The Magazine
November/December 2007
Articles
Essay
Rights and Wrongs
The most common words in politics can be the most deceptive
By Aryeh Neier Dec 24, 2007 at 09:00 AM
In 2002, a year after the terrorist attacks on new York and Washington, the Bush administration published a new version... More
Essay
Orwell Abuse
Orwell: muse, not model
By David Rieff Dec 18, 2007 at 09:00 AM
Once in a great while, one encounters a writer who seems not only to have a finger on the pulse... More
Essay
‘Surge,’ Meet ‘Escalation’
The fight for clarity in language: a case study
By Geoffrey Cowan Dec 13, 2007 at 09:00 AM
Nothing has the capacity to frame political debate more successfully than a good turn of phrase, characterization, or metaphor; nor... More
Feature
If You Build It…
The Journal-Constitution gambles on a digitally driven makeover
By Julia M. Klein Nov 15, 2007 at 09:00 AM
John C. Mellott, the affable publisher of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, is moving his forearm up and down like a lever.... More
Essay
The Limits of Clear Language
Orwell worried about polluted language, but polluted information is more toxic
By Nicholas Lemann Nov 8, 2007 at 09:00 AM
Can there be a political writer who has not fallen in love with George Orwell’s 1946 essay, “Politics and the... More
Feature
Musharraf’s Monster
In Pakistan, independent TV is young, powerful, and biting the hand that fed it
By Shahan Mufti Nov 5, 2007 at 12:00 PM
One evening last June, during an oppressively hot summer in Islamabad, I attended a protest organized by Pakistani television journalists.... More
Essay
The Rhetoric Beat
Why journalism needs one
By Brent Cunningham Nov 1, 2007 at 02:00 PM
There was a series of moments, during the first twenty-four hours after the attacks of September 11, 2001, when the... More
Departments
Darts and Laurels
Laurel to The Principia Pilot
Send tips and comments to dartsandlaurels@cjr.org
By Clint Hendler Dec 26, 2007 at 09:00 AM
Laurel to The Principia Pilot for truth-telling under difficult circumstances. When rumors began to circulate that CEO Stuart Jenkins, who... More
Short Takes
The Big Picture
Movie journalists get an image makeover
By Megan Garber Dec 6, 2007 at 09:00 AM
The movie poster for this fall’s The Hunting Party features a black-and-white photo of Richard Gere and Terrence Howard, press... More
Editorial
Iraq and the Cost of Coverage
Serious stories, serious money
By The Editors Dec 5, 2007 at 07:00 PM
The debate about the ramifications of the U.S. troop “surge” that began last winter in Iraq is both highly politicized... More
On the Contrary
The War Expert
Wrong, wrong, wrong again. But the media still want Ken Pollack
By Michael Massing Nov 26, 2007 at 01:00 PM
On July 30, as the debate over the Bush administration’s “surge” in Iraq was heating up, The New York Times... More
Ideas & Reviews
The Research Report
Who Hates the Press?
From Watergate to the present, confidence in the media has been spiraling down
By Michael Schudson & Danielle Haas Dec 28, 2007 at 09:00 AM
A new study traces more than thirty years of changing public attitudes toward the news media, and unhappily finds... More
Review
Brief Encounters
Short reviews of books: the AP, the I. Lewis Libby trial, White House communications, and abuses of civil liberties
By James Boylan Dec 27, 2007 at 09:00 AM
Breaking News: How the Associated Press Has Covered War, Peace, and Everything Else By Reporters of the Associated Press, with... More
Review
Parting Shot
WFB shores up his place in the establishment
By Victor Navasky Dec 11, 2007 at 09:00 AM
A confession: back in June of 1988, when journalist John Judis (The New Republic) published his respectable and respectful biography,... More
Review
Cowboys and Damsels
Susan Faludi oversimplifies post-9/11 America
By Bree Nordenson Nov 29, 2007 at 09:00 AM
Since September 12, 2001, the American media have churned out a remarkable body of work on our nation’s response to... More
Q and A
The New Health-Care Debate
1992 echoes loudly, but today’s story isn’t just back to the future
By Trudy Lieberman Nov 27, 2007 at 09:00 AM
A 2005 survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that twice as many people rely on the media for information... More
Second Read
The Unvanquished
Marshall Frady and the dime-store rascals of southern politics
By Scott Sherman Nov 13, 2007 at 12:00 PM
A few months before he died in a car accident, David Halberstam published a droll, melancholy homage to his colleague... More
#Realtalk: This isn’t another ‘golden age’ for print - But it is one for media
Social media in smaller markets - How three social media managers deal with smaller markets and more local coverage.
A rally for laid-off Sun-Times photogs - A protest Thursday morning drew about 150 picketers to the newspaper’s headquarters
Reporting, or illegal hacking - Scripps reporters are accused of violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act
Exchange Watch: California Dreaming - Low healthcare premiums on the West Coast were trumpeted as a big, good-news Obamacare story. But: “Compared to what?”
One of the great reporters of his generation died Tuesday at 33. The stories he wrote, and the ones he didn’t live to write
Michael Hastings: my friend and his enemies
Hastings was fearless and shook things up - especially with his McChrystal expose. The haters in the media couldn’t forgive him
Journalism is about finding flaws and magnifying them, and surely someone who would spill massive loads of state secrets must contain a few broken parts, right?
Call it the Politico rhetorical crutch
The inside-the-beltway publication’s go-to phrase
Rachel Maddow’s tribute to Michael Hastings
“Michael was angry … he was angry about things that weren’t right in the world. He was angry with war and with loss, and that drove his reporting.”
CJR's Guide to Online News Startups
Uptown Messenger – Hyperlocal news for a neighborhood in New Orleans
Who Owns What
The Business of Digital Journalism
A report from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism
Questions and exercises for journalism students.
