Top News:
Rachael Bade / Politico:
Sources: Felicia Sonmez criticized WaPo editors during a staff town hall, revealing that she is barred from writing anything about sexual misconduct or #MeToo — DRIVING THE DAY — It was supposed to be an upbeat town hall to rally the newsroom, as Washington Post leaders highlighted …
Discussion:
@feliciasonmez, Vanity Fair, My New Band Is, @feliciasonmez, The Hill, @anamariecox, Poynter, @owillis, @zachdcarter, @moiradonegan, @adamdavidson, Columbia Journalism Review, @juliedicaro, @aaschapiro, @jamesgleick, @bellwak, @grace_segers, @bloosemore, @feliciasonmez, @benjamingoggin, @lisagartner, @jayrosen_nyu, @pwcdanica, @soledadobrien, @kemc, @blackamazon, @feliciasonmez, @adamdavidson, @feliciasonmez, @ourobororoboruo, @feliciasonmez, @spj_tweets, @shefalil, @econ_marshall, @sarahkaplan48, @evaholland, @feliciasonmez, @max_fisher, @gmillertsn, @lemieuxlgm, @mikkipedia, @chenderson, @feliciasonmez, @feliciasonmez, @hunterw, @feliciasonmez, @ericmgarcia, @emilymiller, @espiers, @mcastimovies, @kerrymflynn, @feliciasonmez, @wesleylowery, @cmclymer, @mattyglesias, @briannawu, @budrykzack, @coleenchristie, @jenzerb, @khandozo, @jbendery, Free Political Newsletter, @amybwang, @amlwhere, @espiers, @bfishbfish, @atrios, @allisongeroi, @miriamelder, @chick_in_kiev, Washington Post and New York Times
Discussion:
Felicia Sonmez / @feliciasonmez: Hours before the 3/16 Washington Post town hall that @politico reported on, I had a session with a therapist I hadn't seen for more than a year (I had changed insurance). I caught him up on the events of the past year, including all the threats, my doxxing and suspension. 1/x
Charlotte Klein / Vanity Fair: “I'm Afraid to Open Twitter”: Next-Level Harassment of Female Journalists Is Putting News Outlets to the Test
Elizabeth Spiers / My New Band Is: My New Band Is: Someone You Know — [I'm afraid this newsletter is not at all funny …
Felicia Sonmez / @feliciasonmez: I'm not planning on going anywhere. The Washington Post needs to do better. I just want to do my job, @stevenjay @cameronbarr @loriamontgomery @peterwallsten. https://www.politico.com/...
Dominick Mastrangelo / The Hill: Reporter criticizes Washington Post for keeping her off sexual assault stories
@anamariecox: Felicia Sonmez can't cover #metoo bc she's a survivor? Sooooo... Anyone who pays taxes should be taken off economics stories? Parents can't report on family issues? If you wear clothes, you can't write about fashion? What absurd, self-defeating bigotry. https://www.politico.com/...
Tom Jones / Poynter: Unpacking the controversy at The Washington Post
Oliver Willis / @owillis: The fact the Washington Post believes being an advocate for assault victims means you can't report on the topic says a lot about modern mainstream journalism and the inability to include empathy https://www.politico.com/... https://twitter.com/...
Zachary D. Carter / @zachdcarter: It is hard to describe what @washingtonpost is doing to @feliciasonmez as anything other than discrimination against a sexual assault survivor. Breathtakingly bad judgement from top editors. https://www.politico.com/...
Moira Donegan / @moiradonegan: I'm shocked and frankly kind of disgusted by the wildly sexist way that the Washington Post has treated @feliciasonmez—a reporter who has been banned from covering stories with a sexual abuse component after disclosing her own experience of sexual assault. https://www.politico.com/...
Adam Davidson / @adamdavidson: Fully endorse. Also: many men who have been sexually assaulted don't share that fact. (I'm one of them). https://twitter.com/...
@juliedicaro: Far, far too many outlets leave their reporters twisting in the wind in the face of horrific harassment. Do better. @washingtonpost. https://twitter.com/...
Avi Asher-Schapiro / @aaschapiro: Politico reports that WaPo reporter @feliciasonmez has been *banned* from covering sexual assault/harassment stories for 2.5 years. According to emails from Somnez, it's because she herself was a victim, & she has “implored” her bosses to reverse it.https://www.politico.com/ ...
James Gleick / @jamesgleick: What is the “bias” these WaPo editors are afraid the reporter might have? A bias that sexual assault is bad? A bias in favor of the victims of sexual assault? https://twitter.com/...
Kim Bellware / @bellwak: .@feliciasonmez is a true pro who is tough, fair and sensitive all at once. This is exactly the kind of reporter you *need* when covering stories about sexual assault. We can't give our readers the absolute best coverage they deserve if she's sidelined like this. https://twitter.com/...
Grace Segers / @grace_segers: It seems to me that barring a survivor of sexual assault from writing about that topic not only harms the reporter, but the paper. Empathy makes for better reporting. And it's extremely telling to see who is allowed to tell certain stories, and what is considered to be “bias.” https://twitter.com/...
