Professor Seyma Bayram’s Reporting and Writing 2 class wrapped up the spring 2026 semester with visits to The New York Times and WNYC/Gothamist, part of New York Public Radio.
The visits gave students an opportunity to learn about the history of both institutions and see how journalists across print, digital, audio and visual platforms approach reporting and storytelling in the public interest. Students also had the chance to see the work of a newsroom with national, international and local coverage alongside a newsroom focused primarily on local reporting in New York City.
At The New York Times, Deputy Standards Editor Aisha Khan led students on a tour of the newsroom and discussed newsroom standards, ethics and editorial decision-making. The tour began on the 15th floor, where students viewed the newsroom’s Pulitzer Prize gallery wall and visited the Museum at The Times, which features artifacts and memorabilia dating back to the newspaper’s founding 175 years ago.
Students also met with two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times investigative reporter Steve Eder. He spoke about his path into journalism, beginning at his student newspaper at Michigan State University before joining The Toledo Blade, a local newspaper in Ohio, where he was part of a team that became a Pulitzer Prize finalist.
Eder, who has covered Jeffrey Epstein on and off since 2019, also answered students’ questions about his ongoing reporting on the Epstein files, offering a behind-the-scenes look at the persistence, sourcing, verification practices and document-based reporting techniques that drive accountability journalism.
The class later visited WNYC/Gothamist, where Brittany Kriegstein, a breaking news and crime reporter, spoke about community-centered reporting in a digital-first newsroom.
Kriegstein discussed how she approaches grieving families while covering some of the most difficult moments of their lives, how she balances daily assignments with enterprise reporting and the importance of old-fashioned shoe-leather reporting. Showing up in person and spending time in the communities she covers, Kriegstein said, have been essential to her success as a journalist and to her ability to build trust with people.
Kriegstein also spoke about the unique power of audio journalism, not only as a way to share the news, but as a medium that allows audiences to hear people tell their stories in their own words.
She emphasized the importance of using whatever tools are available to a reporter and told the group that she frequently captures audio using her smartphone, just as students do in Reporting and Writing 2.
