herself as “fascinated with the intersection of science, art and society,” and her work often takes unconventional angles on environmental topics. For example, she adapted her nonfiction book, Sea Sick: The Global Ocean in Crisis into a one-woman play that she performs herself, although she considers herself a “non-actor.”
• Field research is extremely important to Mitchell: “My kind of journalism means bearing witness,” she said in an interview. “I have to go and see it and smell it and feel it and be in the water. … [In the pandemic], I [had] to think of whole new ways of telling stories, whole new ways of finding that information.” Now that coronavirus restrictions have loosened, stories that are conducive to heavy field research and travel may catch her eye.

Julie Creswell - The New York Times

Julie Creswell is a reporter at The New York Times. 

• Creswell describes her beat as “consumer trends in food, beverage, retail and packaged goods,” as well as healthcare issues and business.
• Before arriving at the NYT, she built her career in business and finance journalism, writing for Fortune Magazine and Dow Jones Newswires. She may be a good contact for experts whose work intersects with the business world.
• Her recent coverage has explored consumer shopping habits, the baby formula shortage, and businesses’ efforts to cope with ongoing supply chain problems.

John R. Platt - The Revelator

John R. Platt is the Editor of The Revelator, an environmental news outlet sponsored by the Center for Biological Diversity.

• Much of his writing focuses on endangered species, and for 18 years, he has written a column called Extinction Countdown, which spotlights individual species that are endangered or recently extinct. 
• He has experience covering many topics within environmental reporting, including climate change, wildlife trafficking, pollution, environmental justice, and more.
• He is interested in covering policy solutions for environmental problems like pollution. “We’ve done an awful lot over the past few years about trying to educate individual consumers, but consumers can only do so much,” he said in a 2020 interview. “We need to look at the entire system and make sure that there are solutions available and see how they’re working. … [At The Revelator], we’ve always loved to look at emerging solutions to see how they’re doing and if they’re replicable in other places.”