Nor Fariza Bt Hj Ramlan 2008285494 MC221 5C

Magazine Production|Columbia Journalism Review critics|Dr. Mokhtar

Mohamad

Columbia Journalism|Review March/April 2009

Page 7

Content

Editor’s note
In the CJR editor’s note for March /April, the editor’s talks about the first issue of
Columbia Journalism Review Chinese, to be published and distributed in China. This
is their first foreign language edition where primarily all of the articles from the
magazine translated into Mandarin.

They stated a few pieces of write up inside that first Mandarin issue such as, “Love
Thy Neighbor” “May I Speak Freely” “Red Ink Rising” and a few more of their
translated write up.

Editors also state out their new publication, a book titled Correct Me If I’m Wrong and
editor did also introduce two new beats at CJR, transparency beat and news
innovation beat.

Notes from online readers

James Marcus who edits the Ideas & Reviews section in CJR and now Page view,
interview David Denby and talk about Denby’s new book titled Snark.

Journalistic Style

The editor’s note been written simply and packed, the message that the editor want
to send is clearly stated. The editor manages to keep the topic that he writes relevant
and from what I read it is more about the latest updates about the magazines
progress. The editor uses his own opinion in this write up but he done it in a rational
manner but still in an exciting and pumped writing style.

Up to date article

It is agreeable that the issue in this write up is up to date because the editors talks
about the latest updates of the CJR magazines, going Mandarin, and the new beat
for CJR. In the mean time Notes from Online Readers, also touched about the latest
book and comment about the book.

Type of displays pictures and visuals

This layout uses an easy reading font that is Times New Roman for the body of the
write-up and they use a Sans Serif type for their headlines. The text is design by
using 2 columns, one big column for the Editor’s Note and a small one for Notes from
Nor Fariza Bt Hj Ramlan 2008285494 MC221 5C

Magazine Production|Columbia Journalism Review critics|Dr. Mokhtar

Mohamad

Online readers. They put more space for editorial because the page is meant to be
the editorial page. The picture is placed at the on top of the article to stress about the
main topic that is been discussed inside the write-up and even though the write-up
has not been justified but still can be accepted and readable to all of the readers. The
photo that they used is relevant, but they did not put any cutline for the photo and
maybe they want to use the photo as teaser to attract reader to read more. They
separated the column using a straight horizontal line.

Page 8,9,10

Content

Craigslist= Straw Man by Steven S. Ross

Craigslist is a centralized network of online communities, featuring free online
classified advertisements, with sections devoted to jobs, housing, personals, for sale,
services, community, gigs, résumés, and discussion forums.

Relating to the theme of this page that is Currents, this articles talk and expands the
issues of the savage declined in newspaper ad revenue in the third quarter of 2008,
down 18 percent from the same period the previous year and classified volume was
down 30 percent for the same quarter. How can newspapers compete with a venue
that accepts free ads? Craig Newmark the founder of Craigslist has been tried and
convicted in the media for causing that decline.

Journalistic Style

1) What: Newspaper Association of America show savage decline

2) Who: Craig Newmark the founder of Craigslist

3) Why: Convicted in the media for causing that decline.

4) When: Third quarter of 2008

5) How: The year of the dot com burst.

The article accurately stated all of the figures to support all of the claimed that they
made about the recent condition of newspaper industry in competing with the
development of dot com era. The writer chooses a catchy headline and explains the
Nor Fariza Bt Hj Ramlan 2008285494 MC221 5C

Magazine Production|Columbia Journalism Review critics|Dr. Mokhtar

Mohamad

headlines roughly at the end of this short article. Writer flawlessly describe about the
condition on what is happening in the first paragraph. The article really describes and
explains about the situation inside the advertisements scope and try to compare and
making sense with the previous year. At the end of the article the writer state his
actual point of view and how he leaves the reader with something to think about. It is
acceptable to say that this feature is well research and has good background
information inside it and it is the factual reality, adding up it give depth about the topic
been discussed.

