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Columbia Journalism Review

Type:

Magazine

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The Columbia Journalism Review is a magazine and website published by the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism that monitors the news media industry.

Though it claims not to identify with a political point of view, it has affiliations with openly left-leaning media outlets such as The Nation and HuffPost.

Background

Columbia Journalism Review is a publication that covers the news media. It is published by the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in New York. Columbia Journalism School began publishing the magazine in 1961. Today, it continues as a bimonthly magazine and a daily website. 1

Leadership

Kyle Pope is the editor-in-chief of Columbia Journalism Review. Pope was hired as editor in July 2016, after formerly working for the Wall Street Journal, the New York Observer, and local newspaper publisher Straus News. 2

The managing editor is Betsy Morais. Justin Ray is the digital media editor. Brendan Fitzgerald is the associate editor. 3

The magazine established the Board of Overseers in 2010, ahead of its 50th year of publication, to help bring additional revenue from individual donors by granting donors some governance. The board if made up of Columbia journalism faculty, individual donors, as well as representatives of organizations that donate to the publication. 4

Stephen Adler, the editor in chief of Reuters, is the chairman of the Board of Overseers for CJR. 5

Other board members are Craigslist founder Craig Newmark; retired hedge fund manager Dave Scially; journalism professor Emily Bell; New York Times deputy managing editor Rebecca Blumenstein; Nathan S. Collier, chairman of The Collier Companies and The Paradigm Group; journalism professor Sheila Coronel; journalism professor Howard W. French; Wade Greene, vice president of the Transwestern Retail Service Group; attorney Laura Handman; CNBC President Mark Hoffman; journalist and former Univision executive Isaac Lee; The Information editor-in -chief Jessica Lessin; former Wall Street Journal reporter Steven Lipin; former Time editor Terry McDonell; Blomberg News editor John Micklethwait; Mike Miller, an editor at the Wall Street Journal; journalism professor and former publisher of The Nation Victor Navasky; HuffPost editor-in-chief Lydia Polgreen; former journalist and current advertising executive Randall Rothenberg; and journalism professor Michael Schudson. 6

The top funders for Columbia Journalism Review and CJR.org include the Maria Moors Cabot Fund, Craigslist Charitable Fund, Ford Foundation, John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Saul and Janice Poliak Center for the Study of First Amendment Issues, Puffin Foundation, Rockefeller Family and Associates, New York Community Trust-George T. Delacorte Center for Magazine Journalism Fund, and R. Ted Weschler. 7

Projects

In 2019, CJR announced it had formed a partnership with The Nation, a liberal opinion magazine, called Covering Climate Now Project, to promote news coverage of climate change. The project argues that there is a climate angle to every beat. By fall 2019, 300 news organizations had joined the collaborative effort to write more stories about climate change. 8

CJR announced in June 2019 it was hiring four public editors to monitor content at the New York Times, MSNBC, CNN, and the Washington Post, all of which had fired their own internal ombudsmen in recent years. Public editors engaged audiences for complaints. Pope said of the new critics: “Most of these news organizations have fallen back on this view that, like, if you just go to Twitter, you can get feedback on what’s going on at these places. And as you and I know, if you spend any time at all on Twitter, it’s a very, very, very inadequate way to sort of address serious issues going on in the media.” 9

In 2013, the magazine hit a fundraising lull and had massive layoffs. 10

In 2017, the CJR announced that it was monitoring job losses across America’s newsrooms. This occurred after McClatchy, Gannett, and other media companies began to lay employees off in a discreet way. The magazine asked employees or news organizations to inform them of cuts to journalism jobs. 11

Politics and Media Criticisms

In the midst of the 2016 presidential election, the magazine ran a piece asserting that “we have reached a turning point” and that journalist must “abandon their objectivity” when it comes to covering then-candidate Donald Trump. 12

Ahead President Donald Trump’s inauguration, Pope posted an “An Open Letter to Trump from the US Press Corps.” The letter said, “while you have every right to decide your ground rules for engaging with the press, we have some, too.” 13

CJR criticized NBC’s Meet the Press host Chuck Todd for his coverage of the congressional hearings with special counsel Robert Mueller, as Maria Bustillos wrote “Chuck Todd managed to demonstrate, with uncharacteristic brevity, his basic misunderstanding of the requirements of his job.” 14