Bailey Loosemore / @bloosemore: “It is humiliating to again and again have to tell my colleagues and editors that I am not allowed to do my job fully because I was assaulted.” If this rule was place on all female reporters, how many would be left to cover sexual assault? https://twitter.com/...
Felicia Sonmez / @feliciasonmez: I managed to work through Thursday, operating at maybe 30 percent. And then my sick leave began. I planned to stay off Twitter/email and focus on recovering. The Vanity Fair piece was published that day, and a colleague sent around a link. I read it that night. 8/x
Benjamin Goggin / @benjamingoggin: The only way these important stories get told is through impassioned reporters who care about their beat. A blanket ban on stories pertaining to sexual assault seems stifling. https://twitter.com/...
Lisa Gartner / @lisagartner: If you banned every female journalist who had been sexually assaulted from covering assault, you pretty much wouldn't have a workforce, fwiw https://twitter.com/...
Jay Rosen / @jayrosen_nyu: If you have experience with it, you cannot report on it. That reasoning does not have a lot of intuitive appeal. https://www.politico.com/...
Del. Danica Roem / @pwcdanica: “One said Sonmez has become something of an advocate for sexual assault victims, making management uncomfortable with her writing on this topic.” That is astonishingly asinine. They're telling survivors who speak up they couldn't possibly be professional enough to do their jobs. https://twitter.com/...
Soledad O'Brien / @soledadobrien: Listen, as long as your pov is that of white and male, you should be just fine. https://twitter.com/...
Kathleen McLaughlin / @kemc: Felicia is banned from writing about sexual assault and harassment because she spoke out on her own assault. Think about the chilling message that sends to survivors about going public. https://twitter.com/...
@blackamazon: so we've found that : - Black reporters can't cover police violence because they're biased - Asian reporters can't cover The Lost 8 because they're biased - women can't cover #metoo for being survivors But white men can cover anything I would like to fight https://twitter.com/...
Felicia Sonmez / @feliciasonmez: Want to clarify that I fully support the decisions of other colleagues who ultimately left for elsewhere because the Post was not doing right by them. No one should be forced to choose between their job and their own well-being/fair treatment. No one. https://twitter.com/...
Adam Davidson / @adamdavidson: Stunningly poor management at the Washington Post. I support Felicia Sonmez. As do so many others. https://twitter.com/...
Felicia Sonmez / @feliciasonmez: At one point, he asked me whether I feel supported by the Post's current management, now that the editor who oversaw my suspension had retired. And I just burst into tears. 2/x
@ourobororoboruo: I am awed by @feliciasonmez's courage and resolve to be so candid and vocal about these fucked yo things happening at @washingtonpost. Please read this. https://twitter.com/...
Felicia Sonmez / @feliciasonmez: I faced no ban my first three months on the job. I wrote #MeToo-related stories with no problem. It was only once the Kavanaugh story broke in Sept. 2018 that the editors enacted one. It was lifted several months later, then reinstated in late 2019 when I was being attacked.. 4/x
@spj_tweets: “But what female journalists described to me goes beyond legitimate scrutiny of a headline or story framing and into their sex lives, their families, and other topics unrelated to their work...” https://www.vanityfair.com/...
Shefali Luthra / @shefalil: barring Felicia from covering sexual assault is such a poor choice, both from a management perspective and an editorial one https://twitter.com/...
Marshall Steinbaum / @econ_marshall: Reminds me of the time I was banned by a “progressive” think tank for writing about the history of libertarianism as it relates to white supremacy because my scholarship on that question was too successful and therefore discomfiting. https://twitter.com/...
Sarah Kaplan / @sarahkaplan48: Having survived sexual assault, or racism, or other forms of discrimination is no more a “bias” than being white, male & privileged. Speaking out about these experiences is courageous and honest — two things news orgs should value. Felicia deserves better. All workers do. https://twitter.com/...
Eva Holland / @evaholland: In which three male editors agree that a female reporter should be banned from any reporting related to sexual assault or MeToo - because she's been assaulted herself. So the ideal here is, what, reporters who are *open-minded* about rape? 🙃https://www.politico.com/ ...
Felicia Sonmez / @feliciasonmez: It was the directness of his question that I think really caught me off guard. I've tried to keep my head down and just do my job the best I can, despite having to take myself off sexual assault-related stories at least once every week or two, sometimes even more often. 3/x
Max Fisher / @max_fisher: In addition to being morally wrong and a disservice to readers, the Washington Post deciding to formally discriminate against sexually assault survivors is a warning to all other survivors that they better shut up and stay quiet if they want to advance https://www.politico.com/...
Scott Lemieux / @lemieuxlgm: The idea that Sonmez shouldn't be permitted to work on stories involving sexual misconduct is literally Trumpian logic. There's not an iota of difference between this policy and saying that Mexcian-American judges shouldn't hear immigration cases. https://twitter.com/...
Mikki Halpin / @mikkipedia: I'm horrified to learn that after suspending her for talking about her assault, the Washington Post continues to punish Felicia Sonmez for being a survivor by prohibiting her from covering any stories that involve sexual assault. Wtf. https://twitter.com/...
