Advance’s forced march backwards

The Plain Dealer imposes draconian cuts in the name of an outdated strategy for newspapers

By Dean Starkman   Jul 31, 2013 at 03:57 PM

Advance Publications's remorseless campaign to impose a free-online content model on its regional newspapers exacted another heavy toll with... More

Q&A: Ruby Cramer, political reporter at BuzzFeed

“The consistency with which Anthony Weiner walks around the city with a guy holding his name up behind him is impressive”

By Alexis Sobel Fitts   Jul 31, 2013 at 02:55 PM

There's an audible sense of panic in Ruby Cramer's voice when she answers the phone at our scheduled interview time.... More

Factchecking enters ‘Conversation’ in Oz

How an Australian news site is taking a new approach to the format

By Brendan Nyhan   Jul 31, 2013 at 11:00 AM

Australia has suddenly become a hotbed for political factchecking. In May, PolitiFact Australia launched as the first international affiliate of... More

A Big Mac miss by The Huffington Post

Poor reporting on a “study” by a Kansas undergrad

By Ryan Chittum   Jul 31, 2013 at 11:00 AM

The Huffington Post reports that McDonald's could double its workers wages by raising the price of a Big Mac by... More

What MIT really thought of Aaron Swartz

The school leadership’s patience for hacker culture only went so far

By Sarah Laskow   Jul 31, 2013 at 06:50 AM

On Tuesday, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology released a report, produced by an internal "Review Panel," on the school's actions... More

At what cost?

A New York Times report on presidential helicopters offers lessons for covering government contractors

By David Cay Johnston   Jul 30, 2013 at 02:50 PM

Competition for government contracts tends to drive down prices for taxpayers. But when bidding requirements are narrowly-crafted, as the New... More

Stories I’d like to see

The cushy world of academia, surveillance 2.0 and $200 million to tear down a building

By Steven Brill   Jul 30, 2013 at 11:15 AM

In his "Stories I'd like to see" column, journalist and entrepreneur Steven Brill spotlights topics that, in his opinion, have... More

An Obamacare scorecard: Part 2

The hits, misses, and mixed reviews

By Trudy Lieberman   Jul 30, 2013 at 06:55 AM

Politico recently summed up the president's recent sales pitch for Obamacare this way: "Make the big sell by talking small."... More

John Stossel’s poor logic on minimum wages and jobs

Fox host fails to explain away Australia’s high wages and low unemployment

By Ryan Chittum   Jul 30, 2013 at 06:50 AM

Fox Business's John Stossel is a long-time opponent of the minimum wage. I don't mean he opposes raising the minimum... More

TNR asks the big journalism question

When news breaks, does the source or the viral aggregator deserve the clicks?

By Kira Goldenberg   Jul 29, 2013 at 05:15 PM

Over at The New Republic, Marc Tracy offers a helpful peek into how an ignorant Fox News interview--a religion scholar... More

Misbegottens

More twisted idioms

By Merrill Perlman   Jul 29, 2013 at 02:50 PM

Last week, we talked about some idioms that have been twisted by people who write them as they hear them,... More

An Obamacare scorecard

Part 1: What’s gone, what’s on hold, and what’s still in place

By Trudy Lieberman   Jul 29, 2013 at 06:56 AM

For all that has been written, spoken, screamed, and whispered about the Affordable Care Act, there is still a... More

Audit Notes: Robot truckers, Larry Summers, Detroit not America’s future

Computers take on a last haven of blue-collar jobs

By Ryan Chittum   Jul 29, 2013 at 06:50 AM

The Wall Street Journal's Dennis Berman has an excellent piece on the future of the truck driver, whom he notes... More

Must-reads of the week

Jill Abramson’s Carlos Danger name is Nate Silver

By The Editors   Jul 26, 2013 at 02:51 PM

Culled from CJR’s frequently updated “Must-reads from around the Web,” our staff recommendations for the best pieces of journalism (and... More

Freedom of speech in Cambodia, but only in English

After 20 years of ‘democracy,’ Khmer-language journalism is still under assault

By Karen Coates   Jul 26, 2013 at 02:50 PM

He's back. After four years in self-imposed exile, Cambodian opposition leader Sam Rainsy landed in Phnom Penh last Friday to... More

Audit Notes: Meredith Whitney’s press, Steve Forbes, revolving door

An aversion to the press, proclaimed amidst a press tour

By Ryan Chittum   Jul 26, 2013 at 11:00 AM

Michael Aneiro of Barron's watches Meredith Whitney, the discredited Cassandra of the municipal-bond market, on CNBC. Whitney has been popping... More

Reuters’s global warming about-face

A survey shows the newswire ran 50 percent fewer stories on climate change after hiring a “skeptic”

