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May/June 1998

Features

May/June 98 CoverNEWSROOMS
Blacks in the Newsroom: Progress? Yes, but...
True, print journalism is no longer the "pale male club," as the "creeping revolution" continues to provide editorial jobs for African Americans. But: the number of blacks on news staffs stagnated at a plateau well below the goals set twenty years ago. Is the racial diversity glass half full or half empty? In search of an answer a distinguished journalist examines newsrooms across the country.
by David K. Shipler

FORUM
The White House and the Media

Was there a mood of exultation and glee among newspeople covering the Clinton sex scandal when they thought they had "nailed" the president? A panel of top journalists denies it, and declares that the story has been "awful in every way, for the public, the presidency, and for journalism."

REPORTING
Revealing State Secrets
For lo, these many years, legislators in many state capitals have enjoyed a virtual free pass when it comes to news reporting on their conflicts of interest and the sources of their campaign funds -- as well as on their profligate spending: travel, entertainment, gifts, memberships in fancy clubs. Now, however, computer-assisted journalism makes it easier and swifter to expose evidence of monkey business that once lay hidden and almost inaccessible in dusty file cabinets.
by Charles Lewis

SYNERGY
Murdoch's Mean Machine
He'll soon be able to reach, simultaneously, three quarters of the wired world. But how dangerous is such massed power to traditional journalistic values of objectivity and fairness -- especially in the hands of Australian-born press lord Rupert Murdoch, whose record shows he regularly places profit before principle.
by Russ Baker

NEW MEDIA
The Law and the Internet: Beware
As news reporters -- and the news itself -- continue their inexorable march into cyberspace, a whole new array of critical legal issues, largely unsuspected until now, is beginning to appear. Here's a handy primer that will help keep many a journalist out of harm's way in this new age of Web-driven reporting.
by Denise Caruso

MAGAZINES
Boys Will Be Girls
Men's service magazines used to be filled with macho stuff, like fishing trips away from the old ball-and-chain. But now along comes -- brace yourself -- "Cosmo Guy!", a new brand of male reader who's consumed with insecurity about his appearance (big butt, potbelly, bad skin), and wants to know how to write a winning love letter. A fresh generation of magazines is eager to tell him.
by Liza Featherstone

ESPN vs. Sports Illustrated: The Game Is On
For 44 years, Time Inc.'s powerhouse sports weekly has chronicled "the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat," with hardly a challenger on the field of play. Now along comes the first major threat to SI's dominance -- well-funded, high-born (Disney and Hearst are its parents) ESPN The Magazine, which aims to grab a big share of Gen X's time and advertisers' cash.
by Pat Ryan

Books/Controversies
Why Midnight May be Darker Than you Think
by Marcel Dufresne

Upfront

Departments

CJR World

Books

  • Taking Charge: The Johnson White House Tapes, 1963-64, edited and with commentary by Michael R. Beschloss. Reviewed by Gloria Cooper
  • Spin Cycle: Inside the Clinton Propaganda Machine, by Howard Kurtz. Reviewed by James Warren
  • Remembering Mr. Shawn's New Yorker: The Invisible Art of Editing, by Ved Mehta. Reviewed by Lance Morrow

Excerpts

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