American Journalism Review back issues from August 2007:
The view from the woods: and getting a new perspective.(ABOVE THE FOLD)(newspaper advertising)
Aug 01, 2007; ... Here's the news from a remote corner of Warrick County, Indiana. After a solid month without rain, three straight days of summer showers sent the local corn crop shooting up as if on steroids. The fragile cherry trees planted a year ago didn't make it, but the peach trees are doing fine. A ...
Digesting "The Daily Show".(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
Aug 01, 2007; ... Rachel Smolkin's piece on Jon Stewart ("What the Mainstream Media Can Learn from Jon Stewart," June/July) should be required reading in every American newsroom. Little wonder that our readers and viewers are fleeing when our product leaches out all perspective and context in favor of what ...
Selling out page one.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
Aug 01, 2007; ... Your illuminating look at "A Fading Taboo" (June/July) reminded me of the question I fielded years ago from a longtime advertiser: "What would you charge to place my ad on your front page?" [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] I called a friend and fellow advertiser to ask his ...
Local focus.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
Aug 01, 2007; ... I felt somewhat disgruntled after reading two pieces in the April/May 2007 issue of AJR--"Facing the Future" by John Morton and "Really Local" by Donna Shaw. Lately, it appears coverage of "local" news has become a trendy topic in the news industry. But what I believe is missing ...
Correction.(Correction notice)
Aug 01, 2007 ... In "Kind of Confidential" (June/July), AJR said that the San Francisco Chronicle reporters who covered the BALCO case had been criticized for printing ...
A fond farewell to a great one: AJR's managing editor joins USA Today.(FULL COURT PRESS)(American Journalism Review's Rachel Smolkin)(Essay)
Aug 01, 2007; ... It's hard for me to imagine AJR without Rachel Smolkin. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] For the past five years, Rachel has had at least one major feature article in all but one issue of the magazine. And for the past 20 months she's been AJR's managing editor. But ...
Shifting Sands.(THE BEAT)(Interview)
Aug 01, 2007 ... Ken Sands is switching Washingtons, trading the wilds of the Inland Northwest for the wilds of the Beltway. The online publisher for Spokane, Washington's Spokesman-Review is moving to Washington, D.C., in August to become Congressional Quarterly's executive editor for innovation. ...
Locked in limbo: an Associated Press contract photographer has been incarcerated in Iraq by the U.S.--but not charged--since April 12, 2006.(DROP CAP)
Aug 01, 2007; ... Fifteen months after arresting Bilal Hussein, a contract photographer for the Associated Press, the U.S. military still hasn't filed charges against him or made public its evidence. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Pentagon spokespeople say his case has been formally reviewed ...
Cinematic Treats.(DROP CAP)(movie genres)(Brief article)
Aug 01, 2007 ... While Sergio Leone and Clint Eastwood triumphed with their string of Spaghetti Westerns, filmmakers have ignored the potential of other genres of pasta cinema: [ILLUSTRATION ...
Washington Post.(DROP CAP)(Tom Shales' opinion)(Brief article)
Aug 01, 2007; ... "[W]atching [Paris] Hilton for an hour was in its way more edifying and encouraging than enduring more hateful rants from publicity hound Ann Coulter on ...
Police procedural.(Cliche Corner)(views on the movie 'A Mighty Heart')(Brief article)
Aug 01, 2007 ... <Pre> "A Mighty Heart .... It's almost a police procedural, with a focus on the nuts and bolts of the investigation." (National Public Radio) "Angelina Jolie has always seemed larger than life .... 'A Mighty Heart' changes all that .... Following closely Pearl's memoir, John Orloff's ...
Words to live by.(DROP CAP)(Brief article)
Aug 01, 2007 ... When veteran foreign correspondent Rone Tempest left the Los Angeles Times in June, he e-mailed what he called "4 Career Life Lessons from a Retiring Hack" to his about-to-be-former colleagues: I "Never write a company-wide memo ...
Houston Chronicle.(DROP CAP)(Julie Mason's view)(Brief article)
Aug 01, 2007; ... "[President] Bush really hates long, pompous questions and he feels if he gives us too much lead time, we will go rancidly ...
Must-read headline of the month.(Take 2)
Aug 01, 2007 ... Hilton reveals little in post-jail interview [ILLUSTRATION ...
The right to Bear arms.(Take 2)
Aug 01, 2007 ... Ex-Marine Kills Bear With Log ...
Mexico was bad enough.(Take 2)
Aug 01, 2007 ... Pa. officials concerned about ...
Sweet dreams!(Take 2)
Aug 01, 2007 ... Pickup crashes on I-95 with boy ...
