This is an issue I’ve been looking forward to since last summer. While on a nature photography road trip from Seattle to Grand Teton National Park, I stumbled on a photo gallery in Jackson Hole, Wyo. It was a Sunday night, so the gallery was closed, but I was transfixed by the photos displayed inside. I was heading back on the road early the next morning, so would not have a chance to enter the gallery, but I grabbed a courtesy catalog from a dispenser outside the door.

Continuing on my trip, the memory of those photos stayed with me. As I looked over the catalog along the way, I knew we had to share those photos—and this photographer—with our readers. One of the highlights of this issue on nature and wildlife photography has been getting to view more...

Since our spring issue, several events have drawn my attention to a phenomenon that has been intensifying dramatically for the last five years or so: the news media's tendency to sensationalize stories. Whether it be the downfall of a celebrity, a senseless shooting, or a natural disaster, all segments of the news industry seem to be embracing these stories with zeal.

We are living in the age of the big story, and each new story seems to get bigger than the last. Witness the Oklahoma City bombing, the O.J. Simpson murder trials, Princess Diana's passing, President Clinton's sexual transgressions and subsequent impeachment, the war in Kosovo, the Columbine shootings, JFK Jr.'s passing, and the aftermath of Hurricane Floyd. The subjects are put under a microscope while the public lives vicariously...