By Alexis Sobel Fitts   Jul 26, 2013 at 06:55 AM

Reuters has long been one of the most prolific producers of climate change journalism, leading The New York Times and... More

Minimum sense on the minimum wage

A WSJ op-ed from a front group for low-wage employers gets it very wrong

By Ryan Chittum   Jul 26, 2013 at 06:50 AM

Minimum-wage earners make nearly a third less than minimum-wage earners did 45 years ago. But it's "intellectually bankrupt" to point... More

Unlocking stories behind bars

Florida is privatizing much of the state’s prison healthcare, and the companies getting these big contracts have a history well worth exploring

By Susannah Nesmith   Jul 25, 2013 at 03:15 PM

MIAMI -- With Florida embarking on an ambitious effort to privatize much of the state's prison healthcare--the largest such undertaking... More

In Azerbaijan, a journalist under siege

Khadija Ismayilova’s fight against wrongdoings, “wherever they are”

By Amanda Erickson   Jul 25, 2013 at 02:50 PM

It was supposed to be a punishment--220 hours plucking garbage off the streets of Baku, Azerbaijan. Instead, journalist Khadija Ismayilova... More

The new voting wars: a primer (UPDATED)

Trying to wrap your mind around the Voting Rights Act in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling on it, and the Justice Department’s decision to weigh in aggressively in voting-rights cases? Here’s a guide to readings and resources

By Mariah Blake   Jul 25, 2013 at 12:44 PM

UPDATE, July 25, 2013 (This replaces two earlier updates): On Tuesday, June 25, the Supreme Court dismantled a key provision... More

Tax overhaul: big numbers, hidden stories

Multinationals have ways to avoid taxes not available to domestic companies, and momentum is building in both parties to fix a flawed system. A few journalists are taking note.

By David Cay Johnston   Jul 25, 2013 at 11:12 AM

How big corporations pay--or don't pay--their taxes isn't a subject that gets a lot of quality explanatory coverage, though... More

WaPo makes a Switch

The paper’s newest blog will cover tech policy, the Wonkblog way

By Sarah Laskow   Jul 25, 2013 at 11:00 AM

The Washington Post announced on Monday the launch of a new tech policy blog, The Switch, that will cover "NSA... More

Email newsletter etiquette for journalists

How to insert yourself in readers’ inboxes—without annoying them

By Ann Friedman   Jul 25, 2013 at 07:45 AM

One of the disadvantages of being a freelance writer is that there's no larger platform promoting all of your work.... More

Goldman swings, misses, at NYT’s commodities exposé

Bank and newspaper, at odds again

By Dean Starkman   Jul 25, 2013 at 06:50 AM

I had a hunch that David Kocieniewski's piece on Goldman Sachs's metals maneuvers would stand up in the face of... More

Media accelerator gives startups a push

Matter just helped launch six new-media startups

By Edirin Oputu   Jul 25, 2013 at 06:50 AM

On Tuesday, journalists, investors, and technology enthusiasts gathered at WNYC's Greene Space to meet Matter One: the first graduating class... More

The game has changed

As moves by Nate Silver and Pete King suggest, it’s better to be cocooned inside Big Media than go it alone—even for stars

By Robert Weintraub   Jul 24, 2013 at 02:50 PM

Over the weekend, the media world was shaken by the announcement that mathematical guru Nate Silver, the dude who buried... More

Who is Greg Abbott?

Texans still don’t know enough about the man who aspires to replace Rick Perry

By Richard Parker   Jul 24, 2013 at 02:50 PM

AUSTIN, TX -- He is the chosen one. The frontrunner. The presumptive nominee, and even the likely next governor of... More

Q&A: James O’Shea

The former Tribune newsman discusses where the company has been, and where it’s going

By Abraham Moussako   Jul 24, 2013 at 11:45 AM

James O'Shea, former editor at the Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times, was close to the center of the... More

Sympathy for the Walmart flack

How the PR-afflicted colossus pushes its “jobs” narrative on a credulous press

By Ryan Chittum   Jul 24, 2013 at 06:56 AM

On some level you have to feel a little bad for the Walmart flack. You try polishing the image of... More

Telling the tale of two young black men

A bungled case, a villain, and a slew of sympathetic, media-savvy advocates pushed Trayvon Martin’s tragedy into national headlines—but should it take such a perfect storm?

