Three experienced journalists who cover higher education from different perspectives gave CIC presidents an insider’s view of their publications. The speakers included Jane Karr, editor of the “Education Life” section of the New York Times; Dan Golden, deputy bureau chief in Boston for the Wall Street Journal; and Tim Goral, editor of University Business magazine.

Karr edits the education supplement that runs each quarter in the Times. She presented five truisms that were intended to help the presidents understand the Times’ preferences. First, she said the paper does have a liberal bias, but attempts to listen to views from the other side as well. Second, there is an Ivy League slant, and it extends beyond the Ivies to other selective colleges and universities. Third, the Times will cover other small colleges, but only if there is likely to be interest nationally in what they are doing. Fourth, colleges frequently do not target their news releases appropriately. She says the Times is looking for unique angles that others have not discovered. And fifth, while time is very limited, there are occasions when editors and reporters will meet individually with college presidents, so Karr invited presidents to contact her (jakarr@nytimes.com) if they plan to be in New York.

Goral described his magazine’s intention to cover “the problems of senior management, including presidents, vice presidents, deans, and heads of departments.” He said, “If there is a way to save money, we want to know about it. If you have a particular success story, we want to hear it.” He urged presidents and PR officers to review the University Business editorial calendar at www.universitybusiness.com, which lists topics for future issues of the magazine. Goral said he would be pleased to receive pitches on story ideas particularly that relate to the topics on the calendar. Goral (tgoral@universitybusiness.com) invited presidents to meet with him at the offices in Norwalk, Connecticut.

Golden explained that the Wall Street Journal had recently restructured its pages, and he is not yet certain what it might mean for higher education coverage, although three reporters in Boston and one in Washington continue to have higher education as their primary beat. Because the Journal’s signature focus is finance and business, editors seek stories about the business of higher education, including fundraising approaches, endowments, salaries of highly compensated executives, access, affirmative action, rankings games, financial aid policies, religious pressures in college, unique or bizarre ideas, and the excesses of college athletics. Golden (Dan.Golden@dowjones.com) added that he wants “stories with conflict, controversy, tension, or surprise.”

Stories these reporters expect to cover in the near future include diversity on campus, explaining the outcomes one receives from an education, for-profit aspects of intercollegiate athletics, fallout from the Spellings Commission’s focus on accountability, Congressional reauthorization of the Higher Education Act, the Supreme Court case on affirmative action in K-12 schools in Seattle and Louisville that could have implications for higher education, and why college costs so much.