The Magazine
May/June 2009
Articles
Feature
Identity Crisis
The Wall Street Journal steers away from what made it great
By Liza Featherstone May 25, 2009 at 05:00 PM
In December 2008, a year after* Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. purchased The Wall Street Journal, the paper had a holiday... More
Feature
Waiting for CNBC
A tragicomedy in one long act
By Maureen Tkacik May 24, 2009 at 08:00 AM
“But eight point one percent. . . . Uh, that’s what you said, right, Zandi?” “I said eight. I said eight. Eight point one... More
Feature
A Matter of Trust
One story from Gaza and what it says about the coverage of Israel
By J.J. Goldberg May 23, 2009 at 08:00 AM
On Thursday morning, March 19, Israelis woke to find a story on the front pages of two leading daily newspapers... More
Feature
A Vision in the Desert
The National tries to lift journalism in Abu Dhabi
By Andrew Mills May 22, 2009 at 11:40 AM
It’s 11 a.m. in mid-June and ten section editors have crowded around the table at the center of The National’s... More
Feature
The Smell of Paradise
Under pressure in Gaza: a reporter’s notebook
By Taghreed El-Khodary May 21, 2009 at 08:00 AM
First Day It is 10:40 on a sunny and warm Saturday morning, and time for my walk through Gaza. I... More
Campaign Desk
Covering Gaza from Israel
What Israelis wanted to know about the war
By Lisa Goldman May 20, 2009 at 08:00 AM
During the first week of Israel’s winter military operation in Gaza, a broadcaster for ChanNel 2, which has the highest... More
Feature
Crash Course
How to cover a car wreck
By Tom Vanderbilt May 19, 2009 at 03:42 PM
The fatal car crash is, unfortunately, an all-too-familiar staple of local journalism. Each of us can summon a grim collage... More
Feature
Heresy on the Right
A handful of new Web sites try to rewire conservative media
By Ben Adler May 18, 2009 at 08:00 AM
Electoral defeat tends to spawn bouts of ideological tinkering—when the Democrats lost the presidential election in 2004, a clutch of... More
Cover Story
Power Problem
The business press did everything but take on the institutions that brought down the financial system
By Dean Starkman May 14, 2009 at 07:00 AM
“The government, the financial industry and the American consumer—if they had only paid attention—would have gotten ample warning about this... More
Essay
Newspaper Narcissism
Our pursuit of glory led us away from readers
By Walter Pincus May 7, 2009 at 08:30 AM
American journalism is in trouble, and the problem is not just financial. My profession is in distress because for more... More
The Audit
The List
What the business press did (and didn’t do) while the financial crisis was brewing
By Dean Starkman May 6, 2009 at 08:00 AM
Welcome to the List, a comprehensive catalog of relevant stories produced by major business-news outlets on the lending industry and... More
Departments
Editorial
All Together Now
Journalism’s collaborative future
By The Editors May 16, 2009 at 08:00 AM
Over the last year, a number of news outlets have done what has traditionally been anathema to journalists: collaborate with... More
Short Takes
Bull’s-Eye
Will targeted Web advertising save newspapers?
By Jane Kim May 15, 2009 at 10:55 AM
In CJR’s March/April issue, David S. Bennahum, who runs the Center for Independent Media, made the case that targeted Web... More
Short Takes
By Its Cover
The Internet and the ever-growing book title
By Sacha Evans May 15, 2009 at 09:32 AM
Remember when a non-fiction book could get away with a short, ambiguous title? Walter Lippmann’s Public Opinion and Ernie Pyle’s... More
Short Takes
Cad Call
A journalist’s stutter is a curse and a blessing
By Jonathan Rowe May 15, 2009 at 08:57 AM
A stutter is not something I’d wish upon anyone (though I could be tempted). Mine is blessedly behind me, for... More
Darts and Laurels
Darts & Laurels
Send tips and suggestions to [email protected]
By Katia Bachko May 14, 2009 at 01:46 PM
Dart to the Deseret News for dereliction of journalistic duty in its coverage of the Mormon Church and the Church’s... More
Ideas & Reviews
Second Read
Dead Reckoning
Manchester’s flawed, essential chronicle of the JFK assassination
By Thomas Mallon May 18, 2009 at 11:51 AM
The first printing of William Manchester’s The Death of a President ran to a half million copies and reached stores... More
Review
Live and Learn
How the meritocratic assembly line has let us down
By Ross Douthat May 16, 2009 at 04:15 PM
Lost in the Meritocracy: The Undereducation of an Overachiever | By Walter Kirn | Doubleday | 224 pages, $24.95 How... More
Review
Brief Encounters
Short reviews of books about William Randolph Hearst and the Arkansas Gazette
By James Boylan May 16, 2009 at 04:05 PM
The Uncrowned King: The Sensational Rise of William Randolph Hearst | By Kenneth Whyte | Counterpoint | 546 pages, $30... More
The Research Report
The News Deficit
Public television’s role in informing Americans
By Michael Schudson & Danielle Haas May 16, 2009 at 03:55 PM
A Yank, a Brit, a Dane, and a Finn walk into a bar. . . . You’ve heard this one? Well, not the way... More
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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

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”

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

CJR's Guide to Online News Startups
ACEsTooHigh.com – Reporting on the science, education, and policy surrounding childhood trauma
Who Owns What
The Business of Digital Journalism
A report from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism
Questions and exercises for journalism students.