By Alexis Sobel Fitts   Jul 23, 2013 at 04:11 PM

In the early hours of New Year's Day in 2009, a young man named Oscar Grant boarded a BART train... More

Stories I’d like to see

TV’s campaign ad addiction, Obamacare outsourced to Canada, and a Romney aide’s new role

By Steven Brill   Jul 23, 2013 at 04:00 PM

In his "Stories I'd like to see" column, journalist and entrepreneur Steven Brill spotlights topics that, in his opinion, have... More

Creating Internet accountability

Author Rebecca MacKinnon’s new project aims to rank Internet giants on human rights

By Sarah Laskow   Jul 23, 2013 at 11:00 AM

Rebecca MacKinnon is the sort of person who, after Edward Snowden leaked details of the government's digital surveillance program, could... More

The revolving door spins for Robert Khuzami

Former SEC enforcement chief lands a $5 million a year gig

By Ryan Chittum   Jul 23, 2013 at 06:50 AM

Robert Khuzami made the big bucks as Deutsche Bank's general counsel for the Americas during the subprime securitization orgy, which... More

Nate Silver’s next steps

At ESPN, he’s going to build his brand into a staffed site

By Kira Goldenberg   Jul 22, 2013 at 04:45 PM

Nate Silver's move from The New York Times to ESPN is turning the reporter-statistician into the editor in chief of... More

Keystone fatigue? Get over it

Many in media are saying enough already on pipeline debate, but the story is far from over

By Deron Lee   Jul 22, 2013 at 03:00 PM

FAIRWAY, KS -- A palpable exhaustion seems to have set in this year among some journalists when it comes to... More

Righting speech

When people misspell while talking

By Merrill Perlman   Jul 22, 2013 at 02:50 PM

Here's a shocker: People don't talk the way they write, or the way they should write. They have accents; they... More

Cost Curve: How hospitals don’t help

Laurels to two reporters for digging into how some hospitals and doctor groups are raising the national healthcare bill

By Trudy Lieberman   Jul 22, 2013 at 01:00 PM

Two reporters on the hospital beat deserve a Laurel for recent work--both for taking a hard look at how... More

Audit Notes: Noonan and Morris on the IRS, free Internet, Guardian gains

The Woodward and Bernstein of the bogus Tea Party tax scandal

By Ryan Chittum   Jul 22, 2013 at 06:50 AM

At this point, the right's Woodward and Bernstein are Peggy Noonan and Dick Morris, and that says about all you... More

NYT exposé machine hums along (UPDATED)

Kocieniewski reveals Goldman’s commodity manipulations; one of a series

By Dean Starkman   Jul 22, 2013 at 06:50 AM

Dave Kocieniewski's corker in yesterday's Times is just a gorgeous piece of work, as an investigation, a piece of writing,... More

Center for Investigative Reporting simplifies FOIA

A Kickstarter project aims to fund a website that makes the FOIA process easier

By Edirin Oputu   Jul 19, 2013 at 03:05 PM

A team of investigative reporters and data journalists are building FOIA Machine, a website to help people navigate the complexities... More

Must-reads of the week

Heat-Wave Edition

By The Editors   Jul 19, 2013 at 02:52 PM

Culled from CJR’s frequently updated “Must-reads from around the Web,” our staff recommendations for the best pieces of journalism (and... More

Discover’s New Look

If a cross country move and a new staff weren’t enough change for Discover, the science magazine unveils a redesign

By Alexis Sobel Fitts   Jul 19, 2013 at 12:42 PM

It's been a tumultuous year for Discover magazine, after uprooting its offices from New York to Wisconsin, hiring an almost... More

High Noon for film incentives

The states are trying to outgun each other to lure movie production—a chance for reporters to analyze the returns on these big investments

By Joel Campbell   Jul 19, 2013 at 11:03 AM

PROVO, UT -- When The Lone Ranger opened in theaters, viewers saw John Reid (Armie Hammer) and Tonto (Johnny Depp)... More

Art Laffer + PR blitz = press failure

The media types up the retail lobby’s propaganda

By Ryan Chittum   Jul 19, 2013 at 06:50 AM

Here's the headline of a USA Today op-ed in Thursday's paper: Arthur B. Laffer: Collect more sales taxes Say what?... More

Losing the Virginia Way

Bob McDonnell’s gifts scandal offers an opportunity for in-depth reporting on ethics reform

By Corey Hutchins   Jul 18, 2013 at 03:14 PM

COLUMBIA, SC -- At this point, if you're paying attention at all to politics in Virginia, you've heard at least... More

The right way to write about rape

A panel offers tips for navigating the charged terrain of reporting on sexual assault and domestic violence

By Alexis Sobel Fitts   Jul 18, 2013 at 02:50 PM

When Claudia Garcia-Rojas, an activist and advocate from Chicago, began assembling her toolkit for journalists covering sexual assault, she surveyed... More

Chasing New Jersey news

Whether or not a new show on WWOR in NJ is news is a concern of folks from congressmen to the FCC

By Abraham Moussako   Jul 18, 2013 at 02:50 PM

There is a media battle brewing in New Jersey. WWOR-TV, a channel licensed to the city of Secaucus, has found... More

Exchange Watch: Are New Yorkers getting a bargain?

