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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A fascinating true-crime case and the shame of being well-rested: two of the stories recommended by NPR staff, using the #NPRreads hashtag. -
Fans and foes want the news media to label the armed individuals who are occupying part of a national wildlife refuge. NPR is trying to describe, rather than characterize. Here's our thinking. -
Here's how NPR thought through whether the gunshots that killed two TV journalists should be replayed on the radio and online. -
There are times when obscene words are heard, but they are rare. Editors balance respect for listeners against the news value of the language.
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Along with the words and phrases that still ring out 239 years later are less noticed turns of phrase. They say a lot about the messages Thomas Jefferson and the other Founding Fathers wanted to send. -
This week's selection of articles and essays covers comedian Aziz Ansari's new book about love, a new demographic term, a global gaming superstar, and more.
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Hundreds of people died this month when an overloaded ship sank in the Mediterranean Sea. They were on the move, but never reached their destinations. -
When NPR correspondents report about that group, they try to make it clear that it is not a "state" in the standard sense of that word. This month's "Word Matters" conversation explains why. -
It's a divisive topic. Were you taught that it should be "10 items or fewer?" That would make "10 items or less" a glaring grammatical error. -
As he prepares to take on a new role at NPR after nearly five years with The Two-Way, Mark Memmott wants to say, "See you later."
