Reality Check
Not-so-secret lives on smartphones
There may be no better way to report on the internal lives of others than to examine what’s on their phones
By Chris Ip Jul 24, 2014 at 03:45 PM
Call it journalistic phone hacking with consent. On The Secret Life of Students, a recent documentary series on the UK’s... More
The Second Opinion
The Boston Globe owned the health policy beat once. Where did that tenacity go?
The paper’s coverage of big health news in Massachusetts is now too often ho-hum
By Trudy Lieberman Jul 24, 2014 at 12:14 PM
As goes Massachusetts; so goes the nation--at least when it comes to healthcare. In 2009 and 2010, in the midst... More
The Audit
Bloomberg struggles to break out of the box
Justin Smith’s ambitious digital transformation hits some bumps
By Dean Starkman Jul 24, 2014 at 06:50 AM
When Justin Smith arrived from The Atlantic to last fall to take over the sprawling media group at Bloomberg LP,... More
United States Project
A state lawmaker’s op-ed appears to be copied from… somewhere
Homebuilders and cattle ranchers team up to fight an EPA rule, and industry talking points end up on the op-ed page
By Corey Hutchins Jul 23, 2014 at 03:17 PM
CHARLESTON, SC — What does cattle ranching in Wyoming have to do with building homes in South Carolina? More than... More
Magazine: Feature
From the archives: The Times and the Jews
A vocal segment of American Jewry has long believed that the paper has been unfair to Israel. Here’s why—and why they’re wrong.
By Neil Lewis Jul 23, 2014 at 02:00 PM
Editor's note: The fighting in Gaza has, predictably, reinvigorated the perennial debate over the US media's coverage of the Israel-Palestinian... More
Behind the News
Stories I’d like to see
The facts on Iron Dome, suing over Flight 17, and reviving the VA
By Steven Brill Jul 22, 2014 at 03:35 PM
This column, a regular feature, originally ran on Reuters.com. 1. Figuring out the Iron Dome: As I kept reading and... More
United States Project
How public media collaborations are creating opportunities for local reporting
Local Journalism Centers offer chances to develop expertise—and build something that lasts
By Gabriel Rosenberg Jul 22, 2014 at 02:56 PM
Colorado’s crude oil production is surging, more than the state’s pipelines can handle. In order to increase capacity, shipping companies... More
United States Project
How an activist journalist’s commitment to a poor Chicago community led to a big FOIA win
After a years-long fight, city agrees that records of police misconduct complaints will be public
By Rui Kaneya Jul 22, 2014 at 10:58 AM
CHICAGO, IL — Ten years ago, a school janitor named Diane Bond brought a civil rights lawsuit against the... More
Behind the News
Truth and the Russian media
Unhinged claims about the Malaysia jet are part of a broader propaganda campaign
By Maria Danilova Jul 22, 2014 at 09:56 AM
As the world reacted to the deranged explanations emanating from Russia's state-controlled media about what really happened to Malaysia Airlines... More
Language Corner
Gotcha!
Get, got, and gotten
By Merrill Perlman Jul 22, 2014 at 06:50 AM
A software program that acts as a super spelling checker often stops on the word "got," and asks, in effect,... More
The Audit
How Forbes got to $475 million
That’s what a Hong Kong investor has agreed to pay for a firm that two years ago had trouble paying its rent
By Ryan Chittum Jul 21, 2014 at 05:06 PM
Integrated Whale Media Investments of Hong Kong is now the majority owner of Forbes Media, valuing the company at a... More
The Kicker
Are female journalists up to the job of a Jill Abramson interview?
Reporters avoid unflattering discussion about her firing
By Elizabeth Spayd Jul 21, 2014 at 04:45 PM
Let me just say this: If I ever get publicly bounced from a job, I am heading straight for Cosmopolitan... More
Behind the News
Minus proper archives, news outlets risk losing years of backstories forever
Experts say journalism outfits are naive about the safety of digital content and underestimate the value of archives
By Lene Sillesen Jul 21, 2014 at 12:41 PM
Print stories can be lost, but digital stories last forever, captured for eternity in some nebulous internet ether or on... More
Behind the News
Twitter and factchecking don’t mix during debates
Though Twitter provides real-time opportunities to hold candidates accountable during debates, factchecking on the quick isn’t as easy as it looks
By David Uberti Jul 21, 2014 at 06:50 AM
Mitt Romney’s assertion in the first 2012 presidential debate - that Obamacare was a government takeover of the healthcare industry... More
The Kicker
Must-reads of the week
Somaly Mam, the race beat and America’s ‘records of carnage.’
