American Journalism Review back issues from August 2009:
Three icons depart: despite their obvious differences, Cronkite, Novak and Hewitt had something in common.(ABOVE THE FOLD)(Walter Cronkite, Robert D. Novak and Don Hewitt)(In memoriam)
Aug 01, 2009; ... This summer saw the passing of three remarkable, and diverse, American news icons--Walter Cronkite, Robert D. Novak and Don Hewitt. The three were hardly alike in their approaches to the disciplines of journalism. Yet they had historic similarities. "Uncle Walter," the CBS News ...
Hanging tough.(Letter to the editor)
Aug 01, 2009 ... Beth Macy's "Hunkering Down" (June/July) is a beautiful piece on journalism. I thought she did a fantastic job of bringing together the past, present and future of the industry. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] My husband is a journalist and was laid off in December 2008 from a ...
Small papers.(Letter to the editor)
Aug 01, 2009 ... AJR columnist John Morton missed the mark by referring to the small daily newspaper market as less vulnerable to failure than the metro dailies (The Newspaper Business, June/July). Take a look at CNHI and GateHouse Media for proof that small dailies are becoming extinct at an alarming ...
Silenced voices.(Letter to the editor)
Aug 01, 2009; ... The problem really hit me when I read the pull quote in "The MBA Option" sidebar of Robert Hodierne's "Is There Life After Newspapers?" (February/March). The quote states: "MBA programs target journalists because they add a diverse professional element to the classroom and they have skills ...
Go local.(Letter to the editor)
Aug 01, 2009; ... I have been occasionally reading your magazine for a decade. The last year's issues have been so depressing that if journalism was my only career, I'd be on three antidepressants and a fifth of whiskey a day. Fortunately, journalism is my third job. I own, or am part of, two other ...
Taking issue.(Letter to the editor)
Aug 01, 2009; ... I read with sad interest your "Statehouse Exodus" story (April/ May) on the erosion of resources and reporters in state capitals. I live with the reality, and fear that as the numbers of flashlights go dark, we might never know about the self-dealing and waste that go on in state ...
He won't miss Nossiter.(Letter to the editor)
Aug 01, 2009; ... Regarding your article on the departure of New York Times reporter Adam Nossiter from New Orleans (The Beat, June/July), I can say without reservation that I, for one, celebrated his exit from our city. While there may have been many fair and objective reports by journalists in the ...
Daydream believers: the persistence of myths underscores the need for relentless reporting.(FULL COURT PRESS)
Aug 01, 2009; ... Chico Marx once famously asked, "Who you gonna believe, me or your own eyes?" America has become a country filled with people who stubbornly continue to believe what they want to believe, regardless of the facts. Take the so-called birthers, who refuse to accept that ...
The real McCoy: a hall of fame baseball reporter heads to the bench after his beat is called due to lack of funds.(THE BEAT)(baseball writer Hal McCoy)(Interview)
Aug 01, 2009; ... Life suddenly became "dark and fuzzy" for baseball writer Hal McCoy when he became legally blind just before leaving for spring training in 2003. But in spite of the obvious challenges, he decided to stay on the beat. He would leave the game only when he was ready and only on his own ...
Goodbye without leaving: a newspaper editor converts her investigative team into a nonprofit--with her former paper as partner and chief benefactor.(DROP CAP)(Lorie Hearn)(Union-Tribune)
Aug 01, 2009; ... It's an important and much-discussed question: As traditional news organizations cut back dramatically, how can the watchdog journalism that is crucial in a democracy be preserved? Lorie Hearn has come up with an innovative way to help the cause. Hearn, 56, left her ...
Walks back.(Cliche Corner)
Aug 01, 2009 ... "Newt walks back 'racist' line" (Politico) "White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs on Monday called Vice President Biden an 'enormous asset to the administration,' insisting that the loose-lipped No. 2 is not a distraction even after the State Department had to ...
Journalism in your face: the award-winning Virgin Islands Daily News is committed to aggressive watchdog reporting.(DROP CAP)
Aug 01, 2009; ... Want paradise? Try radiant sunshine, pristine beaches and cerulean Caribbean waters. Want journalistic bliss? Try hard-hitting investigations, public records battles and award-winning coverage. Want both? Try the U.S. Virgin Islands and its largest newspaper, the Virgin Islands ...
The Return of Annie Hall.("(500) Days of Summer")(Brief article)
Aug 01, 2009 ... "Much like 'Annie Hall' did for a previous generation, '(500) Days of Summer' may be the movie that best captures a contemporary romantic sensibility." (USA Today) "Generation X may have found its own Annie Hall in Zooey Deschanel's portrayal of Summer Fin[n] in the ...