Christina Henderson / @chenderson: Strange that WaPo editors or HR can't see how banning a reporter who has been public about their sexual assault from covering any stories related to sexual assault could have a chilling effect. https://www.politico.com/...
Felicia Sonmez / @feliciasonmez: I was stunned to see that the same editor who has silenced me from defending myself online, said nothing when I had to leave my home amid threats and continues to bar me from fully doing my job was being quoted as an authority on protecting female journalists. 9/x
Felicia Sonmez / @feliciasonmez: ... forced me to acknowledge to myself that I do not feel supported by my employer. Then, the town hall happened. My editor asked me that evening to write on the Violence Against Women Act the next day. I had to tell her I couldn't. 6/x
Hunter Walker / @hunterw: What is happening to @feliciasonmez is not right. This situation is a stark reminder of how many companies love to espouse rhetoric about taking care of employees well being without really walking the walk. https://www.politico.com/...
Felicia Sonmez / @feliciasonmez: ... online after the publication of a story about the man who assaulted me. The ban has been in place ever since, for more than a year now. I've pleaded with the editors to lift it, to no avail. So I've just kept trying to do my job. But that question from my therapist ... 5/x
Eric Michael Garcia / @ericmgarcia: I don't think the leadership realize how much blackballing @feliciasonmez makes them look terrible. There is no evidence whatsoever that being a survivor of sexual assault impedes her abilities as a journalist (she always has been one). https://twitter.com/...
Emily Miller / @emilymiller: I'm really upset. The @washingtonpost editors are soulless and cruel to punish @feliciasonmez for speaking publicly about being sexually assaulted at work. I've known Felicia professionally for years. She's a fantastic reporter and a sweet person. She needs a lawyer. Now. https://twitter.com/...
Elizabeth Spiers / @espiers: I wrote about about @feliciasonmez's and the WaPo and how, for many of us, sexual assault is not an extraordinary experience, and newsrooms run by men, who are less likely to experience it, need to understand that. (TW: I talk about my own assault here.) https://mynewbandis.substack.com/ ...
Monica Castillo / @mcastimovies: I can't imagine being taken off a story because surviving sexual assault is seen as a conflict of interest. What WaPo doing to @feliciasonmez is unconscionable. It's re-traumatizing and professionally holding her back. It sets a terrible precedence to punish survivors. https://twitter.com/...
@kerrymflynn: Must read thread from Felicia on what she's experiencing from WaPo management. It's absurd that covering sexual assault would be seen as a conflict of interest. Felicia should be supported for speaking up, not punished. Her experience helps provide nuanced coverage, not biased https://twitter.com/...
Felicia Sonmez / @feliciasonmez: My symptoms worsened — a whole lot of vacant staring, which I've been doing a fair amount of this weekend. Things got a bit better by Monday, and I went back to work. But then I had to take myself off the Greitens story that night. My trauma response kicked into overdrive. 7/x
Wesley / @wesleylowery: Funny that none of this was included or surfaced in the 100+ articles written in the past month about how the departing editor of this publication “saved journalism” https://www.politico.com/...
@cmclymer: I fully support @feliciasonmez. If every woman in journalism who was raped, sexually assaulted, and sexually harassed were barred from covering these topics due to concerns over “bias”, no woman would ever cover these topics. It's incredibly insulting, @washingtonpost. https://twitter.com/...
Matthew Yglesias / @mattyglesias: This really seems like @feliciasonmez is getting a raw deal https://www.politico.com/...
Brianna Wu / @briannawu: We all support you Felicia. @washingtonpost is lucky to have you. https://twitter.com/...
Zack Budryk / @budrykzack: The only way it makes sense to bar someone from reporting on subjects they've been personally affected by is if you confuse empathy with a conflict of interest https://twitter.com/...
Coleen Christie / @coleenchristie: It's a complex issue because Twitter is a source of so much information for journalists. We can't just drop it. My company has said there is no need to engage but for some, too often women and racialized women, that doesn't solve the problem. https://twitter.com/...
Jennifer Barnett / @jenzerb: I wonder how many reporters would be left if they were all banned from reporting after being sexually assaulted. Must women hide abuse? Should reporters who have been threatened and harassed be banned from covering stories about harassment? Should all women stop working? https://twitter.com/...
Kristen Hanley Cardozo / @khandozo: It's always a tell what people in power view as bias and what they see as neutral. https://twitter.com/...
Jennifer Bendery / @jbendery: How is this anything other than victim shaming? WaPo won't let its stellar reporter @feliciasonmez, who also happens to be an incredibly nice person, cover anything about sexual assault bc she's a victim of sexual assault (+ not afraid to talk about it). https://www.politico.com/...
Justin Robert Young / Free Political Newsletter: COVID lab leak is an unproven rumor we should all be actively spreading
Amy B Wang / @amybwang: One of the many reasons I admire @feliciasonmez is her courage to speak out about all types of injustices when it would be far easier to remain silent. This punishment was and continues to be appalling —> https://twitter.com/...
