From American Journalism Review, a look at what the mainstream media can learn from Jon Stewart: No, not to be funny and snarky, but to be bold and to do a better job of cutting through the fog; is Keith Olbermann the future of journalism?; a review of No Questions Asked: News Coverage Since 9/11 by Lisa Finnegan; newspapers should be planning for a print-free future; Gannett and other media companies are embracing “hyperlocal” Web sites as a new way of engaging fleeing readers; an article on the continuing excellence of The New Yorker; and is there a role for the weekly newsmagazines and their Web sites in a 24-7 news environment?
From Columbia Journalism Review, Meghan O’Rourke on why you should trust the literary critic John Leonard on the coarsening of our intellectual culture; a review of Fighting for Air: The Battle to Control America's Media by Eric Klinenberg; a young reporter winces when his big story lands on the Dr. Phil show; fifteen months after he enraged the Muslim world, Danish editor Flemming Rose's conscience is clear; Graydon Carter’s political outrage has fueled a resurgence in Vanity Fair’s serious journalism. But how far can he push the signature high-low mix of this Conde Nast cash cow?
From Opinion Journal, an independent newspaper: An article on the Bancrofts and a century of "free people and free markets". The Wall Street Journal's Murdochian Roots: Clarence W. Barron, the founder of the Bancroft dynasty, would have loved Rupert Murdoch. A review of The Race Beat: The Press, the Civil Rights Struggle, and the Awakening of America by Gene Roberts and Hank Klibanoff. From Socialism and Liberation, a special section on Media and Class Society, including an article on the capitalist media and the growing mass movement, and an essay on revolutionary journalism.
From Extra, Obamamania: How loving Barack Obama helps pundits love themselves; an article on the Trials of Air America and the unlearned lessons of right-wing radio; can you hear us NOW? Anti-war march gets more coverage—but the message is still muted; and from self-censorship to official censorship: Ban on images of wounded GIs raises no media objections. Good To Go: A military-run course designed to prepare reporters for combat raises some thorny questions about journalistic ethics.
From Bad Subjects, a special issue on Intermedia, including an editorial on how for all its usefulness and currency, the word "media" conceals as much as it reveals; is the Internet a portal to Hell? A look at the assumptions behind Christian attacks on various configurations of sexuality on the internet and considers the potent combination of anxieties about sexuality with anxieties about new media; and a review of Steven Johnson's Everything Bad is Good for You.
