The Latest: GQ pulls critical article; Hope for Evan?; ESPN layoffs; NAHJ resignation; A breaking news engagement

July 5, 2023

■ Fox News to pay $12 million to former producer who accused the network of rampant sexism (CNN)

■ Kaitlan Collins set to launch 'The Source' on CNN (Variety)

■ Stephen A. Smith speaks out about ESPN's layoffs : 'I could be next' (CNN) / ICYMI: ESPN lays off top on-air talent (CNN)

■ Does Tucker Carlson have a future without Fox ? (Vanity Fair)

■ News directors at Michigan TV station ousted after telling staff to 'get both sides' of Pride coverage (CNN) / WOOD-TV news director Stanton Tang fired over anti-gay memo (The Desk)

■ NAHJ’s executive director resigns (journal-isms.com)

■ Should Facebook and Google pay local news outlets for their content? AB 886 would require it (Sacramento Bee)

■ How's the weather up there? It'll be harder for Alaska to tell as a longtime program goes off air (Associated Press)

■ Extra! New strategies for survival by South Carolina newspapers (CBS News)

■ St. Louis Public Radio staffers form union after successful vote (Current)

■ In Amherst, teen journalists’ investigation of transphobia at the middle school forced a district shake-up (Boston Globe)

■ World’s oldest national newspaper prints final edition after 320 years (The Guardian)

■ TV reporter rushing to ‘breaking news’ scene finds boyfriend on one knee (Miami Herald)

Press Freedom

■ Kremlin open to potential prisoner swap for detained WSJ reporter (Vanity Fair) / U.S. ambassador meets with detained Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich (Wall Street Journal)

■ No charges for Oklahoma sheriff who talked of killing journalists, prosecutor says (Associated Press)

■ Prominent Russian journalist injured in attack in Chechnya (New York Times) / Russian reporter returns to Moscow after Chechnya attack (Al Jazeera) / ‘Elena Milashina is one of us. She is among the bravest of journalists. She is a friend and beloved colleague. This vicious attack must rally us all . As our dear Elana would tell us, there is work to do.’ (Wallace House Center for Journalists)

“Punctuation is to make clear the thought being expressed. If punctuation does not help make clear what is being said, it should not be there . If a sentence becomes cluttered with commas, semicolons and dashes, start over.”

-- AP Stylebook via Twitter

“The workplace concept of imposter syndrome exists because of women and people of color entering the white, male-dominated workforce, an environment biased toward white men. We’ve got to stop telling women they have imposter syndrome. We’ve got to stop displaying behaviors in our news organizations that are exclusionary of the cultures and characters of people of color. If we want this to be an industry where women and people of color want to work — and we need them in our news organizations — we have simply got to stop. … Imposter syndrome is a systemic issue , which makes it a DEIB issue, which means it can largely feel out of our circle of influence. So while many of us wait for our organizations to become continually inclusive regardless of leadership changes and staff turnover, we need a way to subvert our inner critic, and we’ll do it the same way resilience coaches in our active duty military are trained to do it.”

-- Samantha Ragland, VP, journalism programs at American Press Institute, “No imposters in the newsroom! Using resilience to quiet the voice in your head”

National Press Club awards Veronica Irwin its 2023 Shirley & Dennis Feldman Fellowship

The National Press Club, the world's leading professional organization for journalists, has chosen Veronica Irwin of San Francisco, California, as the recipient of its 2023 Shirley & Dennis Feldman Fellowship. The award for graduate students is a one-time scholarship of $5,000.

Irwin, a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley, recently worked as a breaking news reporter at Protocol. She will join New York University’s Business and Economic Reporting Program this fall.

The judges were impressed with Irwin’s writing skills and versatility. She has covered a wide range of topics, including the Elon Musk jet tracker, Oakland’s sideshow culture, San Francisco’s homeless crisis, and open banking.

“I want to continue my education so I can have a bigger impact on the lives of the people I write about,” Irwin wrote in her application essay. After graduate school, she plans to continue reporting on financial technology.

To learn more about NPC scholarship opportunities, click here.

Resources

This newsletter is written & edited by the National Press Club Journalism Institute staff: Beth Francesco and Holly Butcher Grant. Send us your questions and suggestions for topics to cover.

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