Good morning. Enjoy and have a great holiday weekend. I’m off to kids soccer in St. Louis. See you Tuesday.
- Jim Amoss steps down
He wasn’t a pundit or celebrity journalist and was little known outside New Orleans and the echo chamber of newspaper editor groups. But Jim Amoss quietly and honorably helped to turn the New Orleans Times-Picayune from a good newspaper to a great one (four Pulitzer Prizes), endured Katrina, confronted a local economic catastrophe and dealt with both revolutionary industry change and aggressive and questionable downsizing strategies mandated by the Newhouse empire. He’ll now retire and move to a corporate slot, replaced by editor Mark Lorando. (Poynter)
The occasionally arrogant titans of the new digital media could do worse than copy his basic, pretty old-fashioned values. They involve being tough, fair, honest and not provocative merely for the sake of same. “Jim turned a good newspaper into one of the best in the country, braved Katrina admirably, then helped steer the jarring changes in his own company,” said Jack Davis, a former Hartford Courant publisher and onetime colleague. Dean Baquet, the executive editor of The New York Times and another former colleague, also put it concisely to me last night: “He was my partner and is my friend. He led those people through amazing times, Katrina and the changed media landscape. He is one of the best.”
- The little Syrian boy on the beach
No surprise, Americans are divided about running graphic images. (The Huffington Post) That doesn’t mean the tale of his family wasn’t wrenching and given to some superior video treatment. (The Wall Street Journal) A great Washington Post foreign correspondent also explained why she tweeted the photo of the dead toddler and the harsh response she elicited from some. One said: “It is also a little boy. For f—’s sake allow him some dignity.” That puzzled her. “What, exactly, in this context, is ‘dignity’? How many photos of dead Syrian children show up on social media every day? Don’t people know what has been happening in Syria?” (The Washington Post)
- How Trump became Trump
He was born on third base and thinks he hit a homerun in life. But if you want to understand both the arc and curious specifics of his still improbable life and rise in business, you’d best read a terrific Bloomberg profile. “Trump is selling himself to America as the king of builders, a flawless dealmaker, and masterful manager. But he isn’t really any of those things.” Its best line is this: “His brand isn’t kindness and inclusiveness; it’s aggression and extravagance and power. It’s a self-rendered notion of an elite man who controls and wins, even when he loses.” (Bloomberg)
- Al Jazeera America goes union
The 50-person New York digital staff decided that the best way to redress a wide range of internal grievances is to pursue a contract. Management hasn’t said whether it will voluntarily recognize the move or insist on a formal election to be overseen by the National Labor Relations Board. This follows similar moves by workers at Gawker Media, Vice, Salon and The Guardian. (Poynter)
- Obama, peas, guacamole and more
He, with the aid of the White House flacks, seems to be ramping up his social media activities as his tenure winds down. “First, he was tweeting about peas and guacamole. Then he was making playlists on Spotify. Now, he’s commenting on Facebook posts.” He just left a message on a New York photo blog and gave his best to a young Iranian boy said to be a good Samaritan. It seems linked partly to his successful push for the Iranian nuke deal and desiring to win points with Iranians, at least beyond the ideologues running the government and screwing with people such as Washington Post correspondent Jason Rezaian. (The Atlantic)
- If confused by the substance of the Iran deal…
It’s possible, given the media’s focus on the politics of the deal, that one could use a helpful, quickie summary of the substance fit (not quite) for the Twitter Age. After all, Obama’s successful push for the deal surely was aided by both ignorance about and a lack of popular interest in its contents, which surely didn’t help anti-deal activists whose lobbying and TV campaigns couldn’t elicit much outrage. Here’s the CliffsNotes from a blog just scooped up by Vox. “In a nutshell, Iran agrees to give up 70 percent of its centrifuges (and those it keeps will not be state-of-the-art) and to give up 97 percent of its enriched uranium (and that which it keeps will be weapons or medical grade). Iran agrees to UN inspections to verify that it meets these requirements and if so, many sanctions will be lifted.” (Mischiefs of Faction)