Don't mention my name: anonymous White House briefings have proven a stubborn foe for journalists trying to bring more transparency to government coverage.(DROP CAP)
Aug 01, 2009; ... It's a Washington staple, like lobbyists, humidity and the White House Easter egg hunt: the anonymous background briefing. For decades, journalists have been frustrated by the bipartisan practice in which top government officials speak to reporters with the proviso that they can ...
Sex in court.(Take 2)
Aug 01, 2009 ... The student described how the relationship escalated from Facebook flirtations ...
Couldn't fly the coop.(Take 2)(arrest of a drug lord in Mexico)(Brief article)
Aug 01, 2009 ... Police nab capon at family birthday fete (Agence France-Press. Police in ...
Why would Obama invoke Bush?(Take 2)
Aug 01, 2009 ... Obama Invokes Jesus More ...
Hold page one.(Take 2)
Aug 01, 2009 ... GOP Dominated by White Conservatives: Gallup Poll (Huffington ...
Loose woman.(Take 2)
Aug 01, 2009 ... Husband wanted for shooting wife on the loose ...
Pullquote of the month.(Take 2)
Aug 01, 2009 ... Sunday in the park with Glock. (with a column by the New ...
Winning headline.(Take 2)
Aug 01, 2009 ... Hide Your Dogs (Philadelphia ...
Winning line.(Take 2)(Quotation)(Brief article)
Aug 01, 2009 ... This has to be the first movie ever to give equal props to Morrissey and Hall & Oates. (Owen Gleiberman, in his review of "(500) Days of Summer" in Entertainment ...
Assignment AfPak: with the Obama administration making terrorism in Pakistan and Afghanistan a top priority, news outlets have stepped up their reporting presence in the region. It's an extremely dangerous beat.
Aug 01, 2009; ... A year ago Dextex Filkins of the New York Times was working out of the Pearl Continental Hotel in the Taliban infested city of Peshawar. The reporter was awaiting a nod from fixers that passage into a deadly swath of territory known as the Khyber Agency had been arranged. Four weeks had ...
Build that pay wall high: since there's no indication that online ad revenue will ever be robust enough to support newspapers, maybe they'd be better off charging steep fees for online content or keeping material off the Web entirely and putting their emphasis on--gasp--that retro old print product.(online fees)
Aug 01, 2009; ... Albert K. "Buck" Sherman thinks the newspaper industry just might be able to save itself by taking a bold step ... backward. Starting in June, Sherman, the publisher of his family-owned newspaper, the Newport Daily News in Rhode Island, began charging $345 a year for unlimited access to ...
Mastering multimedia: it's not enough to post some text and then simply throw some video into the mix. To keep readers' attention and enhance the audience's understanding, it's critical that each ingredient in a rich multimedia stew is placed precisely where it makes the most sense.
Aug 01, 2009; ... It has been a while since video took the Web by storm. It has also been a long time since people started using the word "multimedia." Like journalism itself, such terms are rapidly redefined in a media landscape that constantly changes. That's why innovation in a newsroom isn't just ...
The limits of control: with journalists and their employers increasingly active on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, news organizations are struggling to respond to a host of new ethics challenges.
Aug 01, 2009; ... As a journalist, is it okay to describe your politics as "kind of a Commie" on Facebook? Do you stop friends from posting pictures of you on their MySpace pages? How about that video of you at the tailgate party going up on YouTube? For journalists today, ...
Amateur content's star turn: the MSM's ample use of unverified citizen material from Iran raises serious questions.(THE ONLINE FRONTIER)(mainstream media as source of news)
Aug 01, 2009; ... During the post-election turmoil in Iran, the June 16 edition of "The Daily Show" opened by taking a shot at professional news organizations--in particular CNN--that were turning clumsily to Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites in lieu of verifiable information about what ...
So old it seems new: "60 Minutes" continues to focus on serious journalism--and it's thriving.(BROADCAST VIEWS)(Television program review)
Aug 01, 2009; ... Imagine a television news program with no flashy graphics and no theme music. A program whose full-time correspondents are all white and, with one exception, male. A program that features stories made up largely of talking heads. There's no way that kind of program could draw an ...
A Passion for News.("Losing the News: The Uncertain Future of the News That Feeds Democracy" and "Journalism's Roving Eye: A History of American Foreign Reporting")(Book review)
Aug 01, 2009; ... News is a precious commodity that has been produced, consumed, dissected and debated for centuries, yet for all that activity we find ourselves amazingly ignorant about one vital matter: its actual value in the marketplace. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] That's because we ...
Too steep a price: newspapers must protect their integrity as they struggle to find new revenue streams.(THE NEWSPAPER BUSINESS)(Viewpoint essay)
Aug 01, 2009; ... It is fundamental that readers must know what is and is not for sale in their newspapers. In this era of sharply reduced advertising, with newspapers trying to generate new revenue streams, this distinction is more important than ever. Sadly, the distinction is becoming blurred ....