Author Archive
Articles by Mariah Blake | Email the Author
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
The big IRS stretch
Some reporters are straining to connect the scandal to the White House, without benefit of credible evidence. But others are skeptical
By Mariah Blake Jun 4, 2013 at 02:50 PM
For the last month, Republicans have been trying mightily to paint the IRS's Tea Party targeting scheme as proof... More
True the Coverage
Some of the organizations targeted for scrutiny by the IRS actually deserve scrutiny—a nuance that is getting lost
By Mariah Blake May 22, 2013 at 11:40 AM
Just about everyone in Washington agrees that the IRS's blanket targeting of Tea Party groups by keying on words in... More
The trouble with Torrington
A small-town paper calls out minors who bully a rape victim online. Is that fair game?
By Mariah Blake Mar 25, 2013 at 03:15 PM
In some ways, the Torrington, CT case that ricocheted through the press last week looks a lot like the ugly... More
About those prostitutes
In the Menendez affair, ABC News is looking better and better for having stepped away from a story that the Daily Caller is still trying to flog
By Mariah Blake Mar 5, 2013 at 04:27 PM
For the last two months, the press has been rehashing allegations that Senator Robert Menendez slept with prostitutes, some... More
Anatomy of a so-called scandal (UPDATED)
On the Sen. Menendez story, flimsy prostitution claims vs. stronger allegations of influence-peddling. Guess which gets more play?
By Mariah Blake Mar 4, 2013 at 03:30 PM
Update, 3/4, 7:15 pm: Less than two hours after this article was posted, The Washington Post published a story on... More
ProPublica shines a light on dark money
In the murky new world of money-and-politics reporting, even small victories are hard won
By Mariah Blake Feb 21, 2013 at 03:00 PM
Over the last two years, political reporters have shined a glaring spotlight on super PACs and their funders. Just ask... More
The Washington Times takes a giant step—backwards
Wes Pruden rides again. Watch his words
By Mariah Blake Feb 11, 2013 at 06:50 AM
Since their recent electoral drubbing, many Republicans are rethinking their party's relationship (or lack of one) to blacks and... More
Something fishy?
John Solomon had grand plans for the digital future of the Center for Public Integrity. But there was always a catch…
By Mariah Blake Jul 9, 2012 at 11:00 AM
When John Solomon took over as executive editor of The Washington Times in 2008, the conservative daily had long... More
Tin Soldier
An American Vigilante In Afghanistan, Using the Press for Profit and Glow
By Mariah Blake Jan 27, 2012 at 02:39 PM
In April 2004, a former U.S. Special Forces soldier named Jonathan Keith Idema started shopping a sizzling story to the... More
Cloudy Skies
A new online environment and energy energy site is tainted with conflicts of interest among its anchors and executives
By Mariah Blake Jan 28, 2009 at 10:36 AM
In many ways, CleanSkies.tv, an online outfit offering “energy and environmental news, information, discussion, and commentary,” resembles other TV news... More
Second Life
A storied German-language newspaper remakes itself as a magazine
By Mariah Blake Jul 1, 2008 at 09:00 AM
Even in this era of editorial reinvention, few media outlets have remade themselves as completely as the legendary German-language newspaper... More
Making it in (and out of) Myanmar
CNN’s Dan Rivers, now safe, speaks with CJR
By Mariah Blake May 16, 2008 at 11:06 AM
Aid workers aren’t the only ones having trouble getting into Myanmar after Cyclone Nargis. The nation’s secretive military regime is... More
Private Matters
A new push to rein in the tabloids has British reporters on edge
By Mariah Blake Oct 11, 2007 at 09:00 AM
One of the biggest scandals to engulf the British press since princess Diana’s death began with a trivial bit of... More
The Reporter Who Came In From the Cold
In Germany it can be difficult to tell a journalist from a spy, as the story of one German reporter shows all too well.
By Mariah Blake Aug 30, 2006 at 12:11 PM
Weilheim is a cozy Bavarian village, where geraniums drip from window boxes and onion-domed churches and Alpine chateaus line the... More
Tim Golden on Digging Deep, Timing, and Sourcing
By Mariah Blake May 27, 2005 at 05:46 PM
Tim Golden is an investigative reporter for the New York Times and a writer for the New York Times Magazine.... More
Woman’s work - The twisted reality of an Italian freelancer in Syria
Sourcing Trayvon Martin ‘photos’ from stormfront - Not a good idea, Business Insider
Elizabeth Warren, the antidote to CNBC - The senator schools the talking heads on bank regulation
Art Laffer + PR blitz = press failure - The media types up the retail lobby’s propaganda
Reuters’s global warming about-face - A survey shows the newswire ran 50 percent fewer stories on climate change after hiring a “skeptic”
Barack Obama: ‘those old times aren’t coming back’
“It used to be there were local newspapers everywhere. If you wanted to be a journalist, you could really make a good living working for your hometown paper”
The Guardian’s editor opens up on Reddit
Alan Rusbridger, editor of The Guardian, answered questions in an Ask Me Anything
The (almost) lost speech of Justice Anthony Kennedy
How his insightful remarks about the Constitution inadvertently make the case for a Supreme Court “media pool”
Fox News sues TVEyes for copyright infringement
Says subscription service sells access to its content without permission nor compensation
CJR's Guide to Online News Startups
ACEsTooHigh.com – Reporting on the science, education, and policy surrounding childhood trauma
Who Owns What
The Business of Digital Journalism
A report from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism
Questions and exercises for journalism students.
