Audio

  1. May 10, 2011 10:30 AM

    Bill Grueskin and Lucas Graves on the Changing Business of News: A CJR Podcast

    By The Editors

    Why is it that The New York Times has more than 30 million online readers and a weekday circulation of less than 900,000 newspapers, but those print papers account for more than 80 percent of the Times's revenue? If Americans spend 28 percent of their media-consuming time online, why does online media generate only 13 percent of ad spending?

    A new report released by The Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and the Tow Center for Digital Journalism, entitled "The Story So Far: What we know about the business of digital journalism," looks for answers to those, and many more, questions about the changing business of news.

    In this CJR podcast, two of the authors of the report discuss the inspiration and the process of their research, and highlight some of the conclusions they reached. The conversation includes some important recommendations for how the news industry should be thinking about their changing relationships with aggregators and advertisers.

    Listen to the episode below, and be sure to check out the CJR podcast homepage on iTunes, where you can listen to past episodes and subscribe for free.



  2. May 5, 2011 10:30 AM

    Lawrence Pintak on the Arab Media Revolution: A CJR Podcast

    By The Editors

    “Autocratic Arab governments have long controlled news and information with an iron hand, writes Lawrence Pintak in the cover story of CJR’s May/June issue. “No more. They try to do so in 2011, but competing versions of reality seep in—and out—through every electronic pore.”

    In this podcast, Pintak expands on his cover story, “Breathing Room: Toward a new Arab media” and the accompanying piece “English Lesson,” about the inaccessibility of Al Jazeera English on American television networks. He talks about the origins of Al Jazeera, Al Arabiya, and other television news outlets, their lasting impact throughout the region on middle eastern popular opinion, as well as the significant shift in American public opinion of outlets like Al Jazeera English during the “Arab Spring.” He also discusses how the death of Osama bin Laden has been handled in the Arab media.

    Listen to the episode below, and be sure to check out the CJR podcast homepage on iTunes, where you can listen to past episodes and subscribe for free.



  3. April 20, 2011 10:32 AM

    Trillin on Texas and The New Yorker: A CJR Podcast

    By Lauren Kirchner

    In CJR's latest podcast, staff writer Michael Meyer sits down with author and Nation columnist Calvin Trillin about his new collection, Trillin on Texas, out now from the University of Texas Press. In this excerpt of their conversation, Meyer asks Trillin about his experiences reporting and writing "U.S. Journal," his series of features that ran in The New Yorker from 1967 to 1982. A fuller transcript of their conversation is available here.

    Listen to the episode below, and be sure to check out the CJR podcast homepage on iTunes, where you can listen to past episodes and subscribe for free.



  4. March 22, 2011 10:55 AM

    LynNell Hancock on the Problem with Teacher Scores: A CJR Podcast

    By The Editors

    In the cover story of CJR’s March/April issue, “Tested: Covering schools in the age of micro-measurement,” LynNell Hancock writes, “The best education reporters are skilled at the invaluable art of connecting the dots for readers between policy from on high and reality in the classroom.”

    But what does it mean when those “dots” are drawn from dubious sources, and publicly released to incredible controversy? Could this be a rare occasion in which reporters should support less, not more, disclosure of government data?

    In this podcast, Hancock—who directs Columbia University’s Spencer Fellowship for Education Journalism—talks to deputy editor Clint Hendler about the limitations of purely statistical analysis of teacher success, and the controversy and challenges reporters face when trying to put value-added data into context for their readers. She also discusses how corporate interests in education research are increasingly pushing the national conversation—and pushing it toward closing schools, firing teachers, starting charters, and removing the job of public education from the public sphere.

    Listen to the episode below, and be sure to check out the CJR podcast homepage on iTunes, where you can listen to past episodes and subscribe for free.



