By Christopher B. Daly
Dear Readers: Please help me out. I am preparing a resource for the students I will have this fall in a course on the history of U.S. journalism. I want to help them find good sources of news about the news business as well as thoughtful analysis, vigorous denunciations, and heartfelt appreciations.
I have prepared the following (draft) document for class, but I am sure I am overlooking some terrific people or institutions. Who’s missing? Leave your thoughts in the comments.
Thanks,
Prof. Daly
On media criticism
Compiled by Prof. Christopher B. Daly
We are living in a “golden era” of media criticism. Yes, there have been critics of journalism in the past, some of them outstanding. It’s never too late to benefit from reading Walter Lippmann, for example, or the incomparable A.J. Liebling. But for at least a decade, the news media have been subject to closer scrutiny and more commentary than ever before. Let’s take advantage.
Students are encouraged to consume (and participate in!) the current flowering of reporting and analysis. Within the general heading of “media criticism,” we are concerned in JO357 with the study of journalism (as distinct from analyses of fiction, feature films, and other media).
Seek out the best sources of information and the most intelligent, penetrating analyses you can find.
Here are some recommendations:
For reporting about news:
–CNN Reliable Sources (Brian Stelter)
–PBS Mediashift
–NPR “On the Media”
–Nieman Journalism Lab
–Columbia Journalism Review
–Maynard Institute
–Poynter Institute
–Romenesko.com
Individual analysts:
Jim Rutenberg, media columnist for New York Times.
Liz Spayd, public editor, New York Times.
Gabriel Sherman, New York Magazine
Jack Shafer, Politico
Margaret Sullivan, Washington Post
Ken Doctor, Newsonomics
David Folkenflik, NPR
Richard Prince, The Root.
Academics/theorists
Prof. Jay Rosen
Prof. Jeff Jarvis
Left/Right:
Media Matters
Accuracy in Media
Fact-checking:
PolitiFact.com
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