The Magazine
November/December 2014
Articles
Feature
How the Israeli-Palestinian conflict affected journalists
Last summer’s Gaza war pushed reporters to their mental and physical limits
By Jared Malsin Oct 30, 2014 at 06:50 AM
Tyler Hicks, a photojournalist for The New York Times, was sitting in his hotel room in Gaza last summer... More
Reports
The case for Huffington Post’s crowdfunded reporting job
Let the people pay
By Ben Adler Oct 30, 2014 at 06:50 AM
hen the Huffington Post announced it would crowdfund a one-year reporting fellowship to cover the aftermath of teenager Michael Brown's... More
Feature
Is Ari Melber the future of cable-news anchors?
The MSNBC rising star is a lawyer-turned-journalist who wants to solve problems, not shout about them
By Alyson Kruger Oct 30, 2014 at 06:50 AM
On a Wednesday afternoon in late July, during his regular show on MSNBC, Ari Melber gestured across the table... More
Cover Story
Should journalism worry about content marketing?
Corporate brands now compete for audience with an aggressive storytelling strategy
By Michael Meyer Oct 29, 2014 at 06:56 AM
At a glance, the Daily Growl could be any morning news meeting held in the "win the internet through... More
Feature
Ta-Nehisi Coates defines a new race beat
The Atlantic writer looks to the past to confront contemporary racism
By Chris Ip Oct 29, 2014 at 06:56 AM
He is the most celebrated journalist writing about race today, and yet Ta-Nehisi Coates' ideas are surprisingly unoriginal. He... More
United States Project
How civic hackers are helping local journalism
In Chicago, the practice goes back long before “open data” became a buzzword
By Rui Kaneya Sep 3, 2014 at 02:50 PM
CHICAGO, IL — Last year, when Chicago Public Schools released a list of 129 schools slated for possible closure, the... More
Departments
Currents
‘Working’ people have an audience
Breaking down jobs stories
By Lene Bech Sillesen Oct 30, 2014 at 06:50 AM
This year marks the 40th anniversary of Studs Terkel's groundbreaking book, Working: People Talk About What They Do All... More
Currents
Story stats
Hard numbers behind the news
By The Editors Oct 30, 2014 at 06:50 AM
$135 Hourly rate Ferguson, MO, officials charge journalists who seek access to public records related to the Michael Brown shooting... More
Darts and Laurels
Lousy judgment, unlikely hero
Darts for Columbia Daily Tribune, The Economist, and SportsCenter with laurels for TMZ and The New York Times
By Lene Bech Sillesen Oct 30, 2014 at 06:50 AM
A DART to the Columbia Daily Tribune for running a cartoon of Ferguson protesters holding signs with statements such as,... More
Language Corner
The history of ‘wrestle’
Getting to the root of the word
By Merrill Perlman Oct 30, 2014 at 06:50 AM
he football player "wrestled" the ball away from an opponent and scored a touchdown. Shareholders "wrestled" control of a company... More
Opening Shot
Ebola scare spotlights media’s retreat from science coverage
Hyperbole, misinformation, and conspiracy theories abound
By The Editors Oct 29, 2014 at 06:56 AM
With the arrival in the US of the Ebola virus, the American public has demonstrated yet again its... More
Currents
Journalism’s new beats
Today’s coverage areas go way beyond cops, courts, and sports.
By Chris Ip Oct 29, 2014 at 06:56 AM
Media companies old and new are perpetually rethinking their beats, though their motivations may vary. More
Currents
Journalism says goodbye to Redskins
A list of news organizations that no longer use the team name
By David Uberti Oct 29, 2014 at 06:56 AM
The debate over the Washington Redskins' nickname intensified this year when the US Patent and Trademark Office canceled the... More
Currents
Inside Evin prison
Maziar Bahari’s experience illuminated in Jon Stewart’s film Rosewater
By Lene Bech Sillesen Oct 29, 2014 at 06:56 AM
In this issue of Currents, political cartoonist Mana Neyestani talks about the terrors he experienced inside Iran's Evin prison,... More
Ideas & Reviews
Q and A
What’s next for David Plotz?
The former editor of Slate charts a new path
By Christopher Massie Oct 30, 2014 at 06:50 AM
In July, David Plotz announced that he would be ending his six-year tenure as editor of Slate. Plotz, who... More
Review
Copywrong
Copyright may make creative work more expensive, but without it we’d all be poorer
By Robert Levine Oct 29, 2014 at 06:56 AM
hen Charles Dickens first came to America in 1842, he gave a series of speeches in which he asked the... More
Review
The kids are all right
Donna Gaines saw beyond a Teenage Wasteland
By Eugenia Williamson Oct 29, 2014 at 06:56 AM
Three years ago, I found myself floating along the East River with the Insane Clown Posse. They had recently... More
Review
How the First Amendment applies to Jennifer Lawrence
Amy Gajda’s new book overstates the threat to press freedom in digital-age court rulings
By Garrett Epps Oct 29, 2014 at 06:56 AM
The First Amendment Bubble: How Privacy and Paparazzi Threaten a Free Press By Amy Gajda Harvard University Press 306 pages;... More
The ethics of The Guardian’s Whisper bombshell - It would have been a journalistic lapse not to have told readers
Gawker: The internet bully - Nick Denton’s media empire is an intellectual online fraternity that invites people to their parties only to make them buy the booze
The Washington Post short-sells a reporter’s integrity - Steven Pearlstein smears TheStreet’s Adam Feuerstein for criticizing a biotech firm
Former Sun-Times staffers react to top reporter’s resignation - “Whereas we don’t have all the answers, we have way too many questions about what happened here”
Stop trolling your readers - We know you’re only doing it for clicks
Email blasts from CJR writers and editors
Which news org is the most trusted? (Pew)
The answer is complicated
An American journalist on his two-year kidnapping in Syria
FBI faked an AP story, in Seattle Times style, to catch a suspect (Seattle Times)
“‘We are outraged that the FBI, with the apparent assistance of the US Attorney’s Office, misappropriated the name of The Seattle Times to secretly install spyware on the computer of a crime suspect,’ said Seattle Times Editor Kathy Best”
How one reporter copes inside the ‘Ebola bubble’ (BuzzFeed)
“Bring gloves to give nurses you meet at clinics, even if you’re there for a story. Get small change to give to the kids who have been out of school for months and are selling ground nuts for pitiful sums on the side of road. Hell, give them candy. Violate all the principles of ostensibly good aid stewardship, because the good stewardship of the developed world didn’t get help here in time, and now everyone is dying around you.”
Greg Marx discusses democracy and news with Tom Rosenstiel of the American Press Institute
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.