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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Last week, at least 13 of the Nepalese guides were killed in an avalanche. Sherpas have been discussing a boycott of the climbing season if they aren't given more insurance and other aid. -
Although the captain and some of the officers have been called cowards or worse, passengers say other crew members acted heroically. At least seven crew members died or are missing. -
The California teen "ran for the nearest plane," according to the FBI. He ended up riding for 5 1/2 hours to Hawaii, and luckily survived the thin air and freezing temperatures. -
A California teen, the FBI says, flew from San Jose to Maui inside the landing gear bay of a Boeing 767. He is said to be OK. He's also very lucky. Nearly everyone else who's tried has died.
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Accounts have varied widely about what has happened to girls and young women presumed kidnapped by Islamist extremists. Authorities say 85 are unaccounted for. Families say the number is much higher.
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The deaths last week of at least 13 guides have led others to issue demands, including for more compensation for families of the dead. They're considering a boycott if the requests aren't granted. -
"Kid's lucky to be alive," an FBI spokesman says of a 16-year-old boy who authorities think stowed away Sunday in the wheel well of a flight from San Jose, Calif., to Maui. The odds were against him. -
President Park Geun-hye says the captain did little to help the hundreds on board escape. More than 60 bodies have been recovered. More than 230 people, most of them high school students, are missing. -
More than 36,000 runners and an estimated 1 million spectators are going to be on and along the streets for the 118th marathon — the first since last year's bombings. -
When the NSA leaker asked the Russian leader about his nation's electronic eavesdropping, Putin said there's no "mass system." The Center for Strategic & International Studies says there is.
