Today is the 10th anniversary of the school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. A 20-year-old man shot and killed 26 people, including 20 children aged 6 and 7.
To remember a horrific event that should never be forgotten, today’s newsletter starts with the work of one of America’s leading voices when it comes to the awful impacts of gun violence and, in particular, gun violence and its impact on children.
No one writes with as much heart, expertise and empathy about this bleak topic than The Washington Post’s John Woodrow Cox, who last year wrote a book called “Children Under Fire: An American Crisis.”
His latest piece, out earlier this week, is “Before and after Sandy Hook: 40 years of elementary school shooting survivors.”
For this latest Post story, Cox talks to four school shooting survivors — between the ages of 10 and 52 — about what the experience has meant to them.
Cox writes, “Each has been shaped by what they saw and heard and lost: the 52-year-old from California who has spent more than half his life pleading with parole boards not to release the woman who shot him when he was in fourth grade; the 40-year-old from South Carolina who waited three decades to talk about the day her first-grade teacher was wounded in front of her; the 19-year-old from Connecticut who doesn’t always know what to say when strangers ask if she saw the dead bodies at Sandy Hook; the 10-year-old from Texas who hid under a table earlier this year as his best friends at Robb Elementary were killed in front of him.”
The story is haunting and heartbreaking but important to read.
Last week, Cox was featured on the Post’s podcast “Post Reports.” On it, he said, “I think the scope of this crisis is so much larger than people are willing to acknowledge. It’s not just the kids who died. It’s not just kids who got shot. It’s not just the kids like Caitlyne who listen to the whole thing happen and lost dear friends. It’s third-graders, it’s teachers and their kids. It’s cousins. It’s people in the community who thought, ‘Is my kid dead?’ That damage cannot be undone.”
More on Sandy Hook
There are several notable pieces on the somber anniversary of the Sandy Hook shootings. These are worth your time:
- BuzzFeed News’ Melissa Segura, Julia Reinstein and Steffi Cao with “Since Sandy Hook.”
- The Associated Press’ Dave Collins with “A decade after Sandy Hook, grief remains but hope grows.”
- Jennifer Hubbard, whose 6-year-old daughter was murdered that day, writes for CNN: “Ten years after Sandy Hook, a mother offers a simple solution for ending gun violence.” (CNN, by the way, will have a special tonight hosted by Alisyn Camerota: “Sandy Hook: Forever Remembered.” It airs at 10 p.m. Eastern.)
- For the Bangor Daily News, Sarah Walker Caron with “What I lost when my son survived the Sandy Hook School shooting.”
- Politico’s Myah Ward with “Biden still feels ‘a moral obligation’ to Sandy Hook, 10 years later.”
- For Insider, Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert with “The concept of a ‘good guy with a gun’ stopping violence was floated by the NRA after Sandy Hook. A decade of shootings later, it’s still a fantasy.”
The latest from Twitter
The New York Times’ Ryan Mac, Mike Isaac and Kate Conger reported Tuesday that over the past two weeks, Twitter owner Elon Musk has shaken up the social media site’s legal department and is cutting costs.
Check out this eye-opening passage from the Times’ story: “To cut costs, Twitter has not paid rent for its San Francisco headquarters or any of its global offices for weeks, three people close to the company said. Twitter has also refused to pay a $197,725 bill for private charter flights made the week of Mr. Musk’s takeover, according to a copy of a lawsuit filed in New Hampshire District Court and obtained by The New York Times. Twitter’s leaders have also discussed the consequences of denying severance payments to thousands of people who have been laid off since the takeover, two people familiar with the talks said. And Mr. Musk has threatened employees with lawsuits if they talk to the media and ‘act in a manner contrary to the company’s interest,’ according to an internal email sent last Friday.”
The Times went on to write, “The aggressive moves signal that Mr. Musk is still slashing expenditures and is bending or breaking Twitter’s previous agreements to make his mark. His reign has been characterized by chaos, a series of resignations and layoffs, reversals of the platform’s previous suspensions and rules, and capricious decisions that have driven away advertisers.”
It seems as if there’s a new Twitter development every day, if not every hour. But this Times story looks to have plenty of details that will need to be watched in the coming days and weeks.
Fauci blasts Twitter
Dr. Anthony Fauci. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)
Earlier this week, Musk took verbal shots at Dr. Anthony Fauci, saying he should be prosecuted.
On Tuesday, Fauci was asked about that on MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports.” Fauci told Mitchell, “Well, to be honest with you, Andrea, I don’t pay attention to that. I mean, yeah, he has a big megaphone, but I mean, the Twittersphere as it is has really gone berserk lately. It’s kind of become almost a cesspool of misinformation. I’m really not even sure what he said, but I don’t pay attention. I don’t have a Twitter account. I don’t tweet and I don’t listen to tweets. So whatever he said, I’m not paying attention to it.”
Fauci turns 82 on Christmas Eve and is retiring as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases after 38 years. He told Mitchell, “Well, the next chapter in my life, I want to be able and I will do things outside of the venue of the … United States government, as a private citizen in teaching, in lecturing, in writing hopefully getting back to the conversation we just had to inspire young people to go into science. And for those who are in science, to inspire them to continue what they do in the realm of the health of the American public, and hopefully some in public service, like I’ve had the privilege of doing for almost 60 years now.”
And despite all the grief he has received over the past several years, particularly from many conservatives and conspiracy theorist types, Fauci would make the same career decisions and be a scientist all over again.
He said, “If I had to do it over again, absolutely, 100%, 100%. And I recommend it to people. It’s not for everyone, but if you have the slightest inclination for it, it can be a very, very satisfying and fulfilling field.”
