tag:www.cjr.org,2011-09-12://14 2013-05-23T16:27:21Z Columbia Journalism Review: The future of media is here tag:www.cjr.org,2013://14.37667 2013-05-23T14:15:34Z 2013-05-23T16:27:21Z

How to feed and maintain a weekly opinion column

Ann Friedman http://www.cjr.org A writer I greatly admire, Ta-Nehisi Coates, once offered this exercise in understanding what it's like to produce a weekly opinion column: "Spend a week counting all the original ideas you have. Then try to write each one down, in all its nuance, in 800 words. Perhaps you'd be very successful at this. Now try to do it for four tag:www.cjr.org,2013://14.37605 2013-05-16T10:49:00Z 2013-05-15T21:44:40Z

A post-layoff strategy for the future-minded journalist

Ann Friedman http://www.cjr.org Last week, my declaration that this is the best moment to be working in journalism was met with some side-eye after outlets from the Daily News to, cough, the Columbia Journalism Review announced layoffs. "BREAKING: No it's not," tweeted Dallas Observer editor Joe Tone. "Not sure the folks getting pink slips today at the #DailyNews would agree," said Jennifer Vogt. tag:www.cjr.org,2013://14.37518 2013-05-09T10:50:00Z 2013-05-09T18:46:36Z

The old stuff isn't coming back, but that's okay

Ann Friedman http://www.cjr.org I've spent the past two months on the conference circuit. I spoke to groups of journalists in San Francisco, Boston, New York, and Alaska. And I'll confess something to you: Even though I love working in media and mostly love the other people who do, too, it got to be really depressing. Question after question focused on limitations, ranging from tag:www.cjr.org,2013://14.36832 2013-05-02T10:50:00Z 2013-05-03T11:05:14Z

The pros and cons of trying to do real journalism at a non-media company

Ann Friedman http://www.cjr.org Jessica Bennett worked for seven years at journalistic stalwarts like The Boston Globe, the Village Voice, and Newsweek. But after years of sleeping on couches when she went on reporting assignments and watching her friends take buyouts, she was ready for a change. So she accepted a job as executive editor of Storyboard, an independent journalistic publication housed within Tumblr, tag:www.cjr.org,2013://14.36800 2013-04-25T17:28:00Z 2013-04-25T17:28:46Z

How Politico should have reported the "turbulence" at The New York Times

Ann Friedman http://www.cjr.org This week, Politico published a largely anonymously-sourced hit piece on New York Times executive editor Jill Abramson, charging that she is blunt, demoralizing, condescending, and is "on the verge of losing the support of the newsroom." Critics, myself included, asked whether this piece would have been written and edited in this particular way if its subject were a man. But tag:www.cjr.org,2013://14.36626 2013-04-17T10:50:00Z 2013-04-17T01:51:41Z

Is it possible for reporters to both do their job and be empathetic humans?

Ann Friedman http://www.cjr.org I don't have cable, so I experienced Monday's events the way I've experienced every violent American tragedy since 9/11: through social media. As a journalist observing such incidents in the past, I explained my morbid rubbernecking as just part of my news-junkie sensibility. While I've rarely chimed in--I've never been a local reporter in an area where tragedy has struck--I tag:www.cjr.org,2013://14.36553 2013-04-11T10:50:01Z 2013-04-10T21:56:10Z

How to have fun but stay professional in 140-character bursts

Ann Friedman http://www.cjr.org Last weekend I spoke at the BU Power of Narrative conference, where a lot of accomplished longform feature writers asked me about how they could get good at that ultimate shortform journalistic platform, Twitter. Many of them were under the impression that, for journalists, there are more potential pitfalls than benefits to issuing 140-character missives. Somehow, prominent cautionary tales like tag:www.cjr.org,2013://14.36475 2013-04-04T10:50:00Z 2013-04-03T20:37:27Z

You really want to accept that free trip. Here's how to decide whether you can do it ethically

Ann Friedman http://www.cjr.org At most news outlets, travel budgets have disappeared. This is a bummer if you're a reporter who likes to get outside your comfort zone and see things firsthand, so this makes the junket more appealing than ever. A friend of mine, who's a regular contributor to a national magazine but not on staff, was recently offered a trip to Africa tag:www.cjr.org,2013://14.36399 2013-03-28T15:00:00Z 2013-03-28T15:03:45Z

A chat with MSNBC's Chris Hayes on tapping sources more diverse than the usual pool of white dudes

Ann Friedman http://www.cjr.org Let's face it: The conversation about diversity in journalism is mostly boring hand-wringing. With each new byline count, it's easy to despair that gender and ethnic diversity is mostly a pipe dream--a goal that applies more to HR handbooks than actual newsroom practices. But earlier this month, after MSNBC announced it was giving Chris Hayes his own daily primetime news tag:www.cjr.org,2013://14.36331 2013-03-21T10:50:00Z 2013-03-20T23:43:14Z

Why most cold submissions don't stand a chance

Ann Friedman http://www.cjr.org Recently, fiction writer David Cameron decided to try a little experiment: I grabbed a New Yorker story off the web (no, it wasn't by Alice Munro or William Trevor), copied it into a Word document, changed only the title, created a fictitious author identity, and submitted it to a slew of literary journals, all of whom regularly grace the TOC tag:www.cjr.org,2013://14.36161 2013-03-14T15:00:00Z 2013-03-14T15:04:28Z

When journalists date other journalists, what are the rules?

Ann Friedman http://www.cjr.org Any journalist working in the media-saturated cities of New York and DC has probably at least toyed with the idea of dating a fellow reporter, editor, or producer. Ours is an industry of long hours and open offices--conditions conducive to flirtations and flings. Of course, dating within your industry isn't specific to journalism. The workplace remains one of the most tag:www.cjr.org,2013://14.36177 2013-03-07T16:00:00Z 2013-03-07T18:27:49Z

Sometimes--and only sometimes--it makes sense to write for free

Ann Friedman http://www.cjr.org I used to be an editor with a tiny budget who was constantly apologizing for our rates. Now I'm a freelancer who pays my rent exclusively through writing. And sometimes, I allow my work to be published for nothing, or next-to-nothing. Cue the wailing and gnashing of teeth about the deterioration of journalism! It seems like a good week to tag:www.cjr.org,2013://14.36061 2013-02-28T11:50:01Z 2013-02-28T02:09:45Z

How to shut it down

Ann Friedman http://www.cjr.org "Can I be your Clark Kent?" "If you got shrapnel in your ass, I'd be happy to take it out." "Now that I don't have to worry about you quoting me, I can hit on you." This is just a sampling from Said to Lady Journos, a new site that catalogs the sexism and harassment that, for many female journalists, tag:www.cjr.org,2013://14.35946 2013-02-21T16:00:00Z 2013-02-21T16:00:29Z

Time to stop holding funerals for print

Ann Friedman http://www.cjr.org "How can we get institutions and organizations to stop holding conferences titled 'The Death of Print'? I have no time for this," a friend recently complained to me. Indeed, the most recent Magazine Publishers of America conference began with a discussion of how dead-tree editions are, well, dying. Hey, print's not dead! Have you been to an airport lately? I tag:www.cjr.org,2013://14.35857 2013-02-14T16:00:00Z 2013-02-14T16:02:52Z

The no-excuses truth to understanding why editors reject pitches

Ann Friedman http://www.cjr.org If you're a freelance writer or a PR professional, you probably know that pitching is a delicate art that sometimes yields great results and sometimes ends in heartbreak. When it doesn't go your way, sometimes there's a clear reason for rejection--the time hook has expired, or there's already a piece on that topic in the works. But often it's a