Paywalls are a means, not an end

A Toronto Star columnist’s belligerence gets me thinking

By Dean Starkman   Nov 7, 2012 at 11:02 AM

I like paywalls. I really do. I think it makes sense for newspapers that saw the bottom drop out... More

Lessons from Sullivan-Silver fracas

When digital and institutional cultures collide

By Dean Starkman   Nov 5, 2012 at 11:32 AM

Before the Margaret Sullivan/Nate Silver episode fades into history, there are a couple of meta lessons to be drawn from... More

Audit Notes: Stray on Silver, the new-old Black, ‘rocketing’ from a low base

Data-based journalism and its potential; an ex-mogul takes a flogging, etc.

By Dean Starkman   Nov 2, 2012 at 11:30 AM

The best thing about the faux-controversy between New York Times public editor Margaret Sullivan and political stats whiz Nate Silver... More

MSM: port in a storm

And social media was not as useful as I’d thought it’d be

By Dean Starkman   Oct 31, 2012 at 07:35 AM

Sandy was the first natural disaster I can remember experiencing not as a reporter but as Joe Reader/Viewer. (I’ve... More

Send Candidates for The Best Business Writing 2013

Our 2nd annual compilation of business journalism’s best is closing soon; send us stuff

By Dean Starkman   Oct 29, 2012 at 11:19 AM

Hi Internet, This spring, we launched with Columbia University Press the first of what we hope will be a long-running... More

Are newspaper audiences really shrinking?

A dialogue with Alan Mutter

By Dean Starkman   Oct 18, 2012 at 03:00 PM

Alan Mutter’s post the other day—"The incredible shrinking newspaper audience"—got me thinking: is the newspaper audience really shrinking? So... More

Tuesdays with Andrew

Changing up a Dealbook ritual

By Dean Starkman   Oct 16, 2012 at 04:54 PM

An Andrew Ross Sorkin column is beginning to take on a ritualistic feel. Sorkin is The New York Times... More

Audit Notes: a missing foreclosure figure, Denton, Brookes

How many “boomerang” buyers are there again? Gawker’s secret sauce, etc

By Dean Starkman   Oct 15, 2012 at 07:05 AM

This Wall Street Journal story says buyers who went through foreclosure are already back in the market, buying houses again.They’re... More

Facing up to the high cost of free news

Is there a quality argument to support the digital ads-only model?

By Dean Starkman   Oct 8, 2012 at 11:27 AM

Pretty soon, proponents of free digital news will have to own up to the implications of their model. The... More

The hamster wheel vs. the quality imperative

The real problem with JRC/Advance free model and the unappreciated benefit of a paywall

By Dean Starkman   Sep 14, 2012 at 07:22 AM

…The great is rare; the dull quite common. But — and this is the genius of the online format... More

Required skimming: unemployment

Get the facts about the jobs figures

By Dean Starkman   Aug 17, 2012 at 06:50 AM

This month, CJR presents “Required Skimming,” a daily miniguide to our staffers’ beats and obsessions, ranging from finance to food.... More

Digital goes first at the FT (Updated)

The Financial Times now has more digital subscribers than print ones; running the numbers

By Dean Starkman   Jul 30, 2012 at 12:06 PM

Like them or not, newspaper paywalls continue better-than-expected performances, the latest good (for some of us) news coming from The... More

Audit Notes: more NOLA rumblings, Journatic, well-squawked

A new buyer emerges in New Orleans, Quick and Sorkin did good, etc.

By Dean Starkman   Jul 26, 2012 at 11:36 PM

—Can we agree at this point that Advance Publications’s attempt to sell its plans for dramatic newsroom cuts and... More

A Washington reporter’s review of Barofsky’s book is unintentionally revealing

Shield’s up!

By Dean Starkman   Jul 26, 2012 at 11:20 AM

Jackie Calmes's review of Neil Barofsky’s new book, Bailout, to me, says so much more about Washington press culture... More

Audit Notes: Macabre probe, Wall Street lethargy, linkless hype busters, ‘Chairman of the Fed,’ etc.

A compelling cross-border probe into the body parts business

By Dean Starkman   Jul 25, 2012 at 11:04 PM

“When my daughter-in-law touched it, she said that his foot was empty.” That’s right. Someone stole the inside... More

A WSJ ‘A-hed’ covers the same topic twice

Tapping on the glass of a barometer for quality

By Dean Starkman   Jul 25, 2012 at 08:20 AM

Back when News Corp. took over Dow Jones & Co., which some of us didn’t think was a particularly... More

Audit Notes: UK edition

On hack-gate and the paper that broke it open

By Dean Starkman   Jul 24, 2012 at 04:27 PM

Make no mistake about it: the criminal charges unveiled yesterday against former top News Corp. officials mark a major... More

Audit Notes: NOLA stirrings, Libor’s victim, Honda-driving billionaire, etc.

By Dean Starkman   Jul 23, 2012 at 06:25 PM

—With the news market in New Orleans suddenly up for grabs—thanks to Advance Publications's decision to slash the newsroom... More

Introducing Best Business Writing 2012

By Dean Starkman   Jun 13, 2012 at 04:00 PM

Columbia Journalism Review Books has just published Best Business Writing 2012, featuring pieces by Paul Krugman, Martin Wolf, Matt Taibbi,... More

The reporter who saw it coming

Mike Hudson thought he was merely exposing injustice, but he also was unearthing the roots of a global financial meltdown

By Dean Starkman   May 3, 2012 at 10:05 AM

Mike Hudson began reporting on the subprime mortgage business in the early 1990s when it was still a marginal,... More