Nicholas Kristof (2014)

I write about lots of politically sensitive issues, and I've never had a column killed or censored. But of course I have been saved by an editor periodically when saying silly things, and asked: Do you really mean to say that?!

I came to columnizing from reporting, where it's instinctive to stay on the sidelines, so initially I was hesitant to include myself in my columns. But I gradually realized that columns are much more engaging to an audience when they are stories, including--sometimes--stories about me. So I look for all kinds of ways to engage readers on difficult issues, and throwing myself into the story is one way. For example, when I purchased two girls from a Cambodian brothel in 2004, that was criticized in some circles but was enormously effective in raising the profile of trafficking issues. So there's a trade-off there. I'm sure I don't always get the balance right, but my aim is to wake people up using every tool I have.

Thanks for the work you do on this issue! Sheryl and I wrote about clubfoot because we wanted to remind people that despite all the problems with aid, there are some ways to help that are just transformational. That girl, Rashida, whom we write about will now be able to go to school, hold a job, contribute to her society--all because of a $250 donation from a Californian woman. When we were writing that chapter, I learned for the first time that my own mom had had clubfoot. In America, she got treated as a baby and it never held her back. It's heartbreaking that there are still so many kids who never get a chance because of a problem that can be so easily corrected.

Hey, Julán, your English is great! Some places have definitely gotten more dangerous. It used to be as a student traveler that I worried about being robbed, but now I worry about being kidnapped. Partly that's because criminals or terrorists can monetize foreigners by holding them for ransom.
As a university student, I smuggled myself (by riding on top of a bus) into Pakistan's tribal areas. I sure wouldn't try that today.
As for places I'd still like to go, I'm embarrassed that I've never been to Chile. So that and Paraguay are on my list, also Bhutan and Papua New Guinea. And Angola is the only country on the continent of Africa I haven't been to, so if you know someone who will give me an Angola visa--tell me!

If you're a millennial, you tell me!
My worry is that readers in general are developing a more promiscuous relationship with news sources. Traditionally, I had NY Times readers who would read the whole paper. Now there are lots of readers who will read a few articles in the Times, a couple on Huff Post, a BuzzFeed listicle, a CNN video etc. That's one reason I play around so much with social media, to keep those promiscuous readers in an ongoing relationship with me.

At 24, I was finishing up studying law at Oxford and trying to decide whether to become a law professor or a journalist. There was a crucial week in which I had to decide whether to go on for more legal studies at Harvard Law School (the law prof route) or to Cairo to study Arabic (with the idea of becoming a foreign correspondent). If I'd chosen the former, my bank account might be bigger. But I'm so happy I chose the latter!

Maybe my favorite story is that of Olly Neal and the librarian who helps him. But you'll have to read A Path Appears to hear it. :)

Over time, I've managed to numb myself to a good deal. But I'm always most terrified when I put others at risk. Once in Darfur, I was stopped at a checkpoint and detained, and I was afraid my 19-year-old interpreter was going to be shot. We were detained in a little hut with a mural on the wall of someone being impaled, which didn't help our spirits. The authorities were willing to let me go but not my interpreter. Eventually, a commander was summoned and let us all go. And then because our vehicle had become stuck in the sand, our guards had to push our vehicle free.

No, we haven't found our footing yet. Especially for local newspapers, there's still a basic question about what the business model will be, and how we will pay for investigations or coverage of state/city governments. More broadly, I think those of us in the mainstream media have made lots of progress toward a digital future--but not nearly enough. We dropped the ball and were late in embracing blogging, reader generated content, social media, video, social networks etc. And, um, reddit! We're getting better but still have a long way to go--and we have to be more willing to take risks.

Look--to speak up for gender equality is not to denigrate men. I salute Emma Watson, and the threats against her are appalling. Indeed, men as much as women have a stake in a world where all have access to greater opportunity. We are not prisoners of our chromosomes, and we have mothers, wives, daughters, sisters. One of the reasons why I've written about women's rights is that if it's only women advocating on the topic, it's marginalized. Unfair, but true. So men have to speak up too. And civil rights weren't just an issue for blacks, the Holocaust wasn't a problem only for Jews, and when women are mistreated that's not a "women's issue" but a human rights issue that all of us should work to rectify whatever our chromosomal makeup.

In reporting our new book A Path Appears, it struck me how much evidence there is that we evolved to be social creatures, and that when we support others the oxytocin flows and we feel better. So I think the meaning of life has to do with less finger pointing and more hand-holding.

Newsweek this spring reported that there were major inconsistencies in Somaly Mam's back story, and as you say Marie Claire has now argued that it was Newsweek that made mistakes. Look, I've talked to lots of people on all sides of this, and I just don't know where the truth lies. I do wish that we in the news media would be more aggressive in covering the background problem--the trafficking of women and children all over the world, including in the US.

Sorry you missed the win-a-trip journey. They're another way in which I've tried to find a way to connect an American audience to some tough global issues, and we've had some fantastic journeys. On one trip, I wanted to write about how security is paramount to development--when warlords are running around, people can't plant crops, they can't go to school, and kids die. The student and I reported on this from Central African Republic, and the reporting was particularly rich--because we got held up twice at gunpoint.

why don't you reach out to our book publicist, Jess Purcell, JPurcell@Randomhouse.com. Our book schedule is wild and we're way overcommitted, though!

There are obviously risks in reporting in places like Afghanistan, Pakistan or Yemen, and interviewing women can be difficult--not so much because they won't speak, but because their fathers/brothers/husbands want to speak for them. But the biggest problem by far is getting American readers interested. Whenever I write about global human rights issues, my audience dwindles. That's why I use celebrities, win-a-trip, videos, social media and any trick I can think of to try to engage readers in issues that I think are immensely important but that don't have a natural constituency. I figure that if the public and media are going to pay attention to George Clooney or other celebrities, some of that interest may as well also illuminate those who need the attention far more.

The food aid system is a disaster. It's basically a system to subsidize American farmers and American shipowners, since most food aid has to be American grown and American shipped. Then the food arrives in Africa and depresses local food prices, hurting farmers and reducing the incentive to plant in the next season. CARE led the way in refusing to accept such aid, but it lost lots of funding as a result; it deserves lots of credit for its courageous decision.

In 1997 I flew in with some reporters on a chartered plane into Congo to cover the civil war and refugee crisis there. The plane crashed (one person on the ground was killed, but those of us in the plane were all ok). After that, I decided to drive out. I ran into a warlord who was using child soldiers to slaughter Hutus, and he didn't appreciate my reporting--so he sent a truckload of soldiers chasing after me through the jungle for the next five days or so. And in the course of that I caught the most lethal form of malaria. Let's just say that after that plane crash, chase, and hospitalization, I was ready to embark on a new career covering Caribbean beaches.

I'm glad you like "A Path Appears"--and you're a fast reader! I think the development industry will change with more focus on evidence and randomized trials, and probably more business practices including solid metrics and evaluation. In general I also think that the development world is getting better at listening to local people rather than just giving orders. I hope that we'll also figure out better mechanisms to cut out some of the huge aid contractors that consume so much of the aid dollar, simply so that aid can have more impact at the grassroots.