Good morning. Here are 10 media stories.
- His will be the second big departure from ESPN this year
Who will be next? Weeks after word of Bill Simmons’ impending exit from ESPN was announced, news broke Wednesday night that Keith Olbermann will leave the network later this month. “The network called Olbermann’s sign-off a ‘business decision to move in another direction,’ not the result of a dispute. That’s noteworthy because Olbermann, 56, has been called a ‘perpetual bridge-burner’ in the past.” (CNN) | ESPN suspended Olbermann in February in response to a Twitter tirade against students at Penn State. (Poynter) | Are more departures on the horizon for the “Worldwide Leader in Sports?” The reporter who broke the story, James Andrew Miller, seems to think so. “Big @espn storms come in 3’s: @BillSimmons & @KeithOlbermann not renewed. Betting this fall, @ESPN_Colin will announce he’s leaving.” (@JimMiller)
- Here’s what caused the Sanjay Gupta mix-up
The Washington Post’s Erik Wemple has a blow-by-blow account, attributed to “a CNN source,” about what might have caused the network to incorrectly identify a patient operated on by Chief Medical Correspondent Sanjay Gupta in the aftermath of the recent Nepal earthquake. The network’s account of the operation was called into question Tuesday night after the Global Press Journal published an article accusing CNN of misidentifying Gupta’s patient on air and in a Web story written by Tim Hume. “After the surgery, Gupta leaves the scene to film a live shot in which he speaks of having performed surgery on Salina. Following that interview, Hume consults with Gupta to get some details on the procedure — but he doesn’t check with Gupta on who the patient was because he doesn’t believe that’s a fact in contention. He files the story and later learns from CNN staff in Atlanta that there’s a discrepancy between the televised material and Hume’s online piece. They collectively discuss the matter, with Gupta insisting that he operated on the eight-year-old. Deference goes to the doctor.” (The Washington Post)
- British GQ buries negative Rupert Murdoch story
An unflattering column by Michael Wolff, published in British GQ, has been disappeared by Condé Nast in the face of a legal battle with England’s attorney general. The cover of the online magazine has been retouched to eliminate evidence of the teaser text, the article has been removed from the table of contents and the column itself doesn’t appear in the online magazine at all, notes media sleuth J.K. Trotter. (Gawker)
- Upworthy pivots
Since hiring Deputy International Editor Amy O’Leary away from The New York Times, Upworthy — known best for curating clicky, sharable content — is moving toward creating original journalism. “O’Leary, who left the New York Times to join Upworthy earlier this year, said in an interview that the headlines the startup came up with were just an experiment in using different tools to attract social attention to important social issues, but they became synonymous with a form of shallow content known as ‘clickbait.'” (Fortune) | “Despite its trouble with Facebook and its shift away from clickbait headlines, distributed platforms — in particular Facebook — are still key drivers for Upworthy.” (Nieman Lab)
- The media just can’t quit Donald Trump
In a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy, two different media organizations published stories Wednesday highlighting the massive glut of coverage that real estate mogul and presidential candidate Donald Trump has received. Dylan Byers notes that CNN president Jeff Zucker originally admonished the network not to cover Trump’s presidential announcement before it became clear he was actually running. (Politico) | Michael Calderone says that Trump’s incendiary comments about Mexican immigrants has created “the longest-running storyline of the 2016 cycle” so far. (The Huffington Post)
- Intern writes one-line story, becomes Twitter famous
Thad Moore, an intern on The Washington Post’s business desk, accrued a sudden swell of Twitter followers Wednesday afternoon after he wrote a quick, one-line story about the suspension of trading on the New York Stock Exchange. Soon after the story was posted, the tweets started rolling in. “Thad is on it.” “God bless you.” “THANK YOU THAD.” “.@washingtonpost YOU MUST HIRE @thadmoore.” (BuzzFeed) | Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal’s homepage was down. (Poynter)
- The world’s slowest newsroom
The staff of Granma, the official newspaper of Cuba’s Communist Party, may not have smartphones, Wi-Fi or Twitter accounts, but they will likely be the first to know when Fidel Castro dies. Reporting from Havana, Karla Zabludovsky examines the “world’s slowest newsroom.” (BuzzFeed)
- ‘I’m from BuzzFeed here are ten ways I suck.’
The Guardian has dutifully (and hilariously) chronicled what may be the silliest media spat in history: A fracas between reporters from BuzzFeed and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation over seating at a trade commission meeting. The highlights include Twitter banter, the media equivalent of a juvenile “kick me” sign and a snide slight against Web journalism. (The Guardian)
- Front page of the day, selected by Kristen Hare
The Star-Ledger in Newark, New Jersey led Thursday with the series of glitches that shut down the New York Stock Exchange and United Airlines on Wednesday. (Courtesy the Newseum)
- Job moves, edited by Benjamin Mullin
Dave Weigel is now a national political reporter at The Washington Post. Previously, he was a roving reporter at Bloomberg Politics. (The Washington Post) | Jo-Ann Armao will be associate editorial page editor at The Washington Post. She is on The Washington Post’s editorial board. (The Washington Post) | Rajni Jacques is now fashion editor at large at Racked. Previously, she was an editorial consultant at Madewell. (Racked) | Job of the day: BuzzFeed is hiring for its open lab fellowship. Get your résumés in! (BuzzFeed) | Send Ben your job moves: bmullin@poynter.org.
Corrections? Tips? Please email me: bmullin@poynter.org. Would you like to get this roundup emailed to you every morning? Sign up here.
