Let’s start today with the media reaction to the huge news that broke Thursday when the Supreme Court ruled that when it comes to college admissions, race cannot be a factor. Writing the majority opinion, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote, “The student must be treated based on his or her experiences as an individual — not on the basis of race.”
In her dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote, “Today, this Court stands in the way and rolls back decades of precedent and momentous progress. It holds that race can no longer be used in a limited way in college admissions to achieve such critical benefits. In so holding, the Court cements a superficial rule of colorblindness as a constitutional principle in an endemically segregated society where race has always mattered and continues to matter.”
President Joe Biden slammed the Supreme Court, calling it “not a normal court.” About this latest decision on affirmative action and college admissions, Biden voiced a need for diversity and said, “Because the truth is, we all know, discrimination still exists in America. Discrimination still exists in America. Discrimination still exists in America. Today’s decision has not changed that simple fact.”
Here are some of the notable pieces regarding Thursday’s news:
- For The Nation, Elie Mystal with “The Supreme Court Has Killed Affirmative Action. Mediocre Whites Can Rest Easier.” Mystal includes this passage: “But the death of affirmative action was not achieved merely through the machinations of Republican lawyers. While conservatives on the Supreme Court delivered the fatal blow, the policy has long been made vulnerable by the soft bigotry of parents, whose commitment to integration and equality turns cold the moment their little cherubs fail to get into their first choice of college or university. If you want to see a white liberal drop the pretense that they care about systemic racism and injustice, just tell them that their privately tutored kid didn’t get into whatever ‘elite’ school they were hoping for.”
- Slate’s Mark Joseph Stern with “The Supreme Court Just Bulldozed Affirmative Action—With Two Bizarre Loopholes.”
- This ruling might impact more than colleges. The Washington Post’s Julian Mark and Eli Tan with “Affirmative action ruling puts a target on corporate diversity programs.”
- The Washington Post’s Amy B. Wang writes about the “scorching 29-page dissent” of Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown in “Jackson’s dissent decries affirmative action decision as ‘tragedy for us all.’”
- For The Atlantic, Ronald Brownstein with “Curtailing Affirmative Action Is a Blow Against a Rising Generation.”
- And, finally, the latest season of Slate’s “Slow Burn” podcast — “Becoming Justice Thomas” — is rather timely. And a fascinating listen. (Hosted by Joel Anderson.)
The RFK Jr. town hall
Wednesday’s town hall featuring Robert Kennedy Jr., right, and NewsNation anchor Elizabeth Vargas. (Courtesy: NewsNation)
NewsNation hosted Democratic presidential candidate Robert Kennedy Jr. in a town hall on Wednesday night. There were concerns that it would fly off the rails if Kennedy started spewing his false and dangerous anti-vax views, but overall, host Elizabeth Vargas kept things on track. As a result, Kennedy did say some things that generated some news.
Such as saying he is “proud” that Donald Trump likes him.
Vargas asked Kennedy at one point, “Many Democrats fear that you’re a spoiler in the race, that you will damage President Biden in the primary and grease the skids for former President Trump to return to the Oval Office. This week, former President Trump said about you, ‘Kennedy is smart and he’s a common sense guy.’ What kind of man do you think Donald Trump is?”
Kennedy said, “Here’s what I’m not gonna do in this race. I’m not gonna attack other people personally. I don’t think it’s good for our country.” He went on to say that he wants to bring Americans together, adding, “I’m proud that President Trump likes me.”
In another notable moment, Kennedy said he likes President Joe Biden, but he refused to say he would endorse Biden for president. Vargas pressed him several times, asking point blank, “If you don’t get the nomination, you won’t support President Biden?”
“I don’t know what I’ll do,” Kennedy replied. He then later said, “My plan is to win this election and I don’t have a Plan B.”
Very little time was spent talking about Kennedy’s stance on vaccinations, although he complained, “I think most people don’t know what my stance on vaccines is. I’ve never been anti-vaccine. And I’ve said that hundreds and hundreds of times, but it doesn’t matter, because that is a way of silencing me, using that pejorative to describe me as a way of silencing or marginalizing me.”
But he has said plenty of things that are just untrue or misleading about vaccines.
An insider’s story of what happened when Elon Musk took over Twitter
For this item, I turn it over to my Poynter colleague Jennifer Orsi.