The state announces a big win on health policy prices, but a closer look is in order

By Trudy Lieberman   Jul 18, 2013 at 11:02 AM

Hallelujah! New York's insurance exchange--kept under wraps for months by the administration of Gov. Andrew Cuomo--has finally brought forth... More

Roddy Boyd exposes a hedge-fund fraud

A scam for the social-media age

By Ryan Chittum   Jul 18, 2013 at 06:50 AM

Roddy Boyd has the business read of the week with his dynamite investigation into Anthony Davian, the social-media loving hedge-fund... More

New ‘injection secrecy’ law threatens First Amendment rights in Georgia

It deems information about lethal injections state secrets

By Andrew Cohen   Jul 17, 2013 at 02:55 PM

Update: On Thursday afternoon, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Gail S. Tusan granted a stay of Hill's execution, concluding, among... More

A laurel to Time’s ‘Battleland’ blog

Winslow Wheeler’s posts show how the Pentagon uses its own inflation adjuster to make the case for more spending

By David Cay Johnston   Jul 17, 2013 at 02:50 PM

The growth in the Pentagon budget over time is even greater than you think--and the scale of the increase... More

Much ado at Maariv

Israel’s overcrowded media market has left many of the nation’s newspapers, including daily paper Maariv, struggling

By Edirin Oputu   Jul 17, 2013 at 11:18 AM

Maariv, one of Israel's oldest mainstream newspapers, is floundering. Last week, reporters resorted to a "reverse strike" to keep the... More

Elizabeth Warren, the antidote to CNBC

The senator schools the talking heads on bank regulation

By Ryan Chittum   Jul 17, 2013 at 06:50 AM

Elizabeth Warren on CNBC is my kind of TV: The plain-spoken brilliance of the Okie-gone-Harvard versus the savvy hectoring of... More

When ‘he said,’ ‘she said’ is dangerous

Media errs in giving “balanced” coverage to McCarthy’s discredited views

By Brendan Nyhan   Jul 16, 2013 at 02:15 PM

ABC's announcement yesterday that actress/comedian Jenny McCarthy will become a co-host of The View brought forth a torrent of condemnation... More

Exchange Watch: No drama in Vermont’s insurance rates

The AP reported the Green Mountain State’s rate announcement, but not the broader story

By Trudy Lieberman   Jul 16, 2013 at 11:15 AM

Last week, Vermont's Green Mountain Care Board, an independent body created by the legislature to approve benefit plans and rates... More

A McDonald’s own-goal on wages

Accidentally exposing the fallacy of its own personal-finance advice to workers

By Ryan Chittum   Jul 16, 2013 at 11:15 AM

In her book Pound Foolish: Exposing the Dark Side of the Personal Finance Industry, Helaine Olen writes about how the... More

On Koch vs. journalists: he said-she said

Washington Post says the Kochs are fighting the media, but not whether they have a leg to stand on

By Dean Starkman   Jul 16, 2013 at 06:50 AM

It's good to know, as Paul Farhi reports, that the Koch Brothers "use Web to take on media reports... More

Michigan’s ‘free-market’ media machine

The Mackinac Center for Public Policy is a major player in state media. What to make of it?

By Anna Clark   Jul 16, 2013 at 06:50 AM

DETROIT, MI -- In a time of upheaval for both politics and media, state-level think tanks sit at a peculiar... More

Weathering heights

Unusual terms for not-so-unusual phenomena

By Merrill Perlman   Jul 15, 2013 at 04:00 PM

Had the Weather Channel been around in the 1930s, it's possible that the period of severe drought, crop failure, and... More

Beyond San Onofre’s closure

The LA Times and U-T San Diego thoroughly covered the local nuclear power plant’s closing, but the wider energy story is still waiting to be told

By John Mecklin   Jul 15, 2013 at 03:00 PM

SANTA BARBARA, CA -- Nuclear power plants are complex, interdependent systems of systems, and the state and federal bureaucracies that... More

A new film shows how much we knew, pre-Snowden, about Internet surveillance

Snowden’s disclosures “didn’t feel much like revelations,” says the director

By Sarah Laskow   Jul 15, 2013 at 02:00 PM

There was a moment in Terms and Conditions May Apply, a new documentary about the dangers of using the Internet,... More

Wall Street asset-strips Tribune’s newspapers

A Ken Doctor scoop shows a planned spinoff endangering the papers’ future

By Ryan Chittum   Jul 15, 2013 at 06:50 AM

Tribune Company, which emerged from bankruptcy six months ago, announced last week that it will spin off its declining newspapers... More