  5. March 15, 2011 01:55 PM

    Brooke Kroeger on James O’Keefe and Undercover Reporting: A CJR Podcast

    By The Editors

    Is James O’Keefe a “journalist”? Does it matter? Do the political goals of an undercover reporter—or activist—affect the value of the truths he or she reveals? How does a hidden camera compare to a faked identity, when there’s a story to be told? What are the “best practices for undercover” reporting—or are there any?

    In CJR’s latest podcast, assistant editor Joel Meares speaks with Brooke Kroeger, director of the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute at New York University to explore some of these questions. Kroeger is the author of a biography of Nellie Bly, and has become somewhat of an expert on American journalism’s long history of undercover reporting. She recently previewed a database archive of such stories, which grew out of an upcoming book entitled Undercover Reporting: The Truth about Deception.

    In this conversation, Kroeger argues that undercover reporting is incredibly valuable for its power to reveal truths and affect reform in our society, and that it should not be dismissed by the more traditional journalistic community; just look at the results, she says. In fact, she points out, mainstream news outlets have often partnered with advocacy groups to do this kind of work, all throughout the history of journalism in the US.

    Listen to the episode below, and be sure to check out the CJR podcast homepage on iTunes, where you can listen to past episodes and subscribe for free.



  6. February 24, 2011 02:10 PM

    Ryan Chittum on Unions, Apple, and Madoff: A CJR Podcast

    By The Editors

    In CJR's latest podcast, assistant editor Lauren Kirchner speaks with Ryan Chittum, deputy editor of The Audit on CJR.org, about some of this week's most interesting stories. They discuss the Wisconsin protests over union rights and what might happen next; why Apple's price-gouging on iPad apps can't last; and what the latest developments in the Bernie Madoff saga mean for the biggest names on Wall Street.

    Listen to the episode below, and be sure to check out the CJR podcast homepage on iTunes, where you can listen to past episodes and subscribe for free.



  7. February 17, 2011 04:15 PM

    Judith Matloff on Lara Logan and Safety On the Beat: a CJR Podcast

    By The Editors

    This week, we heard the horrible news of the assault of Lara Logan, CBS News's chief foreign correspondent, in Cairo's Tahrir Square. Too often, the particular dangers that female correspondents face--from sexual harassment to outright physical attack--go unmentioned. In CJR's May/June 2007 issue, an article by Judith Matloff explored this phenomenon, in which female reporters feel pressure to remain stoic in the face of danger, and to avoid being seen as victims in a "macho" culture.

    Matloff, an adjunct professor at the Columbia University School of Journalism, previously worked as a foreign correspondent for twenty years. She is also on the board of the International News Safety Institute, which does safety training all over the world.

    In this new CJR podcast, Matloff speaks with assistant editor Lauren Kirchner about Logan's bravery in going public about her assault, and she also provides some safety tips to female journalists working alone or in unfamiliar places.

    Listen to the episode below, and be sure to check out the CJR podcast homepage on iTunes, where you can listen to past episodes and subscribe for free.

  8. January 18, 2011 11:50 AM

    Vanessa M. Gezari on “Crossfire in Kandahar”: a CJR Podcast

    By The Editors

    The January/February issue cover story, "Crossfire in Kandahar," discusses the particular obstacles that journalists face when reporting in Afghanistan, even as the industry is infused with young energy inside the country and cash from outside it. Vanessa M. Gezari, who first traveled there with a grant from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, writes:

    The rapid growth of the media—and expanded funding from some quarters—have not made reporting in Afghanistan any easier. In fact, journalism has become more difficult as security has deteriorated. Political alliances have grown murkier under the weak Karzai government, deepening war has muddled the international community’s intentions, and militant and organized crime networks have grown fat on foreign aid. Afghan journalists are relatively new to their work, and they have been criticized for lacking professionalism. But Afghan journalists describe the world they see: a complex place, littered with overlapping, conflicting accounts. There are no reliable sources here.