What was it like in the days and weeks after Elon Musk bought Twitter, walked into the headquarters carrying a sink (“Let that sink in”) and turned everything there upside down? Yoel Roth, Twitter’s former head of trust and safety, was there to witness it. He was also one of the keynote speakers at GlobalFact 10 in Seoul, South Korea, the annual worldwide summit of fact-checkers hosted by Poynter’s International Fact-Checking Network. By the time you read this, Roth’s speech, and Global Fact 10, will be over. But check out poynter.org later Friday for a recap Q&A of Roth’s remarks on the story of what happened at Twitter, as well as a discussion of how social media companies are faring in their fight against mis- and disinformation.
Dallas Morning News ends print editions of Al Día
For this item, I turn it over to my Poynter colleagues Angela Fu and Amaris Castillo.
The Dallas Morning News announced Thursday it will stop printing physical copies of the Spanish-language paper Al Día Dallas at the end of August.
The company will also stop publishing Briefing, a Sunday paper that provides “quick-read news.” Both publications are free to readers and supported by advertising in the form of mail coupons and inserts. However, contract negotiations with Vericast, the vendor that provides those ads, recently fell through.
“After a good faith and diligent contract negotiation, we faced severely unfavorable contractual terms with Vericast, which made the publications unprofitable and left us with no choice but to end the arrangement,” said DallasNews Corporation president and chief financial officer Katy Murray. “Those financial terms, combined with waning advertiser interest, led to the ultimate decision to exit the shared mail space and not renew the contract.”
DallasNews Corporation faced criticism earlier this year after the company announced it was reassigning the reporting staff of Al Día to teams on The Dallas Morning News. Founded in 2003, Al Día previously relied on its own dedicated team of reporters and freelancers. Dallas Morning News editors defended the changes, saying they were necessary to serve the region’s growing bilingual population.
Though Al Día will no longer have a print edition, it will continue to publish online daily and an ePaper edition weekly, Murray said. The company does not plan to eliminate print editions of the Morning News.
Now for other media news, tidbits and links for your long weekend review …
- Geraldo Rivera put out a video on Twitter saying he was fired from Fox News’ “The Five,” so he quit Fox News. He says today’s appearance on “Fox & Friends” could be his last ever on the network.
- The New York Times’ Ryan Mac, Tiffany Hsu and Benjamin Mullin with “Twitter’s New Chief Eases Into the Hot Seat.”
- CNBC senior White House correspondent and anchor Kayla Tausche announced on Twitter that she is leaving the network after 13 years. She thanked the network and her colleagues and then wrote, “As for what’s next, I’ll have more to say on that soon. For now, I’m going to take some downtime – with no deadlines looming – for the first time in too long. Will I be able to truly unplug? We’ll find out. See y’all on the other side.”
- This is fun. CNN’s Julia Buckley with “Air passenger gets plane all to himself after waiting out 18-hour delay.”
- This year is the 20th anniversary of the release of the superb movie “Shattered Glass.” (I have it rather high in my 2021 list of the best movies about journalism.) It’s about journalist Stephen Glass, who was discovered to have written at least 27 stories for The New Republic that were either partly or entirely fabricated. On his latest “The Press Box” podcast for The Ringer, Bryan Curtis talks with the film’s writer and director Billy Ray about how the film was made and how he has become friendly with Glass over the years.
- The New York Times’ John Koblin with “This Broadcast TV Genre Continues to Thrive. (What Are Game Shows?)”
- I cannot recommend this highly enough. From Andscape, it’s “The Rebirth of Hinchliffe Stadium.” It’s the story of an old Negro League baseball stadium in Paterson, New Jersey. Everything about this — from the writing of Sean Hurd to the impressive design to the historic and modern photographs — is outstanding.
- Wall Street Journal sports columnist Jason Gay with “Meet the ‘Bo Jackson’ of the Tour de France.”
- Just-retired football star J.J. Watt, a three-time NFL defensive player of the year, has been hired by CBS as a studio analyst across all platforms. He’ll make his debut in week one of the NFL season on the big pregame show, “The NFL Today.”
- Jason Murray has been named sports editor of The Washington Post. He had been an assignment editor in the sports section. Murray replaces the retiring Matt Vita.
More resources for journalists
- Hiring? Post jobs on The Media Job Board — Powered by Poynter, Editor & Publisher and America’s Newspapers.
- Level Up: Critical Skills for Local Reporters (Oct. 3-Nov. 14) (Seminar) — Apply by Aug. 31.
- Power of Diverse Voices: Writing Workshop for Journalists of Color (Nov. 15-18) (Seminar) — Apply by Sept. 15.
- Will Work for Impact: Fundamentals of Investigative Journalism (Oct. 2-30) (Online) — Enroll now.
Have feedback or a tip? Email Poynter senior media writer Tom Jones at tjones@poynter.org.
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