January/February 2014

Articles

Ring of fire

As concussion controversy rages, boxing writers look in the mirror

By Alan Neuhauser Jan 2, 2014 at 12:00 AM

In the span of two weeks last fall, two prizefighters went to the hospital after their bouts. Francisco Leal,... More

Evgeny vs. the internet

Evgeny Morozov wants to convince us that digital technology can’t save the world, and he’s willing to burn every bridge from Cambridge to Silicon Valley to do it

By Michael Meyer Jan 2, 2014 at 12:00 AM

Depending on whom you ask, Evgeny Morozov is either the most astute, feared, loathed, or useless writer about digital... More

Game change

In 20 years, football may look very different from the sport we know today. Will the fans, and the media, care?

By Robert Weintraub Jan 2, 2014 at 12:00 AM

Two thousand thirteen was an annus horribilis for the National Football League. Its signature event, the Super Bowl, was subjected... More

On the job

Walkabout

By Naomi Sharp Jan 2, 2014 at 12:00 AM

Paul Salopek is going for a walk. He set out in Ethiopia at the beginning of 2013. If all... More

Media darling

Malala Yousafzai’s long and delicate dance with the press

By Shahan Mufti Jan 2, 2014 at 12:00 AM

In 2009, The New York Times posted a two-part documentary on its website about Pakistan's battle against Taliban militants.... More

Almost famous

Can a star-studded documentary series make people care about climate change?

By Alexis Sobel Fitts Jan 2, 2014 at 12:00 AM

Last September CJR's Alexis Sobel Fitts trailed a documentary crew through Seattle as they filmed, Years of Living Dangerously,... More

The great story

In the run-up to the Great Recession, accountability journalism saw the story that access journalism missed

By Dean Starkman Jan 2, 2014 at 12:00 AM

This is an excerpt from The Watchdog That Didn't Bark: The Financial Crisis and the Disappearance of Investigative Journalism,... More

Remaking history

A rare trove of Victorian-era Times-Picayunes survived Nazi bombs and trans-Atlantic voyages, before landing in the lap of a Crescent City character with a passion for antique printing presses and big plans for his treasure

By Michael Patrick Welch Jan 2, 2014 at 12:00 AM

Joseph Makkos lives in a modest, second-floor studio in a light-industrial area of New Orleans' Ninth Ward, where his... More

A movement’s moment?

Common Core opens the door for news literacy to expand in the classroom

By Ben Adler Jan 2, 2014 at 12:00 AM

The news-literacy movement was born in the middle of the last decade, in response to the challenges news consumers face... More

Departments

Viral videos across borders

By The Editors Jan 2, 2014 at 12:00 AM

When YouTube began releasing the top trending videos in 61 countries and many US cities, Ethan Zuckerman decided to... More

The right debate

Access vs. accountability is what matters

By The Editors Jan 2, 2014 at 12:00 AM

Back in October, Bill Keller of The New York Times and Glenn Greenwald, formerly of The Guardian and now... More

Letters to the editor

Readers respond to our November/December issue

By The Editors Jan 2, 2014 at 12:00 AM

Editors' Note CJR begins a new era this month, as Liz Spayd joins the Review as editor in chief and... More

Open Bar

The Pen & Pencil Club

By Dan Eldridge Jan 2, 2014 at 12:00 AM

The Pen & Pencil Club Philadelphia, PA Year opened 1892 Distinguishing features Club members are especially proud of the Pen &... More

Darts & Laurels

Twitter hysteria and a healthcare horror story

By Edirin Oputu Jan 2, 2014 at 12:00 AM

A DART to The Daily Mail for accusing former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown of claiming more than £316,000 in... More

Pimp yo’ brand

Journalists bang their own drums

By Edirin Oputu Jan 2, 2014 at 12:00 AM

For reporters, self-promotion isn't just prudent, it's essential. Although In These Times has multiple email newsletters, the nonprofit magazine encouraged... More

Ef-tymology

In a word

By Charles M. Madigan Jan 2, 2014 at 12:00 AM

When "Not Fucking Rocket Science" ended up on the "Journalism Is . . ." cover of CJR (September/October 2013), letters flew in... More