Support in the conflict zone

Freelance journalists on the front lines have limited resources—but you can help

By Alexis Sobel Fitts   Jul 12, 2013 at 05:07 PM

In our July/August issue, CJR published Francesca Borri's wrenching essay about the difficulties of covering conflict as a freelancer (and... More

Back to the basics on immigration

With reform push stalled, it’s time to focus on fundamentals—and explore how the issue looks from across the border

By Richard Parker   Jul 12, 2013 at 03:00 PM

AUSTIN, TX -- As Congress careens toward its annual August recess, the fate of immigration reform is unresolved. House Republicans... More

Must-reads of the week

Sharknado week

By The Editors   Jul 12, 2013 at 02:50 PM

Culled from CJR’s frequently updated “Must-reads from around the Web,” our staff recommendations for the best pieces of journalism (and... More

Your fertility, checked

An Atlantic cover story uncovering a decade of botched reporting should sound as a warning to journalists to examine the fine print of scientific studies

By Alexis Sobel Fitts   Jul 12, 2013 at 11:12 AM

In 2002 Sylvia Ann Hewlett terrified career-oriented women when she hit them with a cold truth: Regardless of advances in... More

Flash: this new drug is not so new

Disappointing coverage of Brisdelle, the hot flash drug, misses a chance to expose one of Big Pharma’s oldest tricks

By Sibyl Shalo Wilmont   Jul 12, 2013 at 11:00 AM

It seems we are going soft on Pharma these days, if coverage of the FDA marketing clearance of the drug... More

Google circumvents Germany’s pay-for-content rule by making news orgs opt in

LSR was passed to help media creators get paid when their work is used in search, but it’s not working out that way

By Alison Langley   Jul 12, 2013 at 06:55 AM

Last spring, Google unsuccessfully tried to prevent a German copyright law that would require news aggregators to pay for the... More

Fortune’s Nina Easton plumps for Walmart in DC

Retail employment is a zero-sum game

By Ryan Chittum   Jul 12, 2013 at 06:50 AM

The argument that if a company doesn't get its way, X number of jobs will disappear is an old canard... More

The Obamacare ad wars begin

An opening salvo from conservatives scores low on honesty, and some reporters have noticed

By Trudy Lieberman   Jul 11, 2013 at 03:14 PM

Competition for the hearts and minds of the voters in 2014 has begun with a bang--the opening salvo in... More

Who will bear witness?

Photojournalists share their experiences of covering the Iraq War

By Abraham Moussako   Jul 11, 2013 at 02:55 PM

Wednesday night at the Brooklyn Brewery, Steve Hindy, former war correspondent for the Associated Press and founder of the microbrewery,... More

Roll Call goes native

With Boeing-backed defense blog, Beltway outlet makes a foray into sponsored content

By Christopher Massie   Jul 11, 2013 at 01:13 PM

For the past year, Roll Call, a newspaper and website that focuses on Capitol Hill politics, has been in a... More

A chat with Lionel Barber

The editor of the Financial Times on what it means to be “digital first” and other topics

By Dean Starkman   Jul 11, 2013 at 11:00 AM

Lionel Barber has been the editor the Financial Times since 2005. On a visit to New York earlier this spring,... More

Your first salary negotiation

Yeah, the industry is struggling. But you should still ask for more money

By Ann Friedman   Jul 11, 2013 at 06:50 AM

So you just managed to land a journalism job in what has become a seriously tough market. Congratulations! Now it's... More

The OC launches a newspaper war in the LBC

Aaron Kushner’s Orange County Register starts a daily Long Beach edition

By Ryan Chittum   Jul 11, 2013 at 06:50 AM

Aaron Kushner, the newspaper industry's almost impossibly contrarian would-be savior, is launching a newspaper war with the MediaNews-owned Press-Telegram in... More

Copyright for copy writers

“Work-for-hire” contracts in a digital age

By Sarah Laskow   Jul 10, 2013 at 10:10 AM

As a freelance writer, I've signed some contracts that consist of a couple simple paragraphs, and others that had tangles... More

Reuters feeds the robots two-second scoops

The New York AG probes the selling of early access to market-moving information

By Ryan Chittum   Jul 10, 2013 at 06:50 AM

The University of Michigan's market-moving reports on consumer confidence used to only be available via a $4,750 annual subscription paid... More

Forward pushes a reparations investigation

The paper won’t let a group that gives money to needy Holocaust survivors hide past fraud

By Abby Ohlheiser   Jul 10, 2013 at 06:50 AM

Paul Berger discovered his latest investigation for The Forward almost by chance, sitting in a nearly empty courtroom in New... More

