paper trail

E. Tammy Kim on “transnationally Asian” media; Wall Street Journal staffers want more transparency in the opinion section

E. Tammy Kim

At Columbia Journalism Review, E. Tammy Kim reflects on turning away from US coverage of COVID-19 (“myopic at best and racist at worst”) and toward online “transnationally Asian” magazines published in English. “Their orientation is not so much postcolonial as anti-nationalist and internationalist,” Kim writes of outlets like Lausan, New Bloom, and New Naratif, “meaning that they’re keener to explore what’s shared between working people in say, Taipei and Los Angeles, or Bangkok and Davao City, than to ask whether Canada or Vietnam has the more capable government—a temptation of traditional journalism.” And with the Black Lives Matter movement spreading across the globe, these publications have provided continued guidance: “Lausan drew a line from Hong Kong to Minneapolis and Manila; New Bloom covered solidarity protests in Taipei, staged in support of Hong Kongers and Black Lives Matter.”

The New York Times has published a special section on disability as the Americans With Disabilities Act reaches its thirty-year anniversary this month. The package includes articles and essays about how the ADA has shaped—and will continue to shape—peoples’ lives. The Times used a new style guide in the section, and created numerous accessible editions, including a Braille version.

In a letter to Wall Street Journal publisher Almar Latour, a group of Journal staffers are asking for a clearer distinction between news and opinion stories.

At The Atlantic, Lily Meyer looks at the emerging genre of pandemic literature. Meyer considers Zadie Smith’s new book, Intimations, as well as an anthology about the pandemic from writers around the world, published by Restless Books. So far, Meyer finds the new crop of writing on the crisis wanting: “No one has had time to truly refine their ideas about personal life in a state of widespread isolation and existential dread, and literature, even when political, is a fundamentally personal realm.”

Tonight at 7pm EST, join the New Republic’s literary editor Laura Marsh for a free livestream event with Nicholson Baker. They will discuss Baker’s latest book, Baseless, which investigates the secrets behind the Freedom of Information Act.

Tommy Orange reads his short story “Copperopolis” on Literary Hub’s radio theater podcast, Storybound.