"We did it!/We're here! Chang and I are the first New York Times journalists to reach the Thwaites Glacier, but the Times has a long history of Antarctica reporting. Chang and I have made it to Thwaites! We're the first New Yo rk Times reporters to make it! It feels like a good opportunity to look back at Times reporters who came before me and reported from Antarctica."
"The first New York Times reporter to report from Antarctica was Russell Owen, who joined a US Navy commander, Richard Byrd, for 14 months between 1928 and 1930. And the Times called him the world's first polar reporter. The Times didn't have a photographer on the Byrd expedition, but a documentary film did capture the exploration Owen was the only reporter there. So it was an exclusive, a 14 month exclusive. His dispatches are still so vivid today."
Early Antarctic coverage began with Russell Owen joining Commander Richard Byrd for a 14-month expedition (1928–1930), during which Owen served as the sole reporter and produced vivid dispatches. A documentary film captured elements of that exploration despite the absence of an expedition photographer. Perceptions in the early 20th century framed Antarctica as remote, unknown, and inhospitable. Over subsequent decades those perceptions shifted as sustained journeys, archival records, and on-site visits—including recent travel to Thwaites Glacier—expanded observational knowledge and documented evolving understanding of Antarctic exploration and scientific interest.
Read at www.nytimes.com
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