Ann Marie Lipinski / @amlwhere: How does a newsroom enforce a policy prohibiting a victim of sexual abuse from covering sexual abuse? I assure you there are many silent victims already assigned to these stories. Will you now require reporters to share any history of abuse? https://www.politico.com/...
Elizabeth Spiers / @espiers: It would be nice if there were more women in management here, then maybe they'd understand why criticizing Felicia for being “something of an advocate for sexual assault victims” (and considering it a conflict) sounds appalling. https://twitter.com/...
Rebecca Fishbein / @bfishbfish: Man, Marty Baron couldn't be gone faster. https://www.politico.com/...
@atrios: nothing stops comfortable white reporters from doing stories on the most important issue of our time (well, 2 years ago maybe): the SALT deduction https://twitter.com/...
Allison / @allisongeroi: Barring @feliciasonmez from reporting on any story that involves sexual misconduct is heinous. Are all reporters assigned based on whether they have been assaulted, or is the Post just taking job responsibilities away from women who speak publicly about their lives? https://twitter.com/...
Miriam Elder / @miriamelder: “once you become a target, there's an extent to which you're looked at as drama” — this point really stood out in this great @charlottetklein story https://www.vanityfair.com/...
Marc Tracy / New York Times:
Swiss billionaire Hansjörg Wyss joins Stewart Bainum in Tribune bid, with plans to own Chicago Tribune; source: each plans to put up $100M towards the $650M bid — The philanthropist Hansjörg Wyss has teamed with the Maryland hotel executive Stewart Bainum in a bid …
Discussion:
American Press Institute, @ssdance, @dabeard, Robert Feder, @brianstelter, @marcatracy, Poynter, @jimfriedlich, @jmartnyt, @capitolwatch, @missryley, @davidaxelrod, @pklinkne, @jonathanalter, @degarciaknight, @tysonbrody, @cathylewistalks, @philgrogers, @juliea712, @sulliview, @pattmlatimes, @highkin, Financial Times, @sammy_roth, @margotroosevelt, @nytimesbusiness, @nahmias, @cabridges, @jimfriedlich, @raju, @jeffjarvis, @jayrosen_nyu, @heidistevens13, @phil_rosenthal, @phillipstribune, @jmetr22b, @chrismegerian, @charliemagne, @marcatracy, @royalpratt, @samthielman, @crepeau, @mattyglesias, @briancassella, @royalpratt and @maryschmich
Discussion:
American Press Institute: Need to Know: March 29, 2021 — Fresh useful insights for people advancing quality, innovative and sustainable journalism
@ssdance: An octogenarian Swiss billionaire who makes his home in Wyoming has joined Stewart Bainum in a bid for Tribune Publishing, the newspaper chain that until recently seemed destined to end up in the hands of a New York hedge fund. Via @marcatracy: https://www.nytimes.com/...
David Beard / @dabeard: The Swiss billionaire bidding to save the @chicagotribune from a newsroom-cutting hedge fund says he was inspired by an op-ed plea by two Tribune reporters. He says he wants more Americans to have access to fact-based news—not misinformation. https://www.nytimes.com/...
Brian Stelter / @brianstelter: “An octogenarian Swiss billionaire who makes his home in Wyoming and has donated hundreds of millions to environmental causes is a surprise new player in the bidding for Tribune Publishing...” https://www.nytimes.com/...
Marc Tracy / @marcatracy: NEW: Meet Hansjörg Wyss, a Switzerland-born billionaire. He has offered at least $100 million toward a bid for Tribune Publishing instead of Alden Global Capital. https://www.nytimes.com/...
Rick Edmonds / Poynter: A Swiss billionaire has joined an effort to outbid hedge fund Alden for Tribune Publishing
Jim Friedlich / @jimfriedlich: “I have an opportunity to do 500 times more than what I'm doing now,” Hansjorg Wyss tells @marcatracy @nytimes explaining his philanthropic interest in #localnews, joining Stewart Bainum's bid for @tribunepub, a commitment to local news as civic duty & public trust @lenfestinst https://twitter.com/...
Jonathan Martin / @jmartnyt: Mr. Wyss, 85, said he was partly inspired to join Mr. Bainum by a New York Times opinion essay last year in which two Chi Tribune reporters, David Jackson and Gary Marx, warned that an Alden purchase would lead to “a ghost version of The Chicago Tribune https://www.nytimes.com/...
Daniela Altimari / @capitolwatch: With all due respect, Professor Rosen has this is exactly backwards. We are all still newspapers - and pretty damn fine ones at that - but what some Tribune papers lack is a newsroom. https://twitter.com/...
Sarah Ryley / @missryley: If this deal goes through for the whole lot I'm going to start cheering in the street and nobody's going to know why unless another journalist happens to be standing near me https://twitter.com/...
David Axelrod / @davidaxelrod: I don't know Hansjorg Wyss. But to me, as a Chicagoan & proud veteran of the @chicagotribune newsroom, his intervention to try & save the Trib from the clutches of hedge fund scavengers is an unexpected ray of hope and good news for our town & journalism. https://www.nytimes.com/...
