tag:www.cjr.org,2011-09-12://14 2013-05-20T19:19:26Z Columbia Journalism Review: The future of media is here tag:www.cjr.org,2013://14.37637 2013-05-20T19:15:00Z 2013-05-20T19:19:26Z

The paper offers a solid opening salvo in a new series, "SC State House for Sale"

Corey Hutchins http://www.cjr.org COLUMBIA, SC -- The State newspaper, South Carolina's capital city daily in Columbia, gave uncharacteristically prominent play Sunday to the influence that ex-lawmakers and other public officials have as they lobby their former colleagues at the State House. "At least 66 former lawmakers, legislative staffers and state regulators have registered to lobby the Legislature in the past two years, according tag:www.cjr.org,2013://14.37628 2013-05-20T15:15:00Z 2013-05-20T16:41:36Z

Walter Shapiro's Rough Rules for Responsible Mongering

Walter Shapiro I have been commenting on Washington scandals for nearly four decades--ever since the dead-drunk Wilbur Mills, the unduly lionized chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, was stopped by the police in the middle of the night accompanied by a stripper, Fanny Foxe, who immediately dove into the Tidal Basin. As a national columnist rather than a reporter, I tag:www.cjr.org,2013://14.37620 2013-05-17T15:00:00Z 2013-05-17T15:01:32Z

The challenge for journalists when scandal fever hits

Brendan Nyhan The dilemma for journalists this week: How should you cover a series of proto-scandals with seemingly little in common? As far as we know, internal Obama administration edits of talking points about the Benghazi attacks, Internal Revenue Service targeting of conservative groups for additional scrutiny, and the Justice Department's seizure of Associated Press phone records aren't part of some overarching tag:www.cjr.org,2013://14.37614 2013-05-16T19:08:04Z 2013-05-17T13:01:10Z

The academics are wrong and the press is right: wildly varying healthcare billing is a very big deal

Trudy Lieberman Last week's release of the wildly varying prices that hospitals charge Medicare may no longer be news du jour, but it's worth revisiting the topic, because it was and is an important story, it was an important step by the government, and it offers important follow-up opportunities for the media. And there's more to glean from the reaction to the tag:www.cjr.org,2013://14.37606 2013-05-16T15:00:00Z 2013-05-16T16:33:24Z

An Arizona Republic reporter and self-described "water geek" on how to cover western water issues

Joel Campbell http://www.cjr.org PROVO, UT -- Water issues may not be the sexy beat to which young journalists first aspire, but here in the southwest, such coverage is critical--and, unfortunately, receding, says Arizona Republic senior reporter and self-described "water geek" Shaun McKinnon. "Water reporters are definitely an endangered group of people," said McKinnon, who has covered water for more than 14 years for tag:www.cjr.org,2013://14.37596 2013-05-15T18:55:00Z 2013-05-15T21:04:20Z

As a trend accelerates, industry and activists disagree about the consequences

Sasha Chavkin As campaign ads saturated the airwaves during the 2012 campaign, and piles of campaign cash buoyed stations' balance sheets, media watchers wondered: how would the windfall revenues affect the local TV industry, and the news coverage it produces? We now have a partial answer: the ad-buying binge has accelerated the ongoing trend toward ownership consolidation in the industry. According to tag:www.cjr.org,2013://14.37586 2013-05-15T10:52:37Z 2013-05-15T22:22:14Z

Required context for a controversy

David Cay Johnston The burgeoning "scandal" over how the IRS chose for review 75 applicants for tax-exempt status puts on full display an unfortunate tendency in journalism--to quote people accurately without explaining the underlying context. Yes, it is as wrong for IRS employees to select groups to scrutinize based on their names as it is for police to stop and frisk young people tag:www.cjr.org,2013://14.37585 2013-05-14T20:30:00Z 2013-05-14T20:55:33Z

One undocumented immigrant's race against the clock, told in real time by the Miami Herald's Marc Caputo

