BOSTON—Christa Case Bryant has assumed the role of editor of The Christian Science Monitor. She is the second woman to hold the position in the Monitor’s 116-year history.
Ms. Bryant brings a deep love for the Monitor and its high standards for journalism, as shown through her long career at the Monitor. She has served the Monitor in a number of key editorial positions, including Jerusalem bureau chief, Middle East editor, and Europe editor. She most recently held the role of senior Congressional correspondent and deputy National News editor.
Ms. Bryant has won several distinguished awards during her more than twenty-year tenure. While reporting on Congress for the Monitor, she won The National Press Foundation’s 2022 Everett McKinley Dirksen award for distinguished reporting on Congress and the 2023 Sigma Delta Chi award for Washington Correspondence.
Ms. Bryant succeeds Mark Sappenfield, who held the role of editor for the Monitor for 8 years. Mr. Sappenfield remains at the Monitor in a senior role.
“Christa is the very best of everything that makes the Monitor unique – a deep commitment to fairness, a sense that good journalism can unite instead of divide, and a wonderful understanding of the Monitor’s connection to Christian Science,” says Mr. Sappenfield.
About The Christian Science Monitor
Founded in 1908 by Mary Baker Eddy, The Christian Science Monitor is an international news organization that strives for an unbiased, global approach to news. Its object is “to injure no man, but to bless all mankind.”
NENPA along with press groups successfully argue against forced disclosure of reporter’s notes in Karen Read Case
NENPA along with press groups successfully argued that both federal and state constitutional law prevent a Massachusetts court from forcing a reporter to disclose her notes from an interview with Karen Read, the defendant in a high-profile murder trial that has attracted national attention.
Prosecutors in the case were seeking notes that Gretchen Voss, a reporter for Boston Magazine, took during an interview with Read. The contents of these notes have not been published and likely contain Voss’s internal impressions, reactions and thoughts as the interview unfolded.
In his decision, Judge Cannone ruled:
“Voss has articulated a compelling argument that requiring disclosure of the notes poses a greater risk to the free flow of information than the other materials produced. Conversely, the Commonwealth has not demonstrated to the Court that its need for the handwritten notes, separate from the audio recordings, outweighs the danger posed to the public interest in the free flow of information.”
NEFAC, the Massachusetts Newspapers Publishers Association, NENPA and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press filed an amicus memorandum on Jan. 30 explaining that:
“Under these circumstances, the government’s intrusion into entirely confidential communications between a reporter and source, including the thought processes and work product of a journalist, unjustifiably intrudes on First Amendment interests and, as precedent, would unnecessarily chill the newsgathering process.”
Read the amicus memorandum filed on Jan. 30.
Many states have reporter shield laws that explicitly protect journalists from forced disclosure of their notes and sources. While Massachusetts does not have such statutory protections, its state constitution along with the First Amendment often prevents confidential information from being disclosed.
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