History couples well with journalism, except when it doesn't. See Washington Post on Turkey quake - I

One of the modules I currently teach is History and Journalism. The basic premise is to get students of history to keep that unique focus when writing a journalistic piece. The students are also meant to bring a sense of place into their writing and to consider ways in which to mine memory — people’s recollections, accounts from newspaper archives and much more. The overall idea is to provide historical context to contemporary events.

It’s interesting to consider the ways in which the lens of history can make or mar a piece of journalism. The worst way to keep a historical focus is to self-consciously zoom in on it, blurring what is already before us, or emerging.

A timely example is a Washington Post deep dive into the massive earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria on February 6.

The piece, which appeared on February 7, bore the bald headline: “Quake in Turkey and Syria follows a deeper history of disaster”. It appeared in the Today’s Worldview slot, which is mostly read by people who ele…