NPR sports commentator and daily Slate podcaster Mike Pesca had a book coming out. What if, he asked his publisher, we spent the marketing money on a five-episode podcast, with guests like Jesse Eisenberg and top-flight production, that explored the big themes of his book?
Pesca said it would explore questions like: What if Richard Nixon hadn’t sucked at football? What if Brandy Chastain had missed — and hadn’t scored the winning goal to make America the women's world soccer champions in 1999? What if the Dodgers were just now moving out of a gentrified Brooklyn? What if 12-year-old Jesse Eisenberg’s letter to the Phoenix Suns had been answered?
His publisher said yes. That, simplified, is the genesis of “Upon Further Review,” which began this week with the Nixon episode, done by the team behind Slate’s surprise hit Watergate podcast, “Slow Burn.” The first episode played after Wednesday’s episode of “The Gist,” Pesca’s take for Slate on daily news, which has run for four years and nearly 1,000 episodes.
Pesca’s creative partnerships on this “pop-up podcast” reflect the anything-goes nature of an emerging medium.
The Nixon podcast also ran on the feed for subscribers of “Slow Burn.” An episode partly written and narrated by Eisenberg and produced by Jonathan Mitchell also will run on the feed of Mitchell’s highly regarded Radiotopia podcast “The Truth.” Brandy Chastain will appear on another episode with former teammate Julie Foudy; NPR veteran Robert Siegel will come out of retirement to tell the “what if” Brooklyn Dodgers story; and the show will turn into a fake Boston sports station for its finale — what if Tom Brady had never replaced Drew Bledsoe as quarterback for the “hapless” New England Patriots?
Will the mini-podcast get a following that would want more stories? Will the podcast help sales of his 31-chapter (plus a Malcolm Gladwell introduction) anthology of sports “what ifs”?
Pesca’s got a hard enough job with his daily podcast, keeping abreast of the news and trying to come with funny lines and unique takes before Trevor Noah, Seth Meyers or Stephen Colbert do. But he can’t stop thinking of “what ifs.”
Vox chief rosy on podcasts
Jim Bankoff has a one-word answer when asked to identify an area of growth at Vox. Yeah, that one.
“I always try to walk to work just so I can catch up on podcasts,” the Vox CEO tells the Hollywood Reporter, citing as his company’s successes Today Explained, with Sean Rameswaram, a daily news show; and podcasts by Ezra Klein and Recode’s Kara Swisher. He also cited The Weeds, a semiweekly podcast with Klein, Sarah Kliff and Matthew Yglesias; and Recode Media, for his inner media nerd.
Quick hits
HOW YOUTUBE PROFITS AS A MEGAPHONE FOR HATE: Perhaps developers didn’t create it to give an E-Z Pass to ask live questions to paragons of hate before hundreds of thousands of viewers such as: What should a white nation do to undocumented immigrants? The white nationalist’s “Fargo”-like answer on a popular YouTube channel? A “woodchipper waiting for them.” The white nationalist saw all this extra money, up to $500 a shot, for “Super Chats,” a paid commenting system, telling the host of the popular YouTube show: “You're getting paid tonight.” How, ask Ishmael N. Daro and Craig Silverman of BuzzFeed News, did this Google product get this way?
WHAT KIND OF MONEY IS THIS?: Google and Facebook are pouring big money into journalism. Mathew Ingram asks: Is it intended to improve the field, given as “guilt money” for their takeover of the industry’s advertising revenue or PR-driven to throw possible regulators’ scent off their profits from publishers’ misfortunes?
CLOSING: The Valley Banner, a Virginia weekly, will publish its last edition June 7. Ogden Newspapers announced the decision six weeks after buying the Banner and five other Northern Shenandoah newspapers.
HOW TO SHRINK NEWS DESERTS: Here’s how one company seeks to embed reporters to cover beats in areas without them. The group also works to train on-the-ground people how to produce coverage. From the latest Joseph Lichterman Solution Set column.
DISTRUSTING 'VERIFY': In 2016, journalists were encouraged to install software to help them check the veracity of photos and videos. Turns out, this technology, from the Rupert Murdoch News Corp. subsidiary Storyful, is also being used to monitor the videos and images viewed by reporters who use the tool, the Guardian reports.
FEMALE CEO FOR FOX NEWS: Suzanne Scott, who has been director of programming and responsible for “Hannity” and “Fox & Friends,” has become the conservative-leaning network’s new CEO, CNN reports. She will report to executive chairman Rupert Murdoch and his son, Lachlan. Jay Wallace becomes president and executive editor of Fox News. Scott is the first female CEO of the network, which has been plagued by settlements of lawsuits alleging sexual harassment and gender and racial discrimination.