Covering Obamacare: a bit of bad advice

Explaining how to get insurance? Yes, please. Enrolling people? Not your job

By Trudy Lieberman   Jul 9, 2013 at 03:06 PM

Last week a story appeared on the website of the Association of Health Care Journalists that reported on a... More

Stories I’d like to see

Teflon Tim Geithner, and profiling the Center for Responsive Politics

By Steven Brill   Jul 9, 2013 at 11:00 AM

In his "Stories I'd like to see" column, journalist and entrepreneur Steven Brill spotlights topics that, in his opinion, have... More

Geithner cashes in on Wall Street

Deutsche Bank, recipient of $8.5 billion bailout, coughs up $200,000 for a speech

By Ryan Chittum   Jul 9, 2013 at 06:50 AM

The Financial Times reports that former Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner—Wall Street's (main) man in the Obama White House—is already cashing... More

Surprise? Employer mandate delayed

A laurel to Politico for strong coverage of the latest plot twist in the healthcare reform story

By Trudy Lieberman   Jul 9, 2013 at 06:50 AM

The Obama administration's just-before-July 4 surprise--postponing for a year the Affordable Care Act's employer mandate--generated a ton of news... More

Body parts

Spelling malpractice

By Merrill Perlman   Jul 8, 2013 at 02:50 PM

At a recent concert in Milwaukee, John Mayer dedicated a song to his girlfriend, Katy Perry, for helping him get... More

Audit Notes: Amazon watch, the Capitalist Tool, WSJ and Pinochet

NYT finds the dominant bookseller reining in the discounts in some areas

By Ryan Chittum   Jul 8, 2013 at 06:50 AM

Amazon has long employed predatory pricing to establish market dominance. And in Monopoly 101, cornering a market allows you to... More

What the Koch brothers’ spending tells us

The Investigative Reporting Workshop’s in-depth report, “The Koch Club,” underscores a shift in political giving

By Sasha Chavkin   Jul 8, 2013 at 06:50 AM

Few political donors have drawn greater scrutiny than the Koch brothers, the chemical manufacturing moguls whose lucrative support of conservative... More

Rupert Murdoch knew about his papers’ bribes culture

An explosive secret tape from CEO’s crisis chat with arrested Sun journalists

By Ryan Chittum   Jul 3, 2013 at 05:24 PM

At long last we now have indisputable evidence that Rupert Murdoch knew about the culture of criminality at his newspapers:... More

Exchange Watch: Ohio insurance redux

A shout-out to The Plain Dealer

By Trudy Lieberman   Jul 3, 2013 at 12:53 PM

A few weeks ago, I wrote that the Ohio press--as well as some writers for national outlets--had fallen for the... More

Fifty worst charities: a reporters’ resource

A Laurel to the Tampa Bay Times and the Center for Investigative Reporting for a report that other journalists can put to work

By Susannah Nesmith   Jul 3, 2013 at 12:06 PM

An impressive investigation by the Tampa Bay Times and the Center for Investigative Reporting identified 50 charities around the... More

Assignment Desk: Four stories on the Western energy beat

What’s the future of coal? What about water? And is that really a united front?

By Joel Campbell   Jul 3, 2013 at 11:50 AM

PROVO, UT -- At a posh resort near Park City last weekend, the chief executives of seven Western states gathered... More

Last week Texas, this week North Carolina?

When NC GOP legislators quietly added abortion restrictions to a bill banning Sharia Law, Raleigh’s WRAL was (and is) on it

By Corey Hutchins   Jul 3, 2013 at 11:30 AM

COLUMBIA, SC -- Last night, Senate Republicans in North Carolina stunned their Democratic colleagues--and observers and media--when they quietly tacked... More

Crank lands positive BizWeek profile

The magazine lets David Stockman off easy

By Ryan Chittum   Jul 3, 2013 at 06:50 AM

David Stockman is the former Reagan budget director and private-equity executive who paid $7.2 million in 2007 to make some... More

HuffPost Germany slated for autumn

It’s a licensing partnership between the Huffington Post and a German media company

By Alison Langley   Jul 3, 2013 at 06:50 AM

Times are hard for Germany's newspapers. Last year, they laid off a record number of journalists, and this year, many... More

Obamacare’s Forgotten Faces

The Medicaid debacle and other tales

By Trudy Lieberman   Jul 2, 2013 at 02:55 PM

To their credit, some members of the media have begun examining the plight of those who will still be... More

A cure for second-term doldrums?

