By:
September 27, 2018

Big day in Washington; Tucker Carlson's blunder; The City rises in NYC; Is Siri a racist?

Today, Christine Blasey Ford testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Newsrooms such as NPR are trying to stay nimble on special coverage plans, as well as contingencies should the status of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein change after his meeting with President Trump — also today.

"At least we have warning," said Beth Donovan, NPR's Washington Desk head, "unlike so many other days when we're juggling two massive stories."

NPR plans gavel-to-gavel coverage of the judiciary committee and a special 8 p.m. EST wrap-up. Its annotation desk, putting in context to transcripts, will also be operating full-tilt.

For everybody else, here are a few resources for the day's coverage: 

— Network coverage of the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. (TV Newser)

— 'Seared into my memory:' Christine Blasey Ford's prepared opening remarks. (The Atlantic)

— Her four sworn affidavits. (Mother Jones)

— The facts on sexual assault: Why so few report, according to prosecutors and victim's advocates. (Salem Reporter)

— The third woman with a sexual misconduct allegation: Who is Julie Swetnick? (Washington Post)

— Ronald Brownstein: A vote won't end the Kavanaugh controversy. (The Atlantic)

Quick hits

BLAMING THE VICTIMS: Fox News commentator Tucker Carlson is coming under fire after blaming sexual assault victims for the prevalence of rape and attempted rape. To sexual assault survivors too frightened or shocked or demeaned to report, he said Tuesday night, "You're part of the problem." The remark, coming amid the sentencing of Bill Cosby and accusations that Kavanaugh committed sexual assault, prompted widespread denunciation.

TUCKER UNDER FIRE, PART II: The group Sleeping Giants, which has led successful ad boycotts, questioned how any brand reliant on women like Honda, Nutrisystem, Bayer or Jenny Craig, could continue to advertise on the network. I wondered if Carlson would be disciplined by new Fox News head Suzanne Scott, who has sought to reduce racist and misogynistic commentary. This reader offered a helpful chart for Carlson:

ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER JOURNALISM INVESTMENT: Welcome to The City, a nonprofit site being set up in New York, working in conjunction with New York magazine, the NYT’s Jaclyn Peiser reports. The idea: Replace some of that lost local accountability and investigative journalism with dwindling local sections and news outlets. Its editor is Jere Hester, a former New York Daily News city editor. The City’s $8.5 million in initial funding includes $2.5 million chunks from Craig Newmark, the Leon Levy Foundation and the Charles H. Revson Foundation.

REACTION FROM THE BOROUGHS: Bklyner editor Liena Zagare greeted the creation of The City on her local website, saying “There’s a new kid in town and they’re hiring.” For Zagare, the kid is not so new: The City's board chair is her husband, Ben Smith of BuzzFeed. (Earlier: Zagare and The Atlantic’s Scott Nover on Brooklyn’s vanishing local news voices.)

LIFE AND DEATH: Why didn’t Orlando paramedics move faster to help victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting? The city’s fire department had a mass-shooting plan, but bureaucratic delays prevented it from being implemented, ProPublica reports. A peer-reviewed study estimates 16 of the 49 victims could have been saved. (h/t Doris Truong)

NEW THIS MORNNG: Three years ago, a conference and festival began to highlight the work of the relatively few women then in podcasting. Now, both it and the role of women in podcasting is huge. Werk It 2018, this year’s conference, will be at Knockdown Center in Queens on Nov. 13-14, coupled with live events and podcast tapings in venues across New York, such as the Apollo Theater, Hunter College and The Greene Space at WNYC.

RUSSIAN MISCHIEF: Beware of a Moscow-based and funded site called USAReally, started by a Russian with little journalism experience. The NYT’s Kevin Roose makes the case for it being another Trojan Horse from the Kremlin to influence Americans.

WHY A WHATSAPP CO-FOUNDER LEFT FACEBOOK: FB wanted Brian Acton to monetize his invention and open it up to commercial messaging, he tells Forbes’ Parmy Olson. In March, with the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal brewing, Acton got tired of fighting Facebook leaders and walked out the door, tweeting to the world to #deletefacebook. Yeah, he left a final tranche of $850 million on the table from his sale of the world’s biggest messaging service to Facebook. But hey, he’s worth $3.6 billion, enough to tip $20 for a cup of coffee on one recent morning.

THINK BEFORE YOU QUOTE: Define American, which advocates for DREAMers and immigration reform, says four leading American dailies have sharply increased their sourcing from three migration “think-tanks” that have been characterized as anti-immigrant hate groups. The Trump administration has borrowed ideas and personnel from the groups as it developed the disastrous “family separation” policy, expanded private detention centers, sought to limit legal migration and attempted to strip citizenship retroactively from naturalized residents.

SIRI, DON’T GIVE ME A RACIST: The “Siri Suggested” recommended feature has led Apple users to Pizzagate conspiracies and debunked articles on bogus race “science” and Holocaust denial, BuzzFeed’s Charlie Warzel found. Apple removed the search results Warzel supplied, but the exercise raised new questions about relying on algorithms to police the internet.

WANT A GRANT FOR STORY COVERAGE?: Two organizations have opportunities. The Solutions Journalism Network has grants for 13 newsrooms on projects related to the midterm elections and their effects. Each grant is $2,500. Apply here. Also, The Fund for Investigative Journalism has four diversity fellowships available, in partnership with Reveal from the Center for Investigative Reporting, InsideClimate News and the Marshall Project. Apply here by Oct. 4.

BETTER CALIFORNIA COVERAGE: Could that be the play of the Los Angeles Times' new owner in backing a bid by Sacramento-based McClatchy  for Tronc, publishers of the Chicago Tribune and New York Daily News? Via the New York Post.

MOVES: Charo Henríquez has been promoted to senior editor of digital strategy at The New York Times, Media Moves reported. Henríquez, formerly senior editor of digital storytelling and training, previously was executive digital editor of People en Español. … The Chronicle of Higher Education’s editor, Liz McMillen, is changing roles and will be the new executive editor of Chronicle Intelligence, a new initiative. The Chronicle will be conducting a search for McMillen's successor. 

QUIT: The chair of Australia's independent national broadcaster, after reports that he wanted to fire two journalists just because the government said it disliked them. 

SOCIAL HELP: The Local Media Association is setting up a news resource center to help members with social media questions. The center is being funded by the Facebook Journalism Project and will focus on training, case studies and best practices.

On Poynter.org

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