ON THE ROPES: Fox News dragged their slain son through its shows for ratings, falsely claiming some sort of political conspiracy. As a lawsuit against the network by the parents of former DNC staffer Seth Rich is proceeding, a separate defamation suit against Fox by a private investigator is hitting turbulence, says the Washington Post’s Erik Wemple.
HOW HE DOES IT: Neil Cavuto, champion of free trade, occasional critic of President Trump, logs 17 hours on Fox each week. And he has done it despite an array of physical challenges, says David Folkenflik of NPR.
SUSPENDED: Los Angeles Times Beijing correspondent Jonathan Kaiman after allegations of sexual misconduct, The New York Times' Alexandra Stevenson reports.
What we’re reading
A DELAYED LEGACY: It was the only Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph that was “anonymous.” The photographer of the harrowing image — of an Iranian firing squad preparing to execute a man begging for mercy during the 1979 Islamic Revolution — stayed nameless until 2006. Queries then prompted Jahangir Razmi, who had become an official presidential photographer in Tehran, to come forward. Today, Wikipedia historian Andrew Lih placed a current photo of Razmi on his page.
‘A TERRIFYING TIME TO BE AN AMERICAN’: Missing files on the Michael Cohen case prompted a former prosecutor to come forward in the Michael Cohen case, raising the possibility of a high-level coverup of funds given to President Trump’s “fixer.” By the New Yorker’s Ronan Farrow.
DON’T CALL IT A BRIBE: Behind a proposed Qatari bailout of a troubled Kushner family building in Manhattan.
MIGRAINE CURE: For the first time, the FDA has approved a drug designed to prevent migraines. Downside: The monthly injections would list at $6,900 a year.
So, would you cancel your subscription if a hedge-fund was ruining your local paper? We asked, you answered:
From Marlene Krueger: “Subscribe. ‘Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter’ —MLK”
From Karen Hansen: "It’s a tough call, like sanctions. Does it hurt the wrong people? I will say, though, I think there are a couple silver linings here. One: The Denver Post isn’t dying quietly. People are engaged, and, it seems, not just journalists. That doesn’t mean the problem’s solved, but at least that there’s desire to do so."
From Judith Holiday: “I subscribe because I want at least the few pages the wonderful remaining staff put out. I moved here in 1955 and subscribed to both papers from day one. The Post had great reporters covering all areas of interest, like the [Tampa Bay Times]. … You guys saved news coverage in the Tampa Bay area (our son lives there); we need the like of you out here. If Detroit can support 2 papers we surely should too. Greed is killing our democracy in many ways.”
Chuck Moozakis: “I dropped my daily [Denver] Post subscription last year after I could no longer justify — after 40 years of being a loyal subscriber —paying more for less and less content. Still have my Sunday subscription ($8 per month) but I'm seriously considering dropping that, too. The Sunday paper is pretty useless, but with my subscription I get access to the digital edition of The Post (which I read occasionally) and access to the digital edition of The Washington Post (more important).”
University of New Hampshire's Kathy Kiely had this thought on the future of the Denver Post and the city’s news eco-system: “We worker-bees of the news biz aren't going to be able to launch an institution capable of taking the place of a Denver Post unless and until we put silos, turf and ego aside and work TOGETHER to make it happen. What we have lost in ad revenues we must make up for in solidarity and collegiality. (Good on the Texas Tribune for leading the way). It's as easy and as hard as changing generations' worth of attitude. Here's hoping there's enough awareness of the critical times we live in to tip the balance in the favor of truth, justice and the American way.”
Janice Paul: "I have read a local daily paper for 45 years … However, when Alden laid off 30 percent of its remaining staff and THEN followed that up with a rate hike the same week — to a whopping $58.50 a month for home delivery, I canceled. … It's a very sad state of affairs to know that a metro area this size, and growing faster than almost any other area of the country, is not entitled to a quality newspaper."
From @RealMSA941: “It’s business. Hedge funds are not charities. If print journalism can’t cut it, then it will go the way of the horse and buggy (and it will).”
Response by Bob McGovern Jr., a reporter who left the Alden-owned Boston Herald: “The problem is that these buggies are often the sole source of in-depth local news. This hedge fund also owns papers in cities like Lowell and Fitchburg. If those buggies go away, will there be cars to replace them?”
On Poynter.org
- Writing about the royal wedding? Get the style right, by Kristen Hare.
- Lois Lane was a better reporter than people give her credit for, by Roy Peter Clark.
- More governments, some authoritarian, are trying to criminalize their definition of “fake news”
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And have a good weekend.
