American Journalism Review

Browse past and current articles from this publication.

Notes from a new dean: preserving journalism in a tumultuous era.(ABOVE THE FOLD)
I'll begin our conversation with a quick precis of where I believe we are in the craft and calling of journalism. The headlines are something like this: Gathering Storm Tosses News Business! Newspap . . .

Fears for the future: who will pay for the nation's newsgathering efforts?(FULL COURT PRESS)
It suddenly reached critical mass. All at once, you couldn't go anywhere without somebody talking about the perilous state of America's newspapers. Sen. John Kerry convened Congressional hearing . . .

"One of your best".(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
I want you to know that AJR's February/March issue was one of your best! Usually I am complaining about the lack of articles on broadcast/ cable news. But the loss of America's newspapers is an issu . . .

Charging for content.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
Good stuff by John Morton in your April/May issue. He's right: Free content has to go away. Here's what I've been advocating for years: Subscribe to your daily newspaper. That subscription also bu . . .

Not impressive.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
While watching newspapers die, only one question comes to me: Who were we trying to impress? Was it the readers, the advertisers, ourselves, the people who give out awards, or were newspapers only t . . .

Lighten up.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
Dodgers announcer Vin Scully tells of training with Red Barber, who advised him never to have dinner with anybody on the team: It makes it tough to criticize them on the air the next day. If liste . . .

Correction.(Correction notice)
AJR misspelled the last name of Mindi Keirnan, a former Knight Ridder vice president and a member of the Friends of the National Women & Media Collection, in the article "Don't Empty That Inbox" in . . .

Farewell to New Orleans: a veteran New York Times correspondent reflects on covering the rebuilding of "an irreplaceable cultura
As images of ruined neighborhoods and gut-wrenching stories of poverty emerged from New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, journalists and citizens uttered a collective, "My gosh, look at what . . .

Documenting the return of war dead at Dover: a former Pentagon correspondent's first-person account.(DROP CAP)
For nearly two decades, Pentagon officials insisted there was no way to allow news coverage of returning American war dead at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware without intruding on the privacy of fam . . .

The (Sopris) Sun also rises: small town Carbondale, Colorado, loses one newspaper only to have residents join together to launch
Sadly, it's not an unthinkable occurrence. Already this year, newspapers have gone out of business in Denver, Seattle and Tucson. But when the weekly Carbondale Valley Journal shut down in the small . . .

Cliche corner.
"Hollywood's biggest stars are all a-twitter with technology." (USA Today) "All a-twitter: the tweet smell of success" (Philadelphia Inquirer) "How tweet it is: the sports world is all a twi . . .

Take 2.
A heavy April snow storm creates a wintry seen near New Castle on Friday, looking more like Christmas than Easter. (caption in Colorado's Glenwood Springs Post Independent) This Just In Study: . . .

Circulation Boost? Newspapers explore delivery via electronic reader.(DROP CAP)
With the recent technological improvements to and growing popularity of devices like Amazon's Kindle, some newspapers are turning to easy-to-carry electronic readers as a way to attract and keep sub . . .

A legendary adjective.
We live in "legendary" times, judging by the frequency with which the word is attached to people, places and musky fishing: "Legendary GOP Figure, Ex-Quarterback Jack Kemp Dies" (Huffington Post . . .

Before Deep Throat: the FBI director gave me explosive information about Watergate just two months after the break-in, but it ne
The director of the FBI sat across from me over lunch at a French restaurant and told me that the attorney general and the president were involved in a crime. He told me that in Washington, in Aug . . .

Cities without Newspapers: as the economic noose tightens, the notion of big cities without local dailies seems a real possibili
This spring, Princeton economist Sam Schulhofer-Wohl and his colleague Miguel Garrido issued a paper of vital importance to print journalists desperate for a sliver of good news: "Do Newspapers Matt . . .

The Twitter explosion: whether they are reporting about it, finding sources on it or urging viewers, listeners and readers to fo
It's OK to be sick and tired of Twitter. Heaven knows, it may be the world's most overhyped technology, the latest in an ever-lengthening list of overhyped technologies and cultural techno-fads stre . . .