Philip Klinkner / @pklinkne: Quite a few decent newspapers began as semi-philanthropy projects by wealthy individuals. https://twitter.com/...
Jonathan Alter / @jonathanalter: This is (potentially) terrific news! Alden Capital represents the worst of private equity and ruins every newspaper it touches. Let's wish Wyss well. https://www.nytimes.com/...
Dawn Garcia / @degarciaknight: One of the @chicagotribune reporters whose op-ed inspired Wyss was @garyjmarx, @JSKstanford fellowship alum. He & @poolcar4 warned an Alden purchase would lead to “a ghost version of The Chicago Tribune — a newspaper that can no longer carry out its essential watchdog mission.” https://twitter.com/...
Tyson Brody / @tysonbrody: Oh wait someone is finally trying out “why doesn't democracy alliance just buy a newspaper” https://www.nytimes.com/...
Cathy Lewis / @cathylewistalks: Tribune Publishing owns the deeply under-resourced @virginianpilot and @Daily_Press. I'm encouraged by investors willing to fight for local journalism. https://twitter.com/...
Phil Rogers / @philgrogers: Who said the calvary wasn't coming? This is exciting. https://twitter.com/...
Julie Anderson / @juliea712: The @nytimes is reporting that a Swiss billionaire who lives in Wyoming has joined in the bidding for @tribpub, owner of my papers @sunsentinel and @orlandosentinel. He joins the hotel exec Stewart Bainum to rival Alden Capital's bid. https://www.nytimes.com/...
Patt Morrison / @pattmlatimes: Soon to be another true-life journalism dramatic film. Wow. https://twitter.com/...
Sammy Roth / @sammy_roth: This lede, wow. “An octogenarian Swiss billionaire who makes his home in Wyoming and has donated hundreds of millions to environmental causes is a surprise new player in the bidding for Tribune Publishing.” https://www.nytimes.com/...
Margot Roosevelt / @margotroosevelt: << Medical entrepreneur @DrPatSoonShiong, who owns the LA Times with his wife, Michele B. Chan, has enough Tribune shares to squash the Alden deal by himself>>—and put Tribune in philanthropic hands. https://www.nytimes.com/...
@nytimesbusiness: The Swiss billionaire philanthropist Hansjörg Wyss has joined the bidding for Tribune Publishing. “I don't want to see another newspaper that has a chance to increase the amount of truth being told to the American people going down the drain,” he said. https://www.nytimes.com/...
Laura Nahmias / @nahmias: Mr. Wyss, who has given away some of his fortune to help preserve wildlife habitats in Wyoming, Montana and Maine, said he was motivated to join the Tribune bid by his belief in the need for a robust press. “I have an opportunity to do 500 times more than what I'm doing now.” https://twitter.com/...
C. A. Bridges / @cabridges: The Trib papers are competitors to my own company so I'm probably not supposed to wish them well. But honestly I want them bought by anyone committed to honest, in-depth, reality-based journalism. We all benefit when that happens. https://twitter.com/...
Jim Friedlich / @jimfriedlich: A hopeful development in the sale of @chicagotribune @baltimoresun to long-term, civic minded investors dedicated to independent journalism more so than pure profit.@lenfestinst https://twitter.com/...
Raju Narisetti / @raju: Octogenarian Swiss billionaire Hansjörg Wyss, who makes his home in Wyoming and has donated hundreds of millions to environmental causes, teams with the Maryland hotel executive Stewart Bainum to keep Tribune newspapers from Alden Capital https://www.nytimes.com/...? via @nytimes
Jay Rosen / @jayrosen_nyu: Wowzer. Could change the equation for Baltimore Sun, Chicago Tribune, Hartford Courant, and other newsrooms formerly known as newspapers. https://twitter.com/...
Heidi Stevens / @heidistevens13: Mr. Wyss, who has given away some of his fortune to help preserve wildlife habitats, said he was motivated to join the Tribune bid by his belief in the need for a robust press. “I have an opportunity to do 500 times more than what I'm doing now.” https://www.nytimes.com/...
Phil Rosenthal / @phil_rosenthal: “Maybe I'm naïve,” Mr. Wyss said, “but the combination of giving enough money to a professional staff to do the right things and putting quite a bit of money into digital will eventually make (the Chicago Tribune) a very profitable newspaper.” https://www.nytimes.com/...
Michael Phillips / @phillipstribune: He's a billionaire environmentalist. And a potential dream owner for Tribune Publishing. Let's go, Hansjorg Wyss! https://www.nytimes.com/...
Jason Meisner / @jmetr22b: “Mr. Wyss, 85, said he was partly inspired to join Mr. Bainum by a New York Times opinion essay last year in which Chicago Tribune reporters David Jackson and Gary Marx warned that an Alden purchase would lead to ‘ghost version of The Chicago Tribune.’” https://www.nytimes.com/...
Chris Megerian / @chrismegerian: There have been a lot of twists and turns here! https://twitter.com/...
Charlie J. Johnson / @charliemagne: “He made that bid because he wants The Baltimore Sun. I said, 'Yeah, that's fine. And I have to make The Tribune even better than what it is now.'” https://www.nytimes.com/...
