Urban Unrest

09 July 2006 | Recommendations | Ernesto Aguilar

KPFT’s youth program gets plenty of young people interested in journalism or other media jobs. Without fail, those seeking to get into a good journalism school ask me where the best is.

And, without fail, I answer one schol first: Columbia.

Columbia University is legendary among journalism schools for its unwavering focus on facts and inquiry as hallmarks of the trade. Its faculty is a veritable who’s-who among media folk, and the scores of awards given to Columbia students for their investigative work are impressive. So when the premier j-school’s magazine, the Columbia Journalism Review, is online, you take notice.

Thus, the Columbia Journalism Review website is this week’s Re:Mix Friday pick.

You don’t have to be a news junkie to be into this site, but it helps. For those that aren’t, CJR’s site and its companion, CJRDaily, are two of your best resources for credible media criticism. CJR’s sites focus foremost on the overall commitment to accuracy and context to news. Less inspired by the entertainment headlines, editors look behind the headlines and ask hard questions of the media and reporters. When Larry King softballs questions to George W. Bush, editors are the first to put such weak journalism on blast. Both sites are great tools, although the daily site is perhaps a bit stronger due to its rapid response.

While you’re checking out news analysis, you might also want to stop by Newsmap, which aggregates Google’s news headlines into maps of information. Very insightful in laying out story connections.

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