Adam Weinstein MIAMI, FL -- Miami Herald political reporter Marc Caputo didn't expect high drama when he ventured into a community immigration forum in North Miami's Haitian Evangelical Church last night. A home-field discussion between four Democratic members of Congress who generally see eye-to-eye on immigration rarely makes for riveting copy. But immigration "is a big issue, and it's just something we tag:www.cjr.org,2013://14.37555 2013-05-13T16:38:03Z 2013-05-16T18:41:11Z

To report on rising premiums you need to understand them. A primer for reporters

Trudy Lieberman Rate hikes just keep coming. The latest we've heard about come from Blue Cross Blue Shield in North Carolina, which just warned 125,000 customers who bought individual policies to brace themselves for unusually large increases. CareFirst Blue Cross Blue Shield of Maryland announced hikes averaging 25 percent for its individual policies and about 15 percent for small businesses. Medico, based tag:www.cjr.org,2013://14.37542 2013-05-10T15:53:05Z 2013-05-10T16:13:04Z

The need for caution--and avoiding "he said," "she said"--in reporting on IPAB

Brendan Nyhan House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell released a letter on Thursday stating that they would not recommend individuals for appointment to the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB), an obscure government panel created as part of the Affordable Care Act in an effort to reduce cost growth in Medicare. Unfortunately, the board is best known as the tag:www.cjr.org,2013://14.37541 2013-05-10T15:00:00Z 2013-05-10T15:02:35Z

As major tax-cut plans zoom through Midwest statehouses, reporters scramble to stay ahead of the story

Deron Lee FAIRWAY, KS -- In late 2012 and early 2013, reporters in Kansas began to take note of an oddity in the massive tax-cut plan pushed by statehouse conservatives and Gov. Sam Brownback. Profits generated by certain local companies, they found, would suddenly face no state tax liability at all, while other companies of comparable size would still have to pay tag:www.cjr.org,2013://14.37524 2013-05-09T18:50:00Z 2013-05-09T22:12:37Z

As NPR exits the ambitious project, director says, "we changed the way reporting is done"

Anna Clark Two years ago, with statehouse bureaus taking huge cuts in a contracting media landscape, National Public Radio designed the StateImpact project to fill the reporting void while experimenting with a new model of local-national public media collaboration. It works like this: NPR member stations joined forces to report on a significant policy issue in their state. Florida, Indiana, and Ohio tag:www.cjr.org,2013://14.37517 2013-05-09T15:00:00Z 2013-05-09T15:00:24Z

The sequester strikes again

David Cay Johnston We've pointed out before that major news organizations are failing to connect the tax dots--between the sequester-caused cuts to the budget of the Internal Revenue Service and the country's reduced ability to collect enough tax revenue. Not to mention the connection to tax fairness. And we've pointed out that there is no shortage of news pegs for getting into this tag:www.cjr.org,2013://14.36907 2013-05-07T19:00:00Z 2013-05-07T19:01:57Z

Legendary political deal-maker Willie Brown writes a column in the San Francisco Chronicle, raising eyebrows higher than the Golden Gate Bridge

John Mecklin http://www.cjr.org SANTA BARBARA, CA -- Former mayor, ex-state Assembly speaker, clothes horse, raconteur, and legendary political power-player Willie Brown has been a San Francisco fixture for so long that he's often called, simply, Da Mayor. He is also a regular columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle, writing a weekly compilation of about-town items called "Willie's World." But his appearances in the tag:www.cjr.org,2013://14.36889 2013-05-06T15:00:00Z 2013-05-06T16:31:17Z

Reporters discuss a series of scoops uncovering possible campaign-finance violations

Corey Hutchins http://www.cjr.org COLUMBIA, SC -- Last Wednesday, the newly-appointed State Board of Elections in North Carolina convened for the first time. Following Republican Gov. Pat McCrory's election last fall, the board was in GOP hands for the first time in decades, and one of its first orders of business was appointing a new director. The board's Republican majority selected Kim Westbrook Strach,