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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Shon Hopwood was in prison for more than a decade. There, the bank robber became a jailhouse lawyer who got a fellow prisoner's case heard before the Supreme Court. Now a law student, he'll be a clerk at one of the nation's most prestigious courts. The judge who put him in prison is stunned.
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The Republican senator supports military action that makes it harder for Syrian President Bashar Assad to wage war against his people. The Senate on Tuesday starts debating the president's request for authorization to strike Syria in response to its alleged use of chemical weapons.
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The recent deaths of two more extreme sports enthusiasts who were trying to "fly" past mountains has brought new attention to a very dangerous sport.
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In 1945, a hungry American prisoner of war in Germany traded a much-loved ring for some food. Nearly 70 years later, it has found its way to the man's family. How it got there is a good story.
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Knell joined NPR in December 2011. He came after the resignation of Vivian Schiller, who left after two high-profile controversies. Now he's moving to National Geographic for what he says is an opportunity "I could not turn down."
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"Comedians all over the country have used political figures to make fun of current events, it's nothing new," rodeo clown Tuffy Gessling has told a Missouri news outlet. The skit he directed at the state fair sparked outrage.
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At a zoo in the Netherlands, 112 baboons suddenly started acting oddly. They turned their backs to visitors. They moped around. They didn't want to eat. It was a week before they got back to normal. Were they upset by a storm or an earthquake that people didn't feel? Maybe aliens? It's a mystery.
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With a very personal message about the Trayvon Martin case and race relations, the president "connected with so many African-American men," says Detroit radio host Angelo Henderson. He's among many commenting on the president's remarks.
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Stephen Rakes said the gangster forced him — at gunpoint — to sell a liquor store. The cause of Rakes' death isn't yet known. Authorities say there were "no obvious signs of trauma." Rakes, who said he could speak for those who fear Bulger, was told this week he would not be called to the stand.
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After two years of political bickering, Richard Cordray has been confirmed as head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. He thinks that, in the end, his agency has won bipartisan support for the work it will do.