Hard Numbers

Digital disruption

By Edirin Oputu Jan 2, 2014 at 12:00 AM

79 years (1933-2012) that Newsweek was continuously in print in the US 279 years that Lloyd's List, the world's oldest... More

Search committee

Getting to know 100 senators

By Christie Chisholm Jan 2, 2014 at 12:00 AM

The Sunlight Foundation's 100 Senators tool has a simple mission: to allow you to discover not just what senators... More

Not-so-fluffy news

The pet beat takes chops

By Edirin Oputu Jan 2, 2014 at 12:00 AM

Most reporters expect to bring their résumé or clips to a job interview. Tanya Irwin was asked to bring... More

Naming rights

By Merrill Perlman Jan 2, 2014 at 12:00 AM

The New York Times recently added an entry to its eponymous stylebook, available only online: "In precise, traditional usage, an... More

Ideas & Reviews

Joining the chorus

Albert Camus’ journalism, more than his famous fiction, reveals the evolution of his thinking on life and how to live it

By Elias Altman Jan 2, 2014 at 12:00 AM

When Albert Camus said on the evening of December 12, 1957, "I have not yet given my opinion about... More

Uncommon ground

J. Anthony Lukas realized something larger than the truth

By LynNell Hancock Jan 2, 2014 at 12:00 AM

In the fall of 1974, black schoolchildren from Boston's Roxbury neighborhood climbed into school buses bound for South Boston,... More

Care and feeding of the press

Roosevelt did it, Taft did not, and that made all the difference

By Julia M. Klein Jan 2, 2014 at 12:00 AM

It was president Theodore Roosevelt who, in 1906, famously used the term "muckrakers" to disparage investigative journalists. Referencing John Bunyan's... More

Brief encounters

Short review of The Outrage Industry

By James Boylan Jan 2, 2014 at 12:00 AM

The Outrage Industry: Political Opinion Media and the New Incivility By Jeffrey M. Berry and Sarah Sobieraj Oxford University Press... More

Exit interview

A news guy meets a deadline

By Noah Hurowitz Jan 2, 2014 at 12:00 AM

William Dean Singleton stepped down as chairman of MediaNews Group in December after decades at the helm of America's... More

Most Popular
Most Commented
Twitter

New survey reveals everything you think about freelancing is true - Data from Project Word quantifies challenges of freelance investigative reporting

Why one editor won’t run any more op-eds by the Heritage Foundation’s top economist - A reply to Paul Krugman on state taxes and job growth made some incorrect claims

Why we ‘stave off’ colds - It all started with wine

The New Republic, then and now - Tallying the staff turnover at the overhauled magazine

Why serious journalism can coexist with audience-pleasing content - Legacy media organizations should experiment with digital platforms while continuing to publish hard news

Why Bill O'Reilly can play hardball on his war zone story (5)

Why scientists often hate records requests (4)

Showdown over the future of independent documentaries at PBS (2)

The LA Times goes deep on superbug outbreak (2)

Why Jan Brewer is sounding like James Risen (2)

Tweets by @CJR

Email blasts from CJR writers and editors

The rise of feelings journalism (TNR)

“Bloom engaged in an increasingly popular style of writing, which I’ve discussed on my blog before, which I call “feelings journalism.” It involves a writer making an argument based on what they imagine someone else is thinking, what they feel may be another person’s feelings. The realm of fact, of reporting, has been left behind.”

Things a war correspondent should never say (WSJ)

“The correspondent retelling war stories surely knows that fellow correspondents had faced the same dangers or worse”

The joyful, bloody media circus of bringing down Brian Williams (Bloomberg)

“In the media, we eat our own for sport”

On WaPo trying to interview a cow (National Journal)

“‘I wasn’t milked on the White House lawn by a strange man,’ The Washington Post—the venerable institution that would later come to break the Watergate scandal and win 48 Pulitzers—quoted her, a farm animal, as saying”

Bloggingheads

Greg Marx discusses democracy and news with Tom Rosenstiel of the American Press Institute

If you like the magazine, get the rest of the year for just $19.95 (6 issues in all).
If not, simply write cancel on the bill and return it. You will owe nothing.