    In a new CJR podcast, Gezari speaks with assistant editor Lauren Kirchner about her experiences reporting in Afghanistan since 2002 and training new journalists there. She also suggests the ways that Western media organizations can, in time, help contribute to a better and freer media environment in Afghanistan.

    Listen to the episode below, and be sure to check out the CJR podcast homepage on iTunes, where you can listen to past episodes and subscribe for free.

  9. January 10, 2011 03:15 PM

    Craig Silverman on the Biggest WikiLeaks Error: a CJR Podcast

    By The Editors

    CJR columnist Craig Silverman wrote on Friday about a very persistent—and highly problematic—error that many major news organizations have made in their writing about the latest WikiLeaks release of U.S. State Department cables. In his column "Cable Access," he wrote:

    Time for a pop quiz: How many of the leaked diplomatic cables in WikiLeaks’s possession has the organization released publicly?

    A) Roughly 2,000
    B) Roughly 250,000
    C) None. They’ve all been released by media outlets.

    I’m willing to bet that many people will get this wrong. Maybe even most people. Journalists certainly have been getting it wrong, which means the public has been fed a diet of inaccurate information for some time. The correct answer is A: Roughly 2,000. But many news outlets continue to report that WikiLeaks dumped all 250,000 or so diplomatic cables online. This incorrect fact has spread far and wide. It’s also frequently cited as a reason why WikiLeaks does not deserve recognition or protection as a journalism organization.

    In a new Columbia Journalism Review podcast, Silverman elaborates on which major outlets we’re still waiting for to make a correction, how they should go about it, and—most importantly—what this error can teach us about the importance of precision of language. Listen to the episode below, and be sure to check out the CJR podcast homepage on iTunes, where you can listen and subscribe for free.

  10. January 4, 2011 01:45 PM

    What WikiLeaks Means: a CJR Podcast

    By The Editors

    WikiLeaks has been around for a while, but this year—beginning in April, when the site posted a video showing the death of two Reuters employees in a U.S. helicopter attack, through November, when mainline journalism organizations began releasing stories based on a trove of some 250,000 U.S. diplomatic cables, stories that are still rolling out—the world took notice. Is WikiLeaks a boon to transparency and freedom of information or a threat to U.S. interests? Is it a journalistic entity or something altogether new?

    In a new Columbia Journalism Review podcast, CJR's Joel Meares talks with deputy editor Clint Hendler about how WikiLeaks is upending American assumptions about journalism and free speech.

    Listen to the episode below, and be sure to check out the CJR podcast homepage on iTunes, where you can listen and subscribe for free. The first two episodes are up now, with many more to come.


  11. November 20, 2009 11:47 AM

    Heroes and Villains and Literary Geniuses

    By Alexandra Fenwick

    Literary critic and CJR's Ideas + Reviews editor, James Marcus, sat down last night for a discussion with author David Hajdu to discuss Hajdu's latest book, Heroes and Villains, a collection of essays on music, movies, comics, and pop culture mostly written in Hajdu's role as music critic for the New Republic.

    Hajdu teaches at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and is also the author of Lush Life: A Biography of Billy Strayhorn, Positively 4th Street: The Lives and Times of Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Mimi Baez Fariña and Richard Fariña, and The Ten-Cent Plague.

    Click here to download the audio file (right-click and select “Save Link As”), or use the player below.



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  12. October 19, 2009 10:30 AM

    Podcast: Leonard Downie and Michael Schudson

    By Clint Hendler

    Last week, before the release of their new report, The Reconstruction of American Journalism, Leonard Downie and Michael Schudson joined CJR for a half hour conversation. They discussed the state of the nation's journalism, the panoply of reporting start-ups across the country, and their recommendations for how these new efforts might be nurtured and strengthened.

    Click here to download the audio file (right-click and select "Save Link As"), or use the below player.

    CJR is excited to announce that we’ll be bringing you more podcasts in the near future. Check back in the coming weeks for a subscribable podcast feed.