Mother's milk madness.(Take 2)
Aug 01, 2007 ... New State Law Offers Breast-Feeding ...
High voltage.(Take 2)
Aug 01, 2007 ... 2 charged over electric cord ...
Wanted dead or alive!(Take 2)
Aug 01, 2007 ... Health officials looking for two dangerous mosquitoes ...
Geniuses to the North.(Take 2)
Aug 01, 2007 ... New poll reveals Canadian parents believe teaching their kids to swim is the best ...
Run for your lives!!!(Take 2)
Aug 01, 2007 ... Spice Girls announce reunion ...
Oy vey!(Take 2)
Aug 01, 2007 ... Romney schleps to N.Y. for Jewish support ...
Philadelphia Daily News.(DROP CAP)
Aug 01, 2007; ... "The media, especially the print media, couldn't conspire to raffle off a turkey, ...
Adding Al Jazeera: how the Qatar-based news channel made its way onto the airwaves of Burlington, Vermont.(DROP CAP)
Aug 01, 2007; ... Cobbled Church Street in Burlington, Vermont, with its eclectic mix of cafes, art studios and boutiques, is worlds away from the dusty and chaotic streets of Damascus or Cairo. It seems an unlikely place to find Al Jazeera English on the local cable-channel lineup. Yet Burlington was the ...
Justice delayed: many in the media jettisoned caution--and the presumption of innocence--in their coverage of an alleged rape by Duke lacrosse players, and were too slow to correct the record as the case unraveled. But some journalists distinguished themselves with skeptical and incisive reporting.(Duke University)
Aug 01, 2007; ... As Reade Seligmann choked back tears on the witness stand, the 21-year-old Duke University lacrosse player dubbed "Flustered" by teammates was poised, compelling and clearly hurting. He told of a world turned "upside down" and of experiencing "as lonely of a feeling as you can ever ...
Star tribulations.(Minneapolis' Star Tribune editor Nancy Barnes)(Interview)
Aug 01, 2007; ... In short order, Minneapolis' Star Tribune has experienced an ownership change, two rounds of staff reduction, a top-to-bottom newsroom reorganization--and its publisher is being sued by its archrival in St. Paul, where he used to work. Editor Nancy Barnes is banking on beefed-up suburban ...
Distorted picture: thanks to Photoshop, it's awfully easy to manipulate photographs, as a number of recent scandals make painfully clear. Misuse of the technology poses a serious threat to photojournalism's credibility.(Adobe Photoshop)
Aug 01, 2007; ... If photo sleuths in Ohio hadn't noticed a pair of missing legs, Allan Detrich still would be cruising to assignments in his sleek blue truck, building his reputation as a photographer extraordinaire at the Toledo Blade. In April, the veteran shooter was forced out of the newsroom in ...
The end of the affair: squeezed for profits, newspapers send their staff film critics packing. Is this sound cost-cutting or a missed opportunity?
Aug 01, 2007; ... "My grandma's in town, is there anything I can take her to see?" "You have already ruined this movie for me!" "I won't see any film unless you recommend it." "I disagree with you about every movie. I know if you like it, I won't." Like the ...
Cluttered Web: in their efforts to boost advertising, newspaper sites are junking up their home pages.(THE ONLINE FRONTIER)
Aug 01, 2007; ... To new-media trailblazers, newspaper tribulations sometimes seem adorably quaint. Consider the controversy over front-page newspaper ads reported by Donna Shaw in AJR's last issue ("A Fading Taboo," June/July). "Page-one ads may net premium prices," Shaw writes, "but they're distasteful to ...
Over the line: the questionable tactics of "To Catch a Predator".(BROADCAST VIEWS)
Aug 01, 2007; ... The "To Catch a Predator" series on "Dateline NBC" has been a smash hit for the network's news division since it launched more than two years ago, drawing a substantial audience and public praise for bringing sex offenders to justice. But the program's tactics have always been ...
The news media's woman problem.(BOOKS)(Selling Anxiety: How the News Media Scare Women)(Book review)
Aug 01, 2007; ... Selling Anxiety: How the News Media Scare Women By Caryl Rivers University Press of New England 168 pages; $24.95 "Selling Anxiety" has little new to say, a fact that, strangely enough, actually adds to its power and value. ...
Dow Jones dilemma: is it a good idea for corporate America to own the Wall Street Journal?(THE NEWSPAPER BUSINESS)
Aug 01, 2007; ... For a journalist, nothing is more satisfying than knowing that your newspaper is absolutely independent, free from pressures from advertisers, religions, unions, business, politicians, governments and ideologies. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Not many journalists enjoy such ...