February 6, 2012
"Pulitzer’s New York World Reborn as Online News Site"
By Meghan Berry '09
Last fall, a private bus company operating under a city contract permitted its passengers, primarily Orthodox Jews, to enforce a religious tradition—in order to prevent physical contact between the sexes, women were required to sit in the back of the bus. The New York Times, New York Post and CBS 2 ran the story, which was later picked up by the BBC and Belgian and Israeli news outlets. But it was an enterprising reporter from The New York World—a new Graduate School of Journalism endeavor—who first broke this story of segregation.
Sasha Chavkin ’10, one of six reporters who contribute to the news site covering city and state government, posted the story the day the World’s website launched in October. One week later, the bus company agreed to stop the practice, which violates city anti-discrimination policies, and Chavkin wrote a follow-up story for The Jewish Daily Forward.
“This story is a really great example of something unique The New York World does,” said its editor, Alyssa Katz, a veteran journalist who has covered urban policy, politics and housing in New York. “We’ll take seemingly mundane things about how life works in New York City and say, ‘Well actually, this is what’s really going on.’”
Read the full story on Columbia News
New York World staff talk about using digital media to pursue long-term investigative projects.