What’s next for Zucker?
Former CNN president Jeff Zucker is getting back into the media game. He is going to be the chief executive of RedBird IMI — which is being described as a new joint venture between private-equity firm RedBird Capital Partners and International Media Investments, an Abu Dhabi-based media holding company.
The Wall Street Journal’s Jessica Toonkel wrote, “In his new role, Mr. Zucker will focus on building, buying and investing in sports, media and entertainment entities around the world with the backing of RedBird and IMI, which together are investing $1 billion in capital to fund the joint venture, the companies said.”
In a statement, Zucker said, “I’ve spent 35 years running media businesses at the intersection of news, sports and entertainment, creating new brands and resurrecting old ones. That experience has given me unparalleled perspective for this unique time in media, and the combination of the RedBird and IMI capital and strategic discipline, combined with my operational experience, will give this joint venture a unique advantage in the current media landscape.
Zucker stepped down at CNN in February after he failed to disclose a relationship he was having with another CNN executive.
Good work
CNN anchor Kate Bolduan showed her bulldog interviewing skills Tuesday by grilling Los Angeles Councilman Kevin de León, who has not resigned after being accused of racist comments about another councilman’s Black child. The interview came just days after he got into a physical scuffle with an activist.
In October, the Los Angeles Times published a story about a leaked audio recording from 2021 in which Los Angeles City Council President Nury Martinez made openly racist remarks. The Times’ Rachel Urganga wrote last month, “In the leaked audio recording released last month, De León conferred with Council President Nury Martinez, Councilmember Gil Cedillo and Los Angeles County Federation of Labor President Ron Herrera about keeping districts in Latino control, making racial insults and not objecting when Martinez made even cruder ones.”
Martinez and Herrera have since resigned, but de León has refused to do so.
Bolduan didn’t beat around the bush. She asked, “Why are you not resigning? I know you say you still have work to do. But other members, the points that the council members are making still today about this whole thing is that they say that the city cannot heal if you are still there, and one member saying that your continued presence on the council is causing severe and ongoing harm.”
De León started his answer by saying, “In a democracy, the voters make the decision, not folks who are in the political gallery or political pundits or even my own colleagues.” He continued by saying, “tens of millions of Americans go to work every single day with folks they don’t like. But you know what they do? They get up and they go to work. They don’t have the luxury that some folks do when they want to walk out.”
He went to say he was “profoundly sorry” for “not standing up” to comments made in the meeting. But that’s where Bolduan showed her reporting chops.
She said, “It wasn’t just that you didn’t stand up, you also took part in the communication. I mean, in it, you said — you compared the young Black child of a fellow councilman to being an accessory, like a luxury handbag.”
De León eventually did say, “I shouldn’t have said what I said.”
Bolduan went on to ask exactly what de León was apologizing for and said, “If this was anyone else, would you say the person I just described is serving their community well?”
Excellent work.
Final column
Pulitzer Prize-winning national columnist Leonard Pitts Jr. is retiring and wrote his final column Tuesday: “Time flew, didn’t it? Now, it’s time for me to fly off, too.”
Pitts wrote, “I’ve written about 1.6 million words as a columnist. This 600 or so will be the last. I’m retiring for a few reasons. One is that, while I’ve managed to squeeze out four novels between column deadlines, my dream was always to write books full time. I turned 65 in October, so if not now, when?”
He added, “Another reason is that a column, for me, at least, is an act of emotional investment — and I’m emotionally exhausted. They say you know when it’s time. That’s true. And it is.”
(Photo courtesy of NBC News)
Media tidbits
- NBC News has a month-long feature right now called “The Price You Pay: Holiday Edition.” The series — which will run on “Nightly News with Lester Holt,” the “Today” show and other NBC News platforms — will feature reporting on budget and inflation during this holiday season, including a look at price matching, returns, shipping, small businesses and more.
- The Daily Beast’s Justin Baragona and Diana Falzone with “The Trump Aide Caught Up in the Newsmax-Fox News Wars.”
- CNN’s Oliver Darcy with “Why news organizations are largely skeptical of Elon Musk’s ‘Twitter Files’ theater.”
- The Big Lead’s Ryan Phllips is out with that site’s “2022 Sports Media Awards.” I don’t agree with half the choices, but that’s the point of lists, right? Everyone has their opinions. It’s still a fun read.
- Deadspin’s Carron J. Phillips has quite the column about Brittney Griner’s former college coach, Kim Mulkey — who initially had nothing to say about her former star when Griner was arrested in Russia. The column: “Players and recruits shouldn’t trust Kim Mulkey, who was useless when it came to Brittney Griner.”
- Media Matters Eric Hananoki with “‘The RNC has done a great job’: Fox’s Kellyanne Conway repeatedly praised RNC without disclosing it paid her over $800K.”
Hot type
Including conversations with actors Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sigourney Weaver, The Ringer’s Alan Siegel with “‘It’s Going to Be Epic’: The Oral History of James Cameron.”
The New York Times’ John Branch with “Are Qatar’s World Cup Stadiums the Future of Sports in a Warming World?”
For Esquire, Jack Holmes with “Shaq Isn’t Holding Anything Back.”
More resources for journalists
- Hiring? Post jobs on The Media Job Board — Powered by Poynter, Editor & Publisher and America’s Newspapers.
- Understand U.S. Immigration From the Border to the Heartland (Self-directed course) — Start anytime.
- Lead With Influence (Feb. 2023) (Seminar) — Register Now. Also, available training dates in July and Nov.
Have feedback or a tip? Email Poynter senior media writer Tom Jones at tjones@poynter.org.
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