A porous wall: as news organizations, in their struggle to survive, blur the line between editorial and advertising, does credib
The latest fissure in the wall between editorial and advertising came in April, when the Los Angeles Times ran a front-page advertisement that could easily have been confused for an actual news arti . . .

Hunkering down: despite the massive economic problems plaguing the newspaper business, some journalists refuse to scramble for t
There are days when I dream about quitting the newspaper business and opening my own coffee shop. I'd call it the Underdog Cafe. On rainy days, the lunch special would be tomato pie and biscuits. My . . .

Stopping the presses: maybe it's time for newspapers to go online-only.(THE ONLINE FRONTIER)
The worse things get for newspapers, the more articles and columns we encounter about "How to Save Newspapers." I guess this is one of them, although a better title might be, "Drastic Times Call for . . .

Extreme makeover: local newscasts experiment with new looks and formats in an effort to draw viewers.(BROADCAST VIEWS)
Turn on a local television newscast almost anywhere in the country and you'll see pretty much the same thing: a male-female anchor team delivering the news from behind a desk on a studio set. Sure, . . .

Off the Bus.
Bloggers on the Bus: How the Internet Changed Politics and the Press By Eric Boehlert Free Press 352 pages; $26 An obvious irony underlies "Bloggers on the Bus," Eric Boehlert's study of how . . .

Not dead yet: despite the gloomy news about newspapers, many smaller dailies still make money.(THE NEWSPAPER BUSINESS)
Lost amid the barrage of downbeat news about newspapers closing or filing for bankruptcy is this central fact: There are a thousand daily newspapers in this country--70 percent of the total--that fo . . .

A time of transition: changing times for an industry and for the Merrill College.(PRIME TIME)(University of Maryland's Philip Me
I am not now, nor have I ever been, a late-night sort of person. But years back, I was habituated to late-night TV, to "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson." And I was watching that final night, . . .

A giant departs: Reese Cleghorn was something special. He will be missed.(FULL COURT PRESS)(Obituary)
They Might Be Giants is the name of an alternative rock group. "A giant" is the way I'd describe Reese Cleghorn. Reese, who died last month at 78, was a distinguished civil rights correspondent, . . .

Life after journalism.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
After reading several articles about journalists suddenly thrown out of work, I thought maybe the way journalism can move forward is to look backward. I would suggest that out-of-work journalists lo . . .

Federal shield law fallout.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
In joining with nearly every newspaper and journalists' organization in America to demand a federal shield law (From the Editor, February/March), AJR apparently sees no irony in reporters increasing . . .

Anonymous blog comments.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
Thank you for taking seriously the problem of anonymous citizens posting on newspaper Web sites (Drop Cap, February/March). I wish your article had addressed the ethics of this issue in addition to . . .

Journalist of the future: the groundbreaking NBC digital correspondent Mara Schiavocampo.(THE BEAT)
Mara Schiavocampo was about to embark on her fantasy job. But the second she stepped onto the plane that April 2006 afternoon, she felt heartsick and nauseated. "Oh, my God," she thought. "What am . . .

Uncovering extravagance: a longtime obituary writer breaks the story of profligate spending by airport officials.(DROP CAP)
Since late November, Lexington, Kentucky's Herald-Leader has mesmerized, outraged, fascinated and even titillated readers with stories about the leadership of central Kentucky's Blue Grass Airport. . . .

Twitter offers real-time access.(Brief article)
"Twitter offers real-time access to some of our most important leaders' and news people's least important thoughts, 140 characters at a time. It's no wonder young people love it, according to report . . .

It has been brought to our attention.(Brief article)
"It has been brought to our attention that personal mail without postage is being put in the mail bin for mailing. Please note that any personal mail without postage attached will be tossed out by t . . .

Don't empty that inbox: the National Women & Media Collection seeks journalists' documents.(DROP CAP)
Think twice before you throw out that clutter on your desk or empty your computer's recycle bin. Believe it or not, somebody wants those used reporter's notebooks, old tape recordings and marked-up . . .

Broadcast television.(Brief article)
"Broadcast television is in a time of tremendous transition, and if we don't attempt to change the model now, we could be in danger of becoming the automobile industry or the newspaper industry." . . .