Marc Tracy / @marcatracy: If he and Stewart Bainum succeed — far, far from certain — then Wyss would *keep* The Chicago Tribune, Bainum's nonprofit would get The Sun, and they would search for benefactors for other papers.
Gregory Pratt / @royalpratt: The philanthropist Hansjörg Wyss wants to own @chicagotribune, inspired by @poolcar4 and @garyjmarx's commentary in the New York Times last year https://twitter.com/...
Megan Crepeau / @crepeau: “The combination of giving enough money to a professional staff to do the right things and putting quite a bit of money into digital will eventually make it a very profitable newspaper.” What a concept! https://twitter.com/...
Matthew Yglesias / @mattyglesias: I actually did meet this guy once. Seemed nice. https://twitter.com/...
Brian Cassella / @briancassella: “Mr. Wyss said he would be a civic-minded custodian of The Chicago Tribune. “I don't want to see another newspaper that has a chance to increase the amount of truth being told to the American people going down the drain,” he said.” https://www.nytimes.com/...
Gregory Pratt / @royalpratt: NEWS: Swiss billionaire joins the bidding for Tribune Publishing, partners with Baltimore leader in trying to save the company from Alden Global Capital. The fight for civic minded local owners continues https://www.nytimes.com/...
RELATED:
Jon Harris / Morning Call:
A mystery bidder, identified as “Bidder C”, has offered $30M-$40M for Morning Call Media Group to owner Tribune Publishing, recently acquired by Alden Global — An unidentified bidder has offered to buy The Morning Call Media Group for $30 million-$40 million …
Discussion:
Ronan Shields / Adweek:
Ad tech company TripleLift sells a majority stake to Vista Equity Partners, sources say for $1.4B — Ad tech sees another M&A jolt
Discussion:
TripleLift / PR Newswire: AdTech Leader TripleLift Announces Majority Investment from Vista Equity Partners USA - English
NextView / @nextviewvc: Congratulations to our portfolio company @TripleLiftHQ on their $1.4B acquisition from Vista Equity. A masterclass in capital efficiency, achieving market leadership and nine-figure revenue on less than $20M of venture capital. https://www.adweek.com/...
Iris Dorbian / PE Hub: Vista to invest in adtech company TripleLift
Mike Shields / @digitalshields: A few years ago, you might have said, when is one of those native ad companies gonna have an exit...not TripleLift has this huge outcome, only well after it's broadened way beyond just native https://t.co/...
New York Times:
Indian digital news pubs, which pursue aggressive journalism in a compliant media landscape, fear Modi's government is empowering trolls with its new media laws — Online portals have practiced aggressive journalism in a mostly compliant media landscape. But trolls and the government could now be empowered to stop them.
Discussion:
@gowhargeelani, @rafat, @deepbagchee, @milanv, @celiadugger, @seemay, @mujmash, @nilanjanaroy, @pbhushan1, @sushantsin, @tunkuv and @svaradarajan
Discussion:
Gowhar Geelani / @gowhargeelani: “Emboldened by his landslide second-term victory two years ago, Modi has moved swiftly to reshape India's traditionally secular republic to match his vision of a Hindu-centric economic powerhouse. News Upstarts Challenged Modi. New Rules Could Tame Them."https://www.nytimes.com/ ...
@rafat: How Indian digital media startups focused on critical coverage of Modi and govt are being threatened and silenced, the new rules are very problematic. https://www.nytimes.com/...
Deep Bagchee / @deepbagchee: It's been a silver lining in Indian journalism - online startups like @thewire_in and @ThePrintIndia led by eminent journalists like @svaradarajan & @ShekharGupta. They've produced great journalism but now face curbs https://www.nytimes.com/...
Milan Vaishnav / @milanv: “Online portals [in India] have practiced aggressive journalism in a mostly compliant media landscape. But trolls and the government could now be empowered to stop them.” https://www.nytimes.com/...
Celia W. Dugger / @celiadugger: Modi takes new steps to crush the free press, this time digital media, the upstarts say. Important reporting by @MujMash @HariNYT https://www.nytimes.com/...
Seema Chishti / @seemay: Why the government wants to hit independent media outlets. Read. https://www.nytimes.com/...
Mujib Mashal / @mujmash: As India's PM Modi cultivated & cowed much of the mainstream media, these scrappy online outlets remained untamed — a thorn on his side. The outlets say new, restrictive gov rules are intended to rein them in, or burden them into silence. With @HariNYT. https://www.nytimes.com/...
Nilanjana Roy / @nilanjanaroy: What's the word for “government that cracks down on all forms of independent media and ruthlessly suppresses criticism”? (Hint: not a democracy.) https://twitter.com/...
Prashant Bhushan / @pbhushan1: “Modi has cultivated & cowed large parts of the country's news media in recent years as part of a broader campaign against dissent. One group remains untamed: A relatively new generation of scrappy, online news outlets. Now Modi is working to rein them in” https://www.nytimes.com/...