- Daily Mail vs. Gawker
This may be the pot calling the kettle black. Gawker ran a piece by a former DailyMail.com employee who proclaimed, “The Mail’s editorial model depends on little more than dishonesty, theft of copyrighted material, and sensationalism so absurd that it crosses into fabrication.” Mail Media Inc. has filed a defamation suit against Gawker, declaring, “The Mail’s reputation, goodwill, and business have been damaged.” It’s unclear how much there is to further damage. (The Washington Post)
- Political press hyperventilates over Clinton interview
Imagine: it’s deemed news that a presidential candidate is actually giving a one-on-one interview. It is, after all, a world in which Trump dials his way live into any TV show he desires and “Exclusive!” is bannered across the screen. But the shock and awe may be natural given the pretty scripted, anxiety-laden Hillary Clinton campaign and its inherent mistrust of the media. So Andrea Mitchell gets Clinton for MSNBC Friday. Perhaps not coincidentally, “it comes one day ahead of the 20th anniversary of Clinton’s Beijing speech on women’s rights, which Mitchell covered for the network in 1995.” (POLITICO) Now bet the ranch that virtual every story will open with anything she says about her email mess or Trump. Don’t bet on anything spoken about Syria, Iraq, ISIS, inequality, racism, crumbling infrastructure or taxing hedge fund managers (unless you’re Bloomberg or The Wall Street Journal). Still, it’s a “get” for MSNBC in its throes of reinvention, including parking Rev. Al Sharpton in a pre-church Sunday morning slot.
- Curt Schilling yanked from ESPN
Media companies crave for their folks to aggressively exploit social media. Well, the blowhard former pitcher was sent to the pundit showers because he “tweeted an image of Adolf Hitler with supposed statistics comparing the number of Nazi sympathizers in Germany to the percentage of modern Muslim extremists and deleted it after a few minutes. He had posted the same image on his Facebook page earlier that day.” (Sports Illustrated) He apologized but may be on an analysts injured reserve list for quite some time.
- Self-help author, PBS goldmine dies
Wayne Dyer died at age 75 in his sleep of a heart attack in Hawaii. There are worse ways to depart this life. “Dyer’s 10 fundraising specials for public TV brought in more than $200 million for stations.” (Current) Again, have a great holiday weekend.
- Front page of the day, curated by Kristen Hare
Today’s front page comes from The Independent in the United Kingdom, which launched a petition Thursday calling for a change of policy to “accept its fair share of refugees seeking safety in Europe.” Online, the paper reports that more than 250,000 people have signed. (Courtesy Kiosko)
- Job moves, edited by Benjamin Mullin
Jim Amoss will be editor at large for Advance Digital. Previously, he was editor of the Times-Picayune. Mark Lorando will be editor of the Times Picayune. Previously, he was state and metro editor of the Times-Picayune. (Poynter) | Robyn Tomlin will be managing editor of the Dallas Morning News. Previously, she was vice president of digital and communications at Pew Research Center. (Romenesko) | David Axelrod has been named senior commentator at CNN. He runs the University of Chicago’s Institute of Politics. (Poynter) | Belia Jimenez is now vice president of corporate research at Univision Communications Inc. Previously, she was director of consumer insights there. (Email) | Robert Iafolla will report on unions, employers and government bodies for Reuters. Previously, he covered regulation of worker safety and health issues for Bloomberg BNA.
Anthony Lin will oversee practice-area verticals at for Westlaw at Reuters. Previously, he was Asia editor at the American Lawyer. Stephanie Russell-Kraft will be a law-firm reporter at Reuters. Previously, she was a senior reporter at Law360. Tracy Rucinski will cover bankruptcy for Reuters. Previously, she was in Reuters’ Madrid bureau. (Email) | Job of the day: The Associated Press is looking for a news associate. Get your resumes in! (Journalism Jobs) | Send Ben your job moves: bmullin@poynter.org.
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