http://www.cjr.org/ Columbia Journalism Review: The future of media is here en Copyright 2013 Fri, 24 May 2013 11:00:00 -0500 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss By Richard Parker AUSTIN, TX -- At 7:30 pm Eastern time on May 16, Erin Burnett turned toward the camera in CNN's New York studio and teed up the next story: "The people of West, Texas, have been waiting for a month to find out what caused the horrific fertilizer-plant explosion that killed 15 people and leveled much of their town. Today, state... http://www.cjr.org/united_states_project/how_west_was_spun.php http://www.cjr.org/united_states_project/how_west_was_spun.php United States Project Fri, 24 May 2013 11:00:00 -0500 By Deron Lee FAIRWAY, KS -- On May 15, hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside the state Capitol in Lincoln, NE, to protest the filibuster that has blocked a bill expanding Medicaid to 54,000 new patients in the state, in accordance with the federal Affordable Care Act. The demonstrators knew what they were protesting against. But they didn't know exactly whom. Here's the... http://www.cjr.org/united_states_project/whos_filibustering_medicaid_expansion_in_nebraska.php http://www.cjr.org/united_states_project/whos_filibustering_medicaid_expansion_in_nebraska.php United States Project Thu, 23 May 2013 15:00:00 -0500 By Brendan Nyhan When Republican Scott Brown faced Democrat Martha Coakley in a January 2010 special election for Ted Kennedy's Senate seat, he was criticized by Coakley and other Democrats as being too conservative. But was he really a conservative at all? Media coverage at the time frequently bought into the claim that Brown was a conservative, which coincided with some... http://www.cjr.org/united_states_project/how_extreme_is_that_legislator_really.php http://www.cjr.org/united_states_project/how_extreme_is_that_legislator_really.php United States Project Thu, 23 May 2013 07:25:00 -0500 By Anna Clark DETROIT, MI -- About three weeks before the May 21 mayoral primary in Pittsburgh, an attack ad against a leading Democratic candidate, city councilmember Bill Peduto, hit the air. "We need a mayor for all of Pittsburgh. Not just Bill Peduto's neighborhood," the ad's narrator intones. Negative ads are nothing new, of course, but this one was unusual.... http://www.cjr.org/united_states_project/in_pittsburgh_campaign_ad_buy_files_prove_mayors_involvement.php http://www.cjr.org/united_states_project/in_pittsburgh_campaign_ad_buy_files_prove_mayors_involvement.php United States Project Wed, 22 May 2013 14:50:00 -0500 By Mariah Blake Just about everyone in Washington agrees that the IRS's blanket targeting of Tea Party groups by keying on words in their titles was, at best, misguided. But that doesn't mean that every Tea Party organization that found itself under the IRS microscope was wrongly targeted--a nuance sometimes lost in the coverage. Take True the Vote , a project of... http://www.cjr.org/united_states_project/true_the_coverage.php http://www.cjr.org/united_states_project/true_the_coverage.php United States Project Wed, 22 May 2013 11:40:52 -0500 By Trudy Lieberman Elizabeth O'Brien's May 15 Marketwatch piece on proposed changes for Medicare is one of the best I have seen since the government's health program for elderly and disabled people surfaced last year as a likely target for the federal budget axe. It still is a target, and that makes O'Brien's effort all the more important. Her story acknowledges an... http://www.cjr.org/the_second_opinion/medicare_uncovered_who_should_pay_who_can_pay.php http://www.cjr.org/the_second_opinion/medicare_uncovered_who_should_pay_who_can_pay.php The Second Opinion Tue, 21 May 2013 11:00:00 -0500 By Corey Hutchins 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,... http://www.cjr.org/united_states_project/hat_tip_to_the_state_for_sc_state_house_for_sale_series.php http://www.cjr.org/united_states_project/hat_tip_to_the_state_for_sc_state_house_for_sale_series.php United States Project Mon, 20 May 2013 15:15:00 -0500 By 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,... http://www.cjr.org/united_states_project/walter_shapiros_rough_rules_for_responsible_scandal_mongers.php http://www.cjr.org/united_states_project/walter_shapiros_rough_rules_for_responsible_scandal_mongers.php United States Project Mon, 20 May 2013 11:15:00 -0500 By 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... http://www.cjr.org/united_states_project/covering_facts_versus_the_narrative.php http://www.cjr.org/united_states_project/covering_facts_versus_the_narrative.php United States Project Fri, 17 May 2013 11:00:00 -0500 By 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... http://www.cjr.org/the_second_opinion/the_insanity_of_hospital_prici.php http://www.cjr.org/the_second_opinion/the_insanity_of_hospital_prici.php The Second Opinion Thu, 16 May 2013 15:08:04 -0500 By Joel Campbell 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... http://www.cjr.org/united_states_project/q_and_a_shaun_mckinnon_veteran_water_reporter_arizona_republic.php http://www.cjr.org/united_states_project/q_and_a_shaun_mckinnon_veteran_water_reporter_arizona_republic.php United States Project Thu, 16 May 2013 11:00:00 -0500 By 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... http://www.cjr.org/united_states_project/political_ad_windfall_drives_local_tv_consolidation.php http://www.cjr.org/united_states_project/political_ad_windfall_drives_local_tv_consolidation.php United States Project Wed, 15 May 2013 14:55:00 -0500 By 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... http://www.cjr.org/united_states_project/the_other_irs_scandal.php http://www.cjr.org/united_states_project/the_other_irs_scandal.php United States Project Wed, 15 May 2013 06:52:37 -0500 By 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... http://www.cjr.org/united_states_project/a_very_human_story_in_the_immigration_reform_debate.php http://www.cjr.org/united_states_project/a_very_human_story_in_the_immigration_reform_debate.php United States Project Tue, 14 May 2013 16:30:00 -0500 By 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.... http://www.cjr.org/the_second_opinion/untangling_obamacare_whats_beh.php http://www.cjr.org/the_second_opinion/untangling_obamacare_whats_beh.php The Second Opinion Mon, 13 May 2013 12:38:03 -0500