In August 2019, the magazine published an op-ed by socialist U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) on his “plan for journalism.” Sanders advocated for government-funded “nonprofit civic-minded media.” 15

References

  1. Pompeo, Joe. “Tough Times at Columbia Journalism Review as an Editor Departs, Others are Laid Off, and Fundraising Looks Shaky.” May 10, 2013. Accessed September 27, 2019. https://www.politico.com/media/story/2013/05/tough-times-at-columbia-journalism-review-as-an-editor-departs-others-are-laid-off-and-funding-looks-shaky-001086
  2. O’Shea, Chris. “Kyle Pope Named Editor and Publisher of Columbia Journalism Review.” Ad Week. July 29, 2016. Accessed September 27, 2019. https://www.adweek.com/digital/kyle-pope-named-editor-and-publisher-of-columbia-journalism-review/
  3. Masthead. Columbia Journalism Review. Accessed September 27, 2019. https://www.cjr.org/about_us/masthead.php
  4. Pompeo, Joe. “Tough Times at Columbia Journalism Review as an Editor Departs, Others are Laid Off, and Fundraising Looks Shaky.” May 10, 2013. Accessed September 27, 2019. https://www.politico.com/media/story/2013/05/tough-times-at-columbia-journalism-review-as-an-editor-departs-others-are-laid-off-and-funding-looks-shaky-001086
  5. Masthead. Columbia Journalism Review. Accessed September 27, 2019. https://www.cjr.org/about_us/masthead.php
  6. Masthead. Columbia Journalism Review. Accessed September 27, 2019. https://www.cjr.org/about_us/masthead.php
  7. Major Funders. Columbia Journalism Review. Accessed September 27, 2019. https://www.cjr.org/about_us/masthead.php#MajorFunders
  8. Darrach, Amanda. “Climate Collaboration: Three Hundred Outlets, One Billion Viewers.” September 20, 2019. Accessed September 27, 2019. https://www.cjr.org/podcast/podcast-covering-climate-now-three-hundred-outlets-one-billion-viewers.php
  9. Cornish, Audi. “Columbia Journalism Review Hires Its Own Public Editors for 4 Major Outlets.” All Things Considered. National Public Radio. June 14, 2019. https://www.npr.org/2019/06/14/732863542/columbia-journalism-review-hires-its-own-public-editors-for-4-major-outlets
  10. Pompeo, Joe. “Tough Times at Columbia Journalism Review as an Editor Departs, Others are Laid Off, and Fundraising Looks Shaky.” May 10, 2013. Accessed September 27, 2019. https://www.politico.com/media/story/2013/05/tough-times-at-columbia-journalism-review-as-an-editor-departs-others-are-laid-off-and-funding-looks-shaky-001086
  11. Fletcher, Paul. “Columbia Journalism Review Seeks to be Clearinghouse for Newsroom Job Loss Info.” Forbes. May 29, 2017. Accessed September 27, 2019. https://www.forbes.com/sites/paulfletcher/2017/05/29/columbia-journalism-review-seeks-to-be-clearinghouse-for-newsroom-job-loss-info/#13b3623a29a7
  12. Mindich, David. “For Journalists Covering Trump, a Murrow Moment.” Columbia Journalism Review. July 15, 2016. Accessed September 27, 2019. https://www.cjr.org/analysis/trump_inspires_murrow_moment_for_journalism.php
  13. Pope, Kyle. “An Open Letter to Trump From the US Press Corps.” January 17, 2017. Accessed September 27, 2019. https://www.cjr.org/politics/trump_white_house_press_corps.php
  14. Flood, Brian. “Columbia Journalism Review Writer Slams NBC’s Chuck Todd for ‘Basic Misunderstanding of the Requirements of His Job.” Fox News. July 26, 2019. Accessed September 27, 2019. https://www.foxnews.com/media/columbia-journalism-review-chuck-todd
  15. Sanders, Bernie. “Bernie Sanders on His Plan for Journalism.” Columbia Journalism Review. August 26, 2019. Accessed September 27, 2019. https://www.cjr.org/opinion/bernie-sanders-media-silicon-valley.php
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