Download issue (PDF) - Nieman Foundation - Harvard University

& ReflectionsWords &Reflections“What difference does it make that a family newspaper stays in the family?” This is the questionposed by Alex S. Jones, author (along with Susan E. Tifft) of the forthcoming book, “The Trust:The Private and Powerful Family Behind The New York Times” and “The Patriarch,” a history of theBingham family’s publishing dynasty. He is also in the fourth generation of a newspaper family. Hisessay—along with an excerpt from “The Trust,” describing Punch Sulzberger’s decision to publishthe Pentagon Papers—explores how journalism can be affected by ownership.Maria Henson, Deputy Editorial Page Editor of the Austin American-Statesman, looks at the lifeof Charlotte Curtis, the first woman on The New York Times’s masthead. In her review of Marilyn S.Greenwald’s biography of Curtis, Henson notes that Curtis “paid a price for her ambivalencetoward the women’s movement in losing the friendship and respect of female colleagues.”Sharon Green, Senior Cultural Editor for National Public Radio, reviews Yale Universitypolitical scientist Martin Gilens’s book about roles the media play in shaping public perceptionabout poverty, welfare and race. She finds his scholarly examination of news imagery of race andpoverty compelling, and his guidance to journalists—based on his findings—important.Michael J. Kirkhorn, Director of the Journalism Program at Gonzaga University, looks at waysin which U.S. broadcast journalists responded to Cold War propaganda in his review of Nancy E.Bernhard’s book on these issues. “We shouldn’t be surprised to learn that network journalists andexecutives lent or sold themselves to the agencies of anticommunist government propagandaduring the early years of the Cold War,” Kirkhorn’s review begins.Elizabeth Leland, a part-time reporter for The Charlotte Observer, read the published lettersof Larry L. King and came away amused by moments when he engages in “wonderful storytelling”(including incidents during his Nieman year). But her interest waned when he turned to recording“minute details about what he’s writing or how much he’s drinking.”Harvard Law School professor Elizabeth Bartholet and Lori B. Andrews, professor atChicago-Kent College of Law, each have written books about public policy issues related to theformation of families. Each has focused on legal and social aspects of how families are organizedand function and the rights of children within them. Bartholet writes primarily about adoption andchild welfare, whereas Andrews explores the rapidly expanding realms of reproductivetechnologies. Each author is widely quoted by journalists. In separate articles, Bartholet andAndrews set forth difficulties they confront in trying to maintain the integrity of their research andtheir perspective in the midst of what today’s media appear to demand.62 Nieman Reports / Fall 1999