June 3, 2024

• Sally Buzbee steps down as executive editor of The Washington Post. Matt Murray and Robert Winnett take editorial leadership roles in new newsroom structure (Washington Post) / 'I can’t sugarcoat it anymore': Will Lewis bluntly defends Washington Post shake-up (Vanity Fair) / The Washington Post loses its executive editor and heads in a new direction (or three) (Nieman Journalism Lab) / ‘In September, nearly all of WaPo’s leaders were women. By the end of the year, nearly all of them will be men’ (Corbin Bolies) 

• How the media covered the aftermath of Trump's conviction — and his remarks the following morning (Associated Press) / How a mysterious tip (to the Wall Street Journal) led to Trump conviction (Wall Street Journal) 

• News site editor's ties to Iran, Russia show misinformation's complexity (Washington Post) / The new pink slime media (Semafor) 

• If Google kills news media, who will feed the AI beast? (Vanity Fair) / What’s in a byline? For Hoodline’s AI-generated local news, everything — and nothing (Nieman Journalism Lab)

• Wall Street Journal plans multimillion-dollar brand campaign amid newsroom changes (Axios) 

• Money woes, staff issues strain the Intercept (Semafor) 

• Kentucky’s largest public radio station will cut its workforce amid lower than expected revenues and rising costs (WFYI) 

• New York Times made ‘petty’ cuts to staff bios, union says (Washington Post)

• Being a journalist in Mexico can be a life-or-death experience (New York Times)  

• Ginger Thompson named ProPublica’s managing editor (ProPublica) / Miguel Bustillo named deputy standards editor at the Wall Street Journal (Talking Biz News) 

• Pulitzer Prize-winning AP photographer Ron Edmonds dies. His images of Reagan shooting are indelible (Associated Press)

• What do horse race journalists think of ‘horse race journalism’? (Poynter)

• Documentary nonprofit video consortium to bring video journalism to local newsrooms (The Hollywood Reporter) 

Press Freedom

• Mississippi Today fights order to turn over reporting notes and documents on June 6 related to its Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation of a state welfare scandal (Semafor)

• A local reporter was arrested for doing her job. The Supreme Court needs to step in (Columbia Journalism Review)

• Russian court extends detention of American-Russian journalist Alsu Kurmasheva (Voice of America)

Editor’s note: The NPCJI included a Rest of World article in the May 28 edition of The Latest that has now been retracted.

Tips for framing trans and LGBTQ+ stories in 2024

Trans people and DEIB programs are in the crosshairs of state leaders, legislatures, policy makers, and school boards in 2024. Journalists must be prepared to responsibly report and share the impact of these efforts.

Here are a few of the many reporting tips shared by journalists covering these issues during a National Press Club Journalism Institute webinar, "Covering trans and LGBTQ+ issues during 2024."

• Include multiple viewpoints in your reporting and stories; there are more than two sides of the story when it comes to covering trans and LGBTQ+ topics.

• If you are covering policy, such as health, sports, or other legislation, find out what instigated the legislation and who the lawmaker worked with to draft the bill. Who funded it? Include the many different voices of people who have been directly impacted by that legislative effort. Ask yourself: What question hasn’t been asked or what story the media is missing on the topic.

• To find voices for your stories, look to social media groups and organizations that support trans and LGBTQ+ individuals. If you are looking to interview people under the age of 18: Many news organizations will require you to get parental consent, so look for parental groups that support trans and LGBTQ+ kids. 

• If you are reporting on parents who don’t support trans and LGBTQ+ kids, also include the voices of parents and kids that support them in your story. If you are reporting on people involved in sports who are opposed to trans athletes, make sure to include those cis voices who do support trans athletes.

• When you are sourcing trans and LGBTQ+ stories, explain your reporting process to help build trust. Give sources the room to not answer questions they aren’t comfortable with. Allow them to bring a parent, lawyer, or guardian to the interview, if it makes them comfortable. Let them know the risks of facing harassment for talking with you. (Teen Vogue and ESPN have at times, depending upon the situation, given sources a pseudonym or offered anonymity if the source’s safety might be at risk.)

Resources

• Tech journalist Kara Swisher launches AI interview series at Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg Center in Washington, D.C. (June 10, 5:30 p.m. ET) 
• A news industry toolkit: Trauma aware journalism (Dart Center for Trauma and Journalism, CBC, and the Canadian Journalism Forum on Violence and Trauma)
• As election nears, MediaWise launches media literacy resources for libraries, Spanish speakers (Poynter) / Beyond the Ballot: Equity framing for covering democracy and elections (Center for Cooperative Media)

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

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