Tom Huang is Sunday & Enterprise Editor at The Dallas Morning News and Adjunct Faculty member of The Poynter Institute, where he oversees the school’s writing program. He has worked at The Dallas Morning News since 1993, first as a feature writer, then as features editor, and now as the Sunday Page One editor. During Huang’s time as features editor, the newspaper’s features coverage was named one of the nation’s best by the Missouri Lifestyle Journalism Awards and by the American Association of Sunday and Feature Editors. His reporting has taken him from Bosnia and Vietnam and the Athens Olympics to the aftermath of the Oklahoma City bombing and the 9/11 attacks in New York. At Poynter, he teaches seminar sessions in ethics, diversity, writing and leadership issues, and he was co-editor of Poynter’s Best Newspaper Writing book for 2008-2009. Before moving to Dallas, he worked at The Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk, where he covered courts, city hall, demographics and general assignments. He is president of the Society for Features Journalism Foundation and serves on the national advisory board of the Asian American Journalists Association. He is a 1988 graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in computer science and engineering.
Dear new editor,
Not long ago, I wrote a column encouraging young journalists to keep their chins up and pursue their dreams of working in a newsroom, even though many of those newsrooms have become difficult places to work. Several … Read more
Resolutions are daunting — especially New Year’s resolutions. Getting more exercise, quitting smoking, reading more books — can we stick to our resolutions past January, and will these new behaviors make us better people?
Well, maybe not in all cases, … Read more
I can’t believe that my former editor never threw me out of his office. That’s because, back when I was a cub reporter, I used to pitch story ideas by proclaiming that I wanted to write about “the homeless,” or … Read more
This week’s news of Ann Curry’s problems as co-host of NBC’s “Today” show makes my mind reel and my heart ache.
It makes my heart ache because, as the son of Asian immigrants, I’ve felt an instinctive pride as I’ve … Read more
If you’d like to bring your story to life in a tight space — say, 500 words or less — try traveling back in time to your 3rd or 4th grade classroom. Back then, your teacher most likely instructed you … Read more
Dear Young Journalist,
I’m writing this letter to you because I get the feeling you might need some encouragement right now. (Lord knows, we all need some encouragement right now, but let me focus on you for the moment.)
I’m … Read more
One recent afternoon, I walked from my hotel through the historic Art Deco district of South Beach, following the curve of the ocean to South Pointe Park. My parents had chosen Miami as a place for a family reunion, and … Read more
Like most sports fans (and many non-sports fans, for that matter), I’ve been caught up in Linsanity.
That’s the term fans use to describe Jeremy Lin’s stunning breakout performance as point guard for the New York Knicks.
For those … Read more
Mentoring is one of the most important things we can do as journalists. But I wonder whether we’re doing nearly enough of it.
It’s a difficult time in our newsrooms, and it’s easy to forget that our colleagues, especially the … Read more
Congratulations! You’ve been invited to teach a session at a journalism conference.
That means your colleagues think you’ve reached a point in your career where you’ve got some wisdom to share. (Or it could also mean that no one else … Read more