The Media Today

The media today: The year that changed journalism

October 6, 2017
 

“It’s easy, at a time of rolling scandals and hourly push alerts, to lose sight of how extraordinary this moment is,” CJR Editor and Publisher Kyle Pope writes in the opening pages of our new print issue. The past year has been unlike any the US political world has ever seen. Donald Trump’s rise from reality-TV celebrity to reality-TV president challenged and changed journalism in myriad ways. CJR’s fall magazine looks at the people, moments, and news organizations Trump’s presidency has affected.

From Ivanka to “the dossier” to a moment of reckoning for the political press, the issue tackles some of the biggest personalities and existential questions that have become part of the daily conversation in Washington.

In the days to come, we’ll be posting great pieces, including CJR’s Pope on his time as editor of The New York Observer under Jared Kushner (which publishes on cjr.org at noon today), McKay Coppins on the threat posed by right-wing media, Collier Meyerson on covering a country where race is everywhere, and many more. So keep checking in as we roll out the new issue, and if you’re not already a member, we’d be grateful for your support—$50 gets you a year of access to exclusive content, four issues of the print magazine, and invitations to CJR events.

Below, the first few pieces we’ve already made available online.

  • Best press he’s ever had: In perhaps my favorite piece in the issue, former New York Daily News gossip columnist Lloyd Grove looks at Trump’s complicated and profitable relationship with tabloid journalism.
  • Trump and the Watergate effect: The Washington Post’s Margaret Sullivan wonders whether the work being done by journalists today will inspire the next generation of Woodwards and Bernsteins.
  • Can the First Amendment save us?: Columbia University President and First Amendment scholar Lee C. Bollinger writes about battles over press freedom and trust in the Trump era.
  • When all the news that fits is Trump: Former New York Times Executive Editor Jill Abramson praises the work that journalists have done in the first year of the new presidency, but warns of the pitfalls of the Trump bump.

Other notable stories

Pete Vernon is a former CJR staff writer. Follow him on Twitter @ByPeteVernon.