Author Archive
Articles by Alissa Quart | Email the Author
How we got our story
The new Atavist feature, The Last Clinic, is a product of persevering and roughing it
By Alissa Quart Jan 29, 2013 at 02:50 PM
In the process of making the multimedia work The Last Clinic, about the last abortion clinic in Mississippi, filmmaker Maisie... More
How to recount a plague
A new documentary about AIDS is the best one in the past few years
By Alissa Quart Sep 17, 2012 at 06:50 AM
How to Survive A Plague is the best AIDS documentary I’ve seen. Why? Because it is important, yes, but... More
Is Project Runway saving criticism?
It may well be, Reality Check columnist Alissa Quart says
By Alissa Quart Aug 27, 2012 at 06:50 AM
This Thursday, I was watching an episode of the 10th season of the now ancient and seemingly irrelevant Lifetime show... More
Collapsing the line between documentary and fiction
A new film, The Ambassador, exhibits “performance journalism,” a combination of art and reporting
By Alissa Quart Aug 13, 2012 at 06:50 AM
This week, you can on-demand a documentary that uses insanely unorthodox methods to get at the truth and judge for... More
Viral before the Internet
Things spread, but the content, often documentary, was darker and weirder
By Alissa Quart Jul 30, 2012 at 06:50 AM
Was there viral documentary film and video before the Internets? You bet. As Kliph Nesteroff wrote recently in The Awl,... More
Vimeo: AuteurTube
YouTube can make amateurs rich, but the video pros are congregating elsewhere
By Alissa Quart Jul 16, 2012 at 06:50 AM
The Times mag the other week noticed that amateur star “YouTubers” could make six figures through the site’s comedy channels.... More
Push Girls transcends its genre
Viewers might come for the drama, but they’ll stay for the realness that seeps through
By Alissa Quart Jul 2, 2012 at 07:00 AM
In her new column, Reality Check, Alissa Quart delves into all things documentary. The new Sundance Channel reality-show Push Girls,... More
Get Real
The unlikely marriage of documentary filmmakers and reality TV
By Alissa Quart Jan 17, 2012 at 06:00 AM
Dionicio is a heroin addict who was terribly abused as a child and turned to drugs and crime when... More
The Long Tale
New homes for stories that fall between a book and an article
By Alissa Quart Sep 20, 2011 at 06:00 AM
When author Jon Krakauer started looking into the altruistic claims of his former friend, the best-selling author of Three... More
The Trouble With Experts
The Web allows us to question authority in new ways
By Alissa Quart Jun 29, 2010 at 08:00 AM
Actress Jenny McCarthy’s favorite line is, “My son is my science.” She’s an autism activist who insists that vaccines caused... More
The Rise of True Fiction
Some of the best new films and books live between genres
By Alissa Quart Dec 8, 2009 at 02:30 PM
Staff Sergeant Will James fiddles with the bomb like an IT tech on methamphetamine. He works quickly despite his seventy-pound... More
Expensive Gifts
What does free culture cost?
By Alissa Quart Jul 24, 2009 at 08:30 AM
One evening in February 2009, the artist Shepard Fairey spoke at the New York Public Library. He was discussing his... More
The Sarcastic Times
For Rachel Maddow and the other ironic anchors, absurdity is serious stuff
By Alissa Quart Mar 3, 2009 at 08:37 PM
On a Wednesday night in December, Rachel Maddow, in a toreador-style black jacket, waits for her show to start. She... More
Music Lessons
What journalists could learn from Kid Rock, Lil Wayne, and Bon Iver
By Alissa Quart Nov 18, 2008 at 11:22 AM
He takes the stage clad in a black turtleneck. his famous line is, “Green is the new red, white, and... More
Flickring Out
What will become of photojournalism in an age of bytes and amateurs?
By Alissa Quart Jul 24, 2008 at 09:00 AM
Clichés are sometimes true. Here’s one—photographers don’t like to give speeches. At a recent event, photographer Antonin Kratochvil screened slideshows... More
Obsessed with Our Destroyers
How a passive press enshrines its enemies
By Alissa Quart May 28, 2008 at 11:18 AM
We the media are obsessed with our destroyers. We could even be said to love (or love to write about... More
Lost Media, Found Media
Snapshots from the future of writing
By Alissa Quart May 20, 2008 at 09:00 AM
If there were an ashram for people who worship contemplative long-form journalism, it would be the Nieman Conference on Narrative... More
Woman’s work - The twisted reality of an Italian freelancer in Syria
Sourcing Trayvon Martin ‘photos’ from stormfront - Not a good idea, Business Insider
Elizabeth Warren, the antidote to CNBC - The senator schools the talking heads on bank regulation
Art Laffer + PR blitz = press failure - The media types up the retail lobby’s propaganda
Reuters’s global warming about-face - A survey shows the newswire ran 50 percent fewer stories on climate change after hiring a “skeptic”
Barack Obama: ‘those old times aren’t coming back’
“It used to be there were local newspapers everywhere. If you wanted to be a journalist, you could really make a good living working for your hometown paper”
The Guardian’s editor opens up on Reddit
Alan Rusbridger, editor of The Guardian, answered questions in an Ask Me Anything
The (almost) lost speech of Justice Anthony Kennedy
How his insightful remarks about the Constitution inadvertently make the case for a Supreme Court “media pool”
Fox News sues TVEyes for copyright infringement
Says subscription service sells access to its content without permission nor compensation
CJR's Guide to Online News Startups
ACEsTooHigh.com – Reporting on the science, education, and policy surrounding childhood trauma
Who Owns What
The Business of Digital Journalism
A report from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism
Questions and exercises for journalism students.