Up to date article

This article can be considered up to date, it show the latest fact, exact figure about
Classified Ad Volume for U.S Daily Newspaper from 1980 until the recent 2008.
Undeniably it is up to date, where as it compare the traditional medium with the
World Wide Web that have been invading our life ever since its existence.

Type of displays pictures and visuals

“Graphical excellence is that which gives to the viewer the greatest number of ideas
in the shortest time with the least ink in the smallest place”

Above is one of a quotation that fits the most when describing about any graphic that
is added as visual aids in an article. Whereas the colorful chart bars that the writer
use in this article clearly can be convert it to understandable values. Inside the chart
bar place above the article, they used a clear figure; year and divide the sector using
the color that can be easily distinguish. The chart bar stands alone and the graphic
editor avoid clutter by eliminating other non-essential words and more focus on
keywords.
Nor Fariza Bt Hj Ramlan 2008285494 MC221 5C

Magazine Production|Columbia Journalism Review critics|Dr. Mokhtar

Mohamad

One Shot by Helene Schileders

Content

This short article tells about an Iranian student named Ahmad Batebi who has been
imprisoned for his participation in a protest because of his photograph holding up the
bloodied shirt of one of his friend and appeared on July 17 cover of The Economist
and was splashed across newspapers worldwide. In this article, a short interview of
the photographer himself, Jamshid Bayrami, who responsible taking the memorable
photo that helped to, produced a humanitarian outcry.

Journalistic Style

This article is more to a story telling kind of article. It catches the core of the story and
really describes the whole idea of the real story and injects the emotional reaction to
the reader. This article is more to human interest approach in setting the direction of
the write-up. This article does not follow inverted pyramid exactly because it is more
on storytelling narration kind of article.

Up to date article

This article can be considered up to date because there have been recent report
about this man name Ahmad Batebi in 2008 as reported. It is new and it has been
one of the eye openers to the world and to the people that support pro democracy
and remain most momentous in Iran’s modern history.

Type of displays pictures and visuals

For this article they used the real historic photo that creates one splashed in the
media around the world, the photo that they use is related and have a clean, clear
center of interest. Divided in four columns this article only used two columns and the
short interview session with the photographer was placed at the end of the article.
They bold the question font for the interview session to distinguish the question and
the answer. They choose a moderate headline size to balance with the other
continuing text from the previous article. As we can see there is a column named
Hard Numbers located at the right hand of the article, it is one interesting column
where readers can get information about events or incidents according to the fact of
numbers.
Nor Fariza Bt Hj Ramlan 2008285494 MC221 5C

Magazine Production|Columbia Journalism Review critics|Dr. Mokhtar

Mohamad

Dutch treat by Helene Schilders

Content

The media industry of the Dutch land proposing and amount of budget as a jumpstart
the search for digital and other innovative solutions to the dramatic collapse of
revenues at newspapers and newsmagazines. The newspaper circulation in
Netherlands has been steadily decreased particularly over the past five years. The
industry’s financial problems have been compounded by rapid lost of advertising and
spreading American credit crisis. This is the first time the Dutch media seek help from
the government.

Journalistic Style

This article have the 5w 1h journalistic style, because it tell where, what, who involve,
and why is the condition happening and the ways to solve the problems. Article is
more about the fact that is happening to the media industry nowadays. It has a very
good background story and it support the story very well. As compared to the typical
news this kind of article give out opinion and conclusion at the end of the story and
the reader will know what is actually the writer is trying to say at the end of the
articles. They use a very attracting lead to catch reader’s attentions.

Up to date article

This article is also up to date because it is also related to the latest economic
condition that been face all around the world. And it tells how it affects the media
industry.

Type of displays pictures and visuals

There is no photo or any graphic accompanied to this text and this article made up
from 3 column write-up. But under the article, there is one language corner is placed
to fill up the space under the article. It is a good way to fill up spaces in the mean
time the content of the language corner is also related to the previous article.