Jim Moroney, publisher of The Dallas Morning News. Read CJR's Red Dawn in Dallas. Photo by David Woo.

CJR May/June: Across the Great Divide

Among journalism's most important duties is to understand and explain people and places both familiar and foreign. To reach across the various divides that separate whole swaths of society and explore the complex tapestry of motivations, emotions, and struggles that exists in each of us. It is not an easy job to do in a way that transcends stereotype. In the new issue of CJR - Across the Great Divide - which is out May 3, we tackle two of those chasms: class and faith. In "Faith: A Tenuous Bridge to Believers," Gal Beckerman asks why journalists have such a hard time reporting on matters of belief, and comes up with surprising answers. In "Class: How Far to the Other America?", Brent Cunningham examines journalism's distance from working-class and poor Americans and its consequences. Also in this issue: a debate over who produces better journalism, the objective Yanks or the partisan Brits. Laurie Kelliher profiles Adrian Nicole LeBlanc, who spent eleven years with a Bronx family for her soaring book, Random Families. Robert Bryce measures the cooling relationship between George W. Bush and the Texas press. And much more.

Returning visitors will note that CJR's site was recently redesigned. Features such as Language Corner, Who Owns What, and Power Reporting, can be found under Journalism Tools, on the right side of your screen. Past issues before 2003 can be browsed at archives.cjr.org. Look for new stories on Monday and Thursday.