TNR’s Obama “recovery guide” is a break from the media tedium

By Brendan Nyhan   Jul 2, 2013 at 11:10 AM

During second terms, the Washington press corps gets bored. There's usually not much going on! As a result, reporters hype... More

Stories I’d like to see

Selling artificial knees, analyzing the Trayvon Martin trial, and Random House cancels Paula Deen’s cookbook

By Steven Brill   Jul 2, 2013 at 11:00 AM

In his "Stories I'd like to see" column, journalist and entrepreneur Steven Brill spotlights topics that, in his opinion, have... More

A proposal to reform first sale rights

In a digital age, reselling media can be cast as illegal duplication

By Sarah Laskow   Jul 2, 2013 at 06:55 AM

In its current iteration, copyright law gives us content consumers a right that we've internalized so thoroughly that most people... More

ProPublica probes the temp agencies

A lopsided power equation encourages abuses

By Ryan Chittum   Jul 2, 2013 at 06:50 AM

Deep in its investigation of the temp industry, ProPublica prints this 1971 ad for "Kelly girls": Here's the text: Never... More

Either win(s)

Verbs to use with neither/either

By Merrill Perlman   Jul 1, 2013 at 03:00 PM

Either I or they is playing tricks with your head. Last week, we said that it's OK to use "or"... More

How Wisconsin’s watchdogs kept their home

Investigative newsroom drew on a network of allies in successful bid for governor’s veto

By Anna Clark   Jul 1, 2013 at 07:00 AM

DETROIT, MI -- The Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism scored a big win over the weekend, as Gov. Scott Walker,... More

Opening Shot

Photojournalist Rob Hart chronicles his post-Sun-Times life

By The Editors   Jul 1, 2013 at 12:00 AM

O n May 30, the entire photo staff of the Chicago Sun-Times--28 full-time photographers, including Pulitzer Prize-winner John H. White--were... More

Teach a man to fish

How the media can help fix our broken food-aid system

By The Editors   Jul 1, 2013 at 12:00 AM

In their 2009 book Enough: Why The World's Poorest Starve in an Age of Plenty, Roger Thurow and Scott Kilman... More

Letters to the editor

Readers respond to our May/June issue

By The Editors   Jul 1, 2013 at 12:00 AM

The draw Re: "Streams of consciousness" by Ben Adler (CJR, May/June) Great read! As a millennial, I of course found it... More

Open Bar

The Esquire Tavern

By Jennifer McInnis   Jul 1, 2013 at 12:00 AM

The Esquire Tavern San Antonio, TX Year opened Originally in 1933, the year Prohibition ended. It closed in 2006, and... More

Language Corner

Orchestra pits

By Merrill Perlman   Jul 1, 2013 at 12:00 AM

Bob Kamman writes that he's seen "orchestrated" or "carefully orchestrated" misused a lot. He quoted a New York Times article... More

Bad news

Worst job in America?

By The Editors   Jul 1, 2013 at 12:00 AM

Okay, so the newspaper business isn't exactly thriving; and the idea of casting a reporter as the hero in... More

Hard numbers

All the news that’s fit to fake

By Sara Morrison   Jul 1, 2013 at 12:00 AM

1.4 million average viewers of The Daily Show With Jon Stewart ages 18-49 1.1 million average viewers of The Colbert... More

Innovation watch

A bucket brigade

By Nathan Hurst   Jul 1, 2013 at 12:00 AM

Last October, the day before Newsweek announced it would be shutting down its print edition, Peter Bilak launched a... More

WTF?

China rising

By The Editors   Jul 1, 2013 at 12:00 AM

First came CCTV's big boxer shorts, now the People's Daily's colossal phallus. As the Chinese state media look to conquer... More

Darts & Laurels

Bad bikes, coaches’ cash, etc.

By The Editors   Jul 1, 2013 at 12:00 AM

DART to The Wall Street Journal for its video segment ("Death by Bicycle") in which editorial-board member Dorothy Rabinowitz... More

Social-media watch

I ♥ the briny deep

By The Editors   Jul 1, 2013 at 12:00 AM

According to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, the vast swaths of the world's oceans... More

Title search

Human-capital consultant

By Jay Woodruff   Jul 1, 2013 at 12:00 AM

Shane Williams is a human-capital and executive-search consultant at Egon Zehnder International. After earning his PhD in biochemistry at... More

Strange but true

Before you go…

By Carrie Ching   Jul 1, 2013 at 12:00 AM

Carrie Ching is developing a storytelling series about journalists called Off The Record. To introduce the series to CJR... More

The lower case

Headlines that editors probably wish they could take back

By The Editors   Jul 1, 2013 at 12:00 AM

--Talking Points Memo, 4/22/13 --ESPN, 5/28/13 --Yle Uutiset, 5/29/13 --Ventura County (CA) Star, 4/30/13 --Des Moines Register, 4/8/13 --AOL... More

Woman’s work

The twisted reality of an Italian freelancer in Syria

By Francesca Borri   Jul 1, 2013 at 12:00 AM

He finally wrote to me. After more than a year of freelancing for him, during which I contracted typhoid... More

Mission impossible

Is government broadcasting irrelevant?

