Nieman Reports

Winter 2013

Critical Condition

Cover for Winter 2013

“If you are counting full-time critic jobs at newspapers, you may as well count tombstones.” That was the response of Johanna Keller, director of the Goldring Arts Journalism Program at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, to a Nieman Reports query about the number of professional critics employed at dailies around the country. The figures on newspaper critics (News flash: they’re not good) are one indication of the state of criticism today, but they are not the only one.

Download PDF

Cover Story

Critical Condition

By Opinion March 12, 2013

“If you are counting full-time critic jobs at newspapers, you may as well count tombstones.” That was the response of Johanna Keller, director of the Goldring Arts Journalism Program at Syracuse University's S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, to a Nieman Reports query about the number of professional critics employed at dailies around the country. The figures on newspaper critics (News flash: they're not good) are one indication of the state of criticism today, but they are not the only one. Read more … Read more

Features

The Abnormality of Daily Life

By Features March 11, 2013

The stench seeps through the walls of the morgue. It wafts through schools, businesses and homes, impregnates clothing, sticks in throats and noses, provokes nausea, obliges one to walk faster. In the white building where the smell originates there are … Read more

Nieman Reports issue archive