
Mark Memmott
Mark Memmott is NPR's supervising senior editor for Standards & Practices. In that role, he's a resource for NPR's journalists – helping them raise the right questions as they do their work and uphold the organization's standards.
As the NPR Ethics Handbook states, the Standards & Practices editor is "charged with cultivating an ethical culture throughout our news operation." This means he or she coordinates discussion on how we apply our principles and monitors our decision-making practices to ensure we're living up to our standards."
Before becoming Standards & Practices editor, Memmott was one of the hosts of NPR's "The Two-Way" news blog, which he helped to launch when he came to NPR in 2009. It focused on breaking news, analysis, and the most compelling stories being reported by NPR News and other news media.
Prior to joining NPR, Memmott worked for nearly 25 years as a reporter and editor at USA Today. He focused on a range of coverage from politics, foreign affairs, economics, and the media. He reported from places across the United States and the world, including half a dozen trips to Afghanistan in 2002-2003.
During his time at USA Today, Memmott, helped launch and lead three USAToday.com news blogs: "On Deadline," "The Oval" and "On Politics," the site's 2008 presidential campaign blog.
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Today is as important as any to protecting NPR's reputation as a trusted news source. How we behave on social media is going to matter a lot.
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That supposedly clever line has been used before — many times. We do not need to do that.
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Be skeptical. Be very skeptical.
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We should not use gun- or violence-related clichés in our reports — no matter the subject and especially not when another mass shooting is in the news.
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The gunman in New Zealand reportedly left behind something we can simply call a "statement."
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Deputy Managing Editors are in charge of key aspects of our coverage.
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Fair warning: Anyone who says or writes "daylight savings" will get a robocall from Korva at 2 a.m. Sunday.
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The lawyer's prepared remarks include language we need to discuss.
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The country isn't spelled the way the New York university spells its name.
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They must be taken before offensive language is heard (and even if it's bleeped) on the air.