CJR Background & More

In addition to its special edition on the Fred Hampton murder, the Chicago Journalism Review sought to spotlight problems and possibilities in its campaign to make media more professional and responsible to its communities. It did this by critiquing media performance and creating journalism of its own about neglected, misreported and under-reported topics.

The CJR, working with Pulitzer Prize winning reporter and editor Lois Wille, published the first in-depth article about the Chicago Police Department’s infamous “Red Squad” or “anti-subversive” intelligence unit.

The Review also kept a close watch on the aftermath --the Conspiracy 7 (or 8) Trial, and the official and unofficial reports about the anti-war demonstrations and “Police riots” during the 1968 Democratic National Convention—which gave birth to the Review in 1968.

CJR also kept close watch over instances of collaboration between the media and the city’s tightly knit political machine, its advertisers and commercial sponsors, and its own governing boards and executives.

The Review also inspired journalists in other sites to launch their own journalism reviews—as the movement to further professionalize journalists gained support from within and without the profession.

The CJR ceased publication in 1975.