By Gary Thomas   Jul 1, 2013 at 12:00 AM

What US government agency was recently labeled "dysfunctional" by the State Department's Inspector General, and year after year is rated... More

Underwritten or undercut?

Nonprofit funding can’t solve our foreign-coverage problem

By David Conrad   Jul 1, 2013 at 12:00 AM

Not long ago, some 20 news organizations decided which foreign news stories should be covered for the American audience. These... More

Future tense

Can Afghanistan’s press survive without the West’s support?

By Sabra Ayres   Jul 1, 2013 at 12:00 AM

In the summer of 2012, melon crops in Afghanistan's northern Kunduz Province were nearly wiped out by a bacterial disease.... More

Lighten up

How satire will make American politics relevant again

By Dannagal G. Young   Jul 1, 2013 at 12:00 AM

In spring 1998, as a senior political science major at the University of New Hampshire, I took a transformative course... More

Funny follows

Comedic tweeters

By The Editors   Jul 1, 2013 at 12:00 AM

Was it William Shakespeare or @wise_kaplan who said, "Brevity is the soul of wit"? In either case, of Twitter it... More

Eye’s up

Ian Hislop explains why Private Eye’s blend of humor and investigative journalism wouldn’t work in the US

By Sara Morrison   Jul 1, 2013 at 12:00 AM

Britain's bestselling current-affairs magazine, Private Eye, has been producing its biweekly and decidedly English mix of satire, industry gossip, cartoons,... More

On the job

Strong finish

By Kira Goldenberg   Jul 1, 2013 at 12:00 AM

Shortly before 3pm on April 15, Boston Globe reporter Michael Rezendes was in the home stretch of his seventh... More

Unconventional wisdom

John Summers was wrong for most magazines; that made him perfect for The Baffler

By Justin Peters   Jul 1, 2013 at 12:00 AM

Critical thinker John Summers, editor of The Baffler, has never been afraid to speak his mind. (Aditi Mehta) In... More

Distance yearning

Done right, online courses could help democratize our newsrooms

By Lori Henson   Jul 1, 2013 at 12:00 AM

In March 2012, I stood with three journalism students in Times Square, taking in the lights, color, and scope of... More

Open wide

Critics and boosters alike agree that the full implementation of Obamacare will be complicated and nerve-wracking for some people. Here’s how journalists can help.

By Trudy Lieberman   Jul 1, 2013 at 12:00 AM

Much of healthcare journalism is about policy choices and the debates that shape them. The full implementation of Obamacare, however,... More

Open wide: the fine print

By Trudy Lieberman   Jul 1, 2013 at 12:00 AM

This is a sidebar to the feature story "Open wide." Who's eligible? Generally, people who do not have coverage otherwise--from... More

Clarion call

The future of the alternative press can be found in its past

By Chris Faraone   Jul 1, 2013 at 12:00 AM

Alt-media maven Stephen Mindich, longtime publisher of the Boston Phoenix, in 1976. (Peter Simon) I spent the morning of... More

DC deep-freeze

Pols no longer need us more than we need them

By James Rosen   Jul 1, 2013 at 12:00 AM

The voice on the other end of the line was grave. It belonged to Kristie Greco, the top leadership aide... More

News havens

Dan Kennedy shows why news startups matter

By Michael Meyer   Jul 1, 2013 at 12:00 AM

The New Haven Independent is almost surely the smallest news organization ever chronicled at book length. Founded in 2005 by... More

Wingnut commander

Roger Ailes, Fox News, and the future of journalism

By Jim Sleeper   Jul 1, 2013 at 12:00 AM

Roger Ailes Off Camera: An inside look at the founder and head of Fox News By Zev Chafets Sentinel... More

A book review in comic form

Anna Badkhen’s The World is a Carpet

By Ted Rall   Jul 1, 2013 at 12:00 AM

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Brief encounters

Short reviews of Cotton Tenants, Media Capital, and Death Zones and Darling Spies

By James Boylan   Jul 1, 2013 at 12:00 AM

Cotton Tenants: Three Families | By James Agee and Walker Evans, Edited by John Summers, Preface by Adam Haslett |... More

Exit interview

Nicholas Lemann ends a decade as dean of the Columbia University Journalism School

By Cyndi Stivers   Jul 1, 2013 at 12:00 AM

Nicholas Lemann, dean of the Columbia Journalism School, has decided to head back to the classroom after 10 years... More