Black hole.(Brief article)
"Call it the Feds' Bailout Black Hole." (CBS News) "Even after $135 billion in federal aid gets spent, many states will be staring down budgetary black holes unless they initiate dramatic spendi . . .

Take 2.(current events)(Brief article)
Such a Bargain L.A. will pay $12.8M for beatings by police (Orlando Sentinel) No Rest for the Weary Texas Army recruiters get new command after deaths (Associated Press) Print Learns fro . . .

Priceless? Fewer newspapers are offering paid internships to journalism students.(DROP CAP)
For journalism students, newsroom internships have always provided essential hands-on training. But in a troubled economy, these lessons may come at a cost. Many news organizations have eliminated . . .

The inconsistencies.(DROP CAP)(Roland Burris)(Brief article)
"The inconsistencies are coming from the press." --Sen. Roland Burris, D-III., trotting out the tried-and-true blame-the-media defense when asked about his shifting accounts of whom he talked to b . . .

Gwyneth Paltrow.(Brief article)
"Torn between a gorgeous if unstable shiksa goddess (Gwyneth Paltrow) and the nice Jewish girl (Vinessa Shaw) his mom and dad are clearly crazy about, Leonard ultimately has to decide which self to . . .

Bullish on journalism: a young reporter is excited, not discouraged, about the future of his profession. He urges his contempora
On December 20, 2007, I gave a speech at my graduation from the Philip Merrill College of Journalism framed around Hunter S. Thompson's quote, "Buy the ticket, take the ride." "We all just got our . . .

Statehouse exodus: AJR's latest survey of the nation's state capitols finds a dramatic decrease in the number of newspaper repor
When Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano resigned in January to lead President Barack Obama's Department of Homeland Security, there was dramatic upheaval at the state Capitol. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] . . .

A costly mistake? When the Associated Press decided a decade ago to sell its news content to online portals, it may have hastene
When Jim Brady went to work as America Online's news director a decade ago, he knew he was joining one of the most important and powerful news organizations in the world. It's not that Brady was com . . .

The quality--control quandary: as newspapers shed copy editors and post more and more unedited stories online, what's the impact
Sunrise approaches on a Friday morning, and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch Web site is being updated early--from Mandy St. Amand's bathroom. St. Amand, the Post-Dispatch continuous news editor, has b . . .

A dubious benefactor: when the New York Times Co. needed to borrow money, it turned to a controversial Mexican billionaire one o
The voice that answered the telephone that February afternoon in the New York Times newsroom was cordial. That is, until the conversation turned to the reason for the call: Did the editorial writer . . .

Hitting the tweet spot: news outlets should use Twitter to reach elusive and valuable audiences.(THE ONLINE FRONTIER)
How do you know when a social media tool has reached the farthest corners of the Earth? When the Dalai Lama signs up. OK, the Dalai Lama didn't actually create a Twitter account. But it's almost a . . .

Endangered I-Teams: local TV stations are unwisely jettisoning their investigative units.(BROADCAST VIEWS)
The decision didn't come as a total shock, but the timing was ironic. One day after accepting a prestigious Alfred. I. duPont-Columbia University Award in January for a series of investigative stori . . .

Redeeming the Honor of Print.(The Best American Magazine Writing 2008)(Book review)
The Best American Magazine Writing 2008 Compiled by the American Society of Magazine Editors Columbia University Press 568 pages; $16.95 Few satisfactions quite match reading good stories, and . . .

The Morton Plan: here's how America's newspapers can save themselves.(THE NEWSPAPER BUSINESS)
The death of the newspaper industry has been predicted many times. First, radio would cause it. Then surely television would and, later, cable television with its myriad information channels. Now, i . . .

Can the Press Fix Itself? Steven Brill answers the question he asked a decade ago.(PRIME TIME)
Whatever happened to Steve Brill? Brill is the creator of a string of enterprises, most recently a company called Clear, maker of the Verified Identity Pass that can whisk the user through airport s . . .

Brandishing a shield: it's time for Congress to pass a law allowing reporters to protect confidential sources--without facing fi
Maybe this will be the year. For quite some time, journalism organizations and First Amendment advocates have been battling for a federal shield law to allow reporters to protect the identity of c . . .