Sushant Singh / @sushantsin: .@svaradarajan calls the new rules “a weaponization of the reader complaints.” He sees them as yet another effort by the government to keep him quiet. Over the past couple of years, he said, his journalists have been slapped with nearly a dozen police complaints and defamation... https://twitter.com/...
Todd Spangler / Variety:
News Corp will acquire the consumer arm of educational publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for $349M in cash and will combine it with HarperCollins Publishers — The Rupert Murdoch-controlled company said it expects the deal to close in the second quarter of calendar 2021 …
Discussion:
Publishers Weekly, Wall Street Journal, The Wrap, @raju, @jeffreyt1, @thelincoln, @markdistef, @pkafka, @jasonhirschhorn, @blackamazon, @dabeard, Business Wire, Reuters and @chaykak
Discussion:
Jim Milliot / Publishers Weekly: HarperCollins to Acquire HMH Trade
Wall Street Journal: Sources: News Corp nears a deal to purchase the consumer arm of educational publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt to bolster its HarperCollins Publishers division
Lindsey Ellefson / The Wrap: News Corp to Acquire Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books for $349 Million
Raju Narisetti / @raju: After losing out to Penguin Random House for Simon & Schuster (a deal still under regulatory review) @NewsCorp, owner of @HarperCollins, to buy @HMHCo, publisher behind authors including George Orwell & J.R.R. Tolkien, as global book biz slims down https://www.wsj.com/...? @WSJ
Jeffrey Trachtenberg / @jeffreyt1: News Corp nears deal to buy publisher behind authors including George Orwell and J.R.R. Tolkien https://www.wsj.com/... via @WSJ
Lincoln Michel / @thelincoln: Wow, another publishing merger already? https://www.wsj.com/...
Mark Di Stefano / @markdistef: News Corp announces $349 million deal to buy book publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt — which means ladies and gentlemen, Rupert Murdoch now owns the publishing rights to George Orwell https://www.sec.gov/...
Jason Hirschhorn / @jasonhirschhorn: Oh great. Let's riff on how they'll change the history books... News Corp Nears Deal to Buy Houghton Mifflin Harcourt's Consumer-Publishing Arm - WSJ https://www.wsj.com/...
David Beard / @dabeard: It looks like there will be a new owner for the company that has published George Orwell's works. Rupert Murdoch. https://www.wsj.com/...
Patrick Brzeski / Hollywood Reporter:
Hong Kong's largest free-to-air broadcaster TVB opts not to renew the rights to the Academy Awards, which won't be aired there for the first time in 50+ years — The city's largest free-to-air broadcaster, TVB, has opted not to air the Academy Awards for the first time in over 50 years …
Ben Smith / New York Times:
Inside Harper's, which has struggled in the digital era but is nonetheless America's most interesting magazine and offers one of media's oddest workplaces — The publication of the “Harper's letter” attracted huge attention. Most people had stopped reading the magazine, which is stranger and better than you might expect.
Discussion:
Eric Nelson / @literaryeric: I remember the editor of a competing magazine once telling me Harper's was in love with the smell of their own farts, which was spot on. https://www.nytimes.com/...
Adam Davidson / @adamdavidson: Hey @benyt I do wish you had talked to the many, many brilliant people who have been cast aside by this rich boy spending his grandpa's money on incoherent whims. https://www.nytimes.com/...
Doug Saunders / @dougsaunders: The open letter by progressive writers against doctrinaire excess felt to me like the first important thing Harper's had published in a couple decades. This @benyt column explains why I might have got that feeling. The place is a Wes Anderson movie https://www.nytimes.com/...
Miriam Elder / @miriamelder: The lowkey best line in this @benyt story is “Harper's first published an excerpt from “Moby Dick” in 1851, but has had a difficult couple of decades” https://www.nytimes.com/...
Adam Davidson / @adamdavidson: In the 1990s and early 2000s, Harper's was thrilling. A dream team: @ClaraJeffery @billwasik @lovelljoel @paultough and so many others. Then, this rich guy ruined it. No vision. No leadership. Just pique and whims. https://www.nytimes.com/...
Maxwell / @maxwellstrachan: the worst thing in here by far: a media boss forced his workers to risk their lives for half a year by coming into the office during a deadly pandemic. the only reason is to please him personally, as he doesn't like the internet. https://twitter.com/...
Elizabeth Spiers / @espiers: The kicker on this is infuriating and gives me flashbacks to working for Jared Kushner, who also pretended that there was no way to pay journalists enough to live on, as if it was completely out of his hands. https://twitter.com/...
Dan Kennedy / @dankennedy_nu: I'm not sure what @benyt means when he says that “perhaps the strangest thing about this strange magazine [Harper's] is that it's working.” His reporting shows that it loses massive amounts of money and doesn't pay its staffers enough to live on. https://www.nytimes.com/...
Clara Jeffery / @clarajeffery: 1/ While the end of @benyt's piece on Harper's scratches the surface of the insane, persistent dysfunction and inequity that powers that place for decades, the top feels crafted by the unnamed spokesperson (GM) and Rick. https://www.nytimes.com/...
