Sign up for the daily CJR newsletter.
If you are reading this, you have very likely noticed that the news industry is undergoing extraordinary challenge and change. At the Columbia Journalism Review, we’ve been following variations on this theme since the magazine kicked off, sixty-five years ago, when the founders set out to “assess the performance of journalism in all its forms, to call attention to its shortcomings and its strengths, and to help define—or redefine—standards of honest, responsible service.”
I have been at CJR for almost eight years now, and in that time this work has never felt more urgent: Public trust in news organizations is as low as it’s ever been measured, and the core values of the press are severely under threat. The second Trump administration has brought escalating attacks; in statehouses, at the White House, and around the world, reporters are facing shocking access restrictions. Many journalists have lost their lives. Influencers are on the rise; AI is transforming the work of news and the foundation of news organizations; mis- and disinformation proliferates. All of this poses an increasing number of questions—ethical, legal, financial, and for journalists’ safety—that CJR is singularly positioned to address.
The terrain keeps shifting, and so must we. To meet the moment, and to face the realities of rising costs, we are announcing a modest update to our membership program that will make a big difference: sixty-five dollars a year, to mark our sixty-fifth anniversary. Your investment in CJR will help fund our small team and the contributors who work with us to bring you a website that’s updated daily, a newsletter, the Kicker podcast, and special projects, including digital magazine issues that focus on the most pressing questions for the media today. Your membership will also come with added benefits—including a weekly newsletter from me, exclusive story previews, and much gratitude for your support of our independent, nonprofit journalism.
Recently, we have seen the impact of our coverage. In the past year, we have been recognized in multiple categories by the Mirror Awards, the preeminent competition for media reporting. After we published an investigation by Lois Parshley into Carpenter Media—one of the country’s biggest newspaper companies, perhaps best known for pulling a story about a Charlie Kirk memorial from Alaska’s Homer News—the Alaska Select Committee on Legislative Ethics announced that it would investigate ethics complaints against a legislator involved in getting that article spiked. Our work—everything from a project on press freedom in Gaza to a #MeToo investigation of Wesley Lowery to an ethics series produced in collaboration with Margaret Sullivan to reporting on the journalism scene in Lebanon—has inspired wide discussion and events. We made waves with a PSAi campaign developed with TBWA\Chiat\Day. All of this, and much more, reflects the distinctive role that CJR plays in the journalism world, and our writers have been featured prominently in national media, from NPR to CNN.
At CJR, we care deeply about journalism that is curious, rigorous, broad-minded, approachable, and innovative. We can’t do our work without you—and we hope you’ll join us as a member. Please also consider making a donation of any amount to CJR, signing up (for free) to our newsletter and podcast, and sharing this link with people you know who might share a belief that journalism matters. Thank you so much for your support.
Has America ever needed a media defender more than now? Help us by joining CJR today.