By The Editors Jul 18, 2014 at 02:50 PM
Culled from CJR’s own stories, plus the frequently updated “Must-reads from around the Web,” our staff recommendations for the best... More
United States Project
Jose Antonio Vargas’ detention shows what ‘border security’ actually entails
A reminder to reporters: Look beyond familiar images of agents patrolling the line
By Michelle Garcia Jul 18, 2014 at 02:50 PM
AUSTIN, TX -- The blurry photograph appears to capture the moment on July 15 when a Border Patrol agent handcuffed... More
United States Project
Free Press takes its transparency dispute with the University of Michigan to court
An attempt to clarify state law—and establish a principle of openness for public universities
By Jonathan Peters Jul 18, 2014 at 11:02 AM
Investment commitments and funding of more than $120 million, a property purchase for $12.8 million, construction of a new biological... More
Data Points
The best and worst of this week’s data journalism
A cool side project tracking taxi rides, and a quest to find the bowling center of the country
By Tanveer Ali Jul 18, 2014 at 11:00 AM
Chris Whong--a self-proclaimed urbanist, mapmaker, and data junkie--filed a Freedom of Information request that resulted in acquiring information about all... More
News Literacy
How to check if that viral video is true
Journalists don’t always verify user-generated content, so readers need to learn how to verify what they see online
By Jihii Jolly Jul 18, 2014 at 06:50 AM
When big news breaks, like the Malaysian airline plane crash in eastern Ukraine on Thursday afternoon, news organizations can't... More
The Audit
Murdoch moves on Time Warner
As pipes companies merge, another round of media consolidation
By Ryan Chittum Jul 17, 2014 at 04:04 PM
Seven years ago, when Rupert Murdoch stunned the media world by bidding for The Wall Street Journal, its parent company... More
The Second Opinion
Dangerous drug side effects will no longer be secret in Canada
Kudos to the Toronto Star for dogged investigations and pressure on a reluctant government agency
By Trudy Lieberman Jul 17, 2014 at 03:00 PM
Last fall on a visit to Canada, I spotted a first-rate piece in the Toronto Star by Diana Zlomislic,... More
Critical Eye
How Katrina and BP spill coverage defined NOLA as the two events, in turn, shaped local press
A review of Oil and Water: Media Lessons from Hurricane Katrina and The Deepwater Horizon Disaster
By Alexis Sobel Fitts Jul 17, 2014 at 10:30 AM
When Hurricane Katrina charged through New Orleans, the devastation left in its wake had an unintended side effect: It became... More
The Observatory
A long-time science reporter wrote a questionable book on genetics. Can we trust his other work?
The case of Nicholas Wade and reporting on a lively field with a dishonorable past
By Chris Ip Jul 17, 2014 at 06:53 AM
In the 10 weeks since veteran science journalist Nicholas Wade penned a book claiming that genetic difference between the races... More
How Forbes got to $475 million - That’s what a Hong Kong investor has agreed to pay for a firm that two years ago had trouble paying its rent
Are female journalists up to the job of a Jill Abramson interview? - Reporters avoid unflattering discussion about her firing
How to check if that viral video is true - Journalists don’t always verify user-generated content, so readers need to learn how to verify what they see online
The Grand Dame of Florida reporting has retired twice, but she’s still causing trouble - A conversation with the Tampa Bay Times’ Lucy Morgan
Brick by brick - After years of shrinking ambition at The Washington Post, Jeff Bezos has the paper thinking global domination
Email blasts from CJR writers and editors
The 10 worst New Yorker longreads (Gawker)
“[A]pparently [Adam] Gopnik did not know you could bake fancy breads from France and other cultures. So he got his mom to teach him how to bake them. A fine anecdote, maybe, to tell a friend or a therapist. But in this case he wrote about it for the New Yorker, a magazine.”
OMG OMG OMG #help
Insufferable parenthetical asides, ranked (The Hairpin)
18. (strictly for the mise-en-scene)
You are now entering the demented kingdom of William T. Vollmann (TNR)
“Franzen tells a hilarious story of being a young writer in New York, meeting Vollmann, becoming fast friends, and inaugurating a draft swap. A while later, they exchanged work. Franzen gave Vollmann a dozen chiseled pages. Vollmann gave Franzen an entire novel.”
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.