Adam Shatz / @adamshatz: Is Harper's America's “most interesting magazine” or its most badly managed? The owner has broken the union, terrorizes and underpays the staff (no one speaks on record), and hardly hires anyone who isn't white (capitulation to “wokeness,” no doubt). https://www.nytimes.com/...
Jim Edwards / @jim_edwards: “The situation, widely viewed internally as insane, makes complete sense to those familiar with the recent history of the magazine.” https://www.nytimes.com/...
John Warner / @biblioracle: This piece on Harper's Magazine is frustratingly “cute” or maybe “coy” is a better way in a way that feels deliberate, but to me reads as a failure to actually get the full story. https://www.nytimes.com/...
Sopan Deb / @sopandeb: Harpers still having unpaid interns - and defending it - to @benyt! https://www.nytimes.com/...
Anne Helen Petersen / @annehelen: “....she was making $37k a year w/no immediate prospect of a raise. And, she thought, she was likely to remain the only Black editorial staffer at a place that relied on people who didn't need the money” https://www.nytimes.com/...
@nytimes: Harper's — weary from descending into obscurity as its publisher, John MacArthur, bucked the digital tide — has become an unexpectedly excellent magazine that stands out amid a homogenized media landscape, our media columnist @benyt writes. https://www.nytimes.com/...
Rupert Myers / @rupertmyers: “Among prestige publications at the present moment, race, gender and sexuality are the big three..I'm not saying that's wrong — I am saying that Harper's tends to represent a different view. It's a reminder that class still matters.” https://www.nytimes.com/...
Thomas Chatterton Williams / @thomaschattwill: When I was a teenager, discovering years of back issues of @Harpers in my college's library is what first made me want to write for magazines. https://www.nytimes.com/...
John Warner / @biblioracle: Forget it, I'll just put it plain because what do I have to lose? This piece is B.S. It treats the audience like suckers and is so full of winks to insiders it actively obscures any deeper understanding. It's the opposite of what a columnist should do. https://www.nytimes.com/...
Cynthia Littleton / Variety:
A look at Colour Entertainment, a 20-year-old nonprofit dedicated to helping executives of color in the entertainment industry climb the corporate ladder — Colour Entertainment founders speak publicly about the 20-year-old organization for the first time — Executives of color …
Discussion:
Bitch Pack / @biatchpack: The problem is so wide-spread on every level. Are you part of the problem or the solution? #BIPOC are fed up https://variety.com/... #WOC
Vladimir Duthiers / @vladduthierscbs: “No one could be cheering harder for this wave of opportunity to lead to lasting change in Hollywood than Colour Entertainment, a 20-year-old nonprofit dedicated to maximizing potential of executives of color..” Fascinating profile by @Variety_Cynthia https://variety.com/...
Cynthia Littleton / @variety_cynthia: I'm grateful to board members of the nonprofit Colour Entertainment for letting me tell the story of this remarkable organization that has been around for 20 years but never sought media attention. But a few months ago they felt the time was finally right, for so many reasons. https://twitter.com/...
BBC:
Brazilian court orders President Bolsonaro to pay $3,500 in damages to a reporter, after Bolsonaro suggested last year that she offered sex for information — A Brazilian court has ordered President Jair Bolsonaro to pay compensation to a journalist after he made degrading comments about her.
Discussion:
Rio de Janeiro / France 24: Bolsonaro ordered to pay compensation to journalist
Luke Roney / Newser: President Ordered to Pay Damages to Journalist
Lionel Barber / @lionelbarber: 👀 Big win for press freedom and women in Brazil - and a big defeat for Bolsonaro and his sex slur against one of the country's top investigative journalists. Congratulations to Folha de S. Paolo for going to court, defending @camposmello and victory ! https://twitter.com/...
Associated Press:
Indian Country Today, an online news outlet and daily broadcaster covering tribes and Indigenous peoples, will now operate as an independent company — PHOENIX (AP) — Indian Country Today, an online news publication and daily broadcaster covering tribes and Indigenous peoples, has changed ownership.
Discussion:
Jenni Monet / @jennimonet: Indian Country Today is truly one of the best untold stories in media. A brand of many lives, it reverts to its indie roots for the first time in decades, free of tribal advocacy ownership. There's so much more to say. For now, watching w/ great interest. https://apnews.com/...
The Guardian:
Sources: UK government delays US-style televised briefings until mid-May, as it considers whether to continue a war with the media on “culture war” topics — Sources say plan is still to start TV briefings in mid-May, despite speculation that Downing Street has doubts about the idea
Discussion:
Lucy Siegle / @lucysiegle: I always get antsy if I have too long away from live tv. It's a competency you build and need to keep going. That's why it's such a pain in the arse being freelance. Wondering if she practices? https://www.theguardian.com/ ...
Matthew Fraser / @frasermatthew: Get ready for the stories about how Downing Street hired an official spokesperson on a £125,000 salary and splurged £2.6 million on a White House-style briefing room — and then called the whole thing off. https://www.theguardian.com/ ...
@parisdaguerre: You hire the spokesperson, spend over £2m building the briefing room, then you change your mind? https://www